Nancy Salvato, Senior Editor

Michelle Obama on the
Man that Would Be President
August 29, 2008

Michelle Obama: "His family was so much like mine.”

Fact: Barack Obama's father, a Harvard trained economist, fathered eight children by four different women.

Michelle Obama: "He was raised by grandparents who were working-class folks just like my parents, and by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills just like we did.”

Fact: One of the first two female vice presidents at Bank of Hawaii, Madelyn Dunham, his grandmother, raised Barry Obama. She paid the tuition to the prestigious Punahou School in Hawaii. Barack Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham Obama Sutoro, described as a fellow traveler, spent Barack’s formative years studying anthropology in Indonesia and helping thousands of poor women. She is credited with creating a microfinance program there.

Michelle Obama: "And like my family, they scrimped and saved so that he could have opportunities that they never had for themselves.”

Fact: Michelle’s family was middle class and Obama’s father advocated an "active" program to achieve a classless society by removing the economic disparities between black Africans and Asian and Europeans.

Michelle Obama: "And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, like you work hard for what you want in life.

Fact: After Obama was sworn in as U.S. Senator, Michelle's salary went from $121,910 to $316,962 at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Obama used his influence to request a $1 million earmark for the hospital where Michelle works.

Obama’s half brother Malik Obango Roy Obama, a terrorist in Kenya supported by the PLO and Hamas in his bid to make Kenya an Islamic State, believes Barack to be a good Muslim. And this, coming from a man who conducted genocide against people who don’t support his cause and who openly attacks Christians. It was Malik who shared video of Barack Obama declaring his faith to Islam and Muhammad.

Michelle: "That your word is your bond; that you do what you say you're going to do.”

Fact: Obama served as director of the Woods Fund board alongside William C. Ayers, a founding member of the Weathermen terrorist group which declared war against and sought to overthrow the U.S. government and took responsibility for bombing the U.S. Capitol in 1971.

Michelle: "That you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them and even if you don't agree with them.”

Fact: Obama’s half brother George Hussein Onyango lives on the outskirts of Nairobi in a hut surviving on less than a dollar a month."

Michelle: Barack...talked about the world as it is and the world as it should be. And he said that all too often we accept the distance between the two, and we settle for the world as it is, even when it doesn't reflect our values and aspirations.

Fact: Michelle believes the United States is a mean country guided by fear and made up of cynics, sloths, and complacents. It’s hard to empathize with her assessment knowing that Barack’s half brother Raila Odinga who is married to the niece of Mohammad Taha, the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip and who is the head of the militant branch of Hamas, Al Aqsa Mosque red Brigade, orders the firing of rockets into Israel.

Michelle: "See, that's why Barack's running: to end the war in Iraq responsibly.”

Fact: Mark Ndesandjo, Obama's half brother who received a degree from Brown University, a masters in physics from Stanford and an MBA from Emory and has 3 wives (two Chinese and one African) is charged by the UK with supporting terrorism and using his business, Worldnexus, to funnel money to terrorists -including Osama Bin Laden.

Michelle: "[Barack will] build an economy that lifts every family, to make sure health care is available for every American and to make sure that every child in this nation has a world-class education all the way from preschool to college.”

Fact: Obama’s two decades of public service work translates into going to school, working for a law firm, writing a book and community organizing. Michelle backed the Urban Health Initiative which was designed to steer primarily black, poor, uninsured patients, to other health care facilities instead of University of Chicago Medical Center.

Michelle: He'll achieve these goals the same way he always has: by bringing us together and reminding us how much we share and how alike we really are. You see, Barack doesn't care where you're from or what your background is or what party, if any, you belong to.

Fact: Michelle wrote in her Princeton thesis, "As a member of the black community, I am obligated to this community and will utilize all of my present and future resources to benefit the black community first and foremost."

Michelle: He knows that thread that connects us -- our belief in America's promise, our commitment to our children's future -- he knows that that thread is strong enough to hold us together as one nation even when we disagree.

Fact: The Woods Fund Board provided $75,000 in grant money to the Arab American Action Network, headquartered in Chicago's Palestinian immigrant community, which works to empower Chicago-area Arabs. AAAN’s co-founder Rashid Khalidi called Israel an "apartheid system and a racist" state, labeling suicide bombings a response to Israeli aggression.

In her speech at the Democratic Convention, Michelle Obama attempted to paint a picture of her husband as a man who defied the odds, who despite being raised by a single mother and his grandparents, worked through adversity to achieve his success and who uses his accomplishments to better his community and our world. She explains that they have similar values and experiences and assures the American people that when he becomes president they will change this country for the better, to reflect their utopian vision for our society. There’s just one sticky point. Anyone with more than a superficial understanding of what they represent understands that Barack’s Mother and father, and Michelle’s bitter feelings about the racial divide in America have succeeded in distorting this man’s worldview into one that is diametrically opposed to that which fosters pride in our country and its accomplishments, respect for tradition, and an understanding that a person’s character is built from self reliance and independence. With such a distorted view of themselves and their past, it would be a tragedy if the voters buy the Obama’s vision for the future as their own.

Sources:

Barack Obama hid his Father’s Socialist and Anti-Western Convictions from his Readers

Barack Obama: Mother not just a girl from Kansas
Michelle Obama Suicide Watch

Obama worked with terrorist: Senator helped fund organization that rejects 'racist' Israel's existence

The Obama File

U. of C. shunning poor patients?