Posted by David Nitkin and Harry Merritt of the Baltimore Sun at 8: 10 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- Many people know that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's father was from Kenya and his mother from Kansas.
But an intriguing sliver of his family history has received almost no attention until now: it appears that forebears of his white mother owned slaves, according to genealogical research and Census records.
The records -- which had never been addressed publicly by the Illinois senator or his relatives -- were first noted in an ancestry report compiled by William Addams Reitwiesner, who works at the Library of Congress and practices genealogy in his spare time. The report, on Reitwiesner's Web site, carries a disclaimer that it is a "first draft" -- one likely to be examined more closely if Obama is nominated.
According to the research, one of Obama's great-great-great-great grandfathers, George Washington Overall, owned two slaves who were recorded in the 1850 Census in Nelson County, Ky. The same records show that one of Obama's great-great-great-great-great-grandmothers, Mary Duvall, also owned two slaves.
The Sun retraced much of Reitwiesner's work, using Census information available on the Web site ancestry.com and documents retrieved by the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, among other sources. The records show that Overall, then 30, owned a 15-year-old black female and a 25-year-old black male, while Mary Duvall, his mother-in-law, owned a 60-year-old black man and a 58-year-old black woman. (Slaves are listed in the 1850 Census by owner, age, "sex," and "colour," not by name.)
An Obama spokesman did not dispute the information and said that the senator's ancestors "are representative of America."
"While a relative owned slaves, another fought for the Union in the Civil War," campaign spokesman Bill Burton said tonight. "And it is a true measure of progress that the descendant of a slave owner would come to marry a student from Kenya and produce a son who would grow up to be a candidate for president of the United States."
The research traces the Duvalls to Mareen Duvall, a major land owner in Anne Arundel County in the 1600s. The inventory of his estate in 1694 names 18 slaves, according to a family history published in 1952.
The records could add a new dimension to questions by some who have asked whether Obama -- who was raised in East Asia and Hawaii and educated at Columbia and Harvard -- is attuned to the struggles of American blacks descended from West African slaves.
"The twist is very interesting," said Ronald Walters, a political scientist who is director of the African-American Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland, College Park. "It deepens his connection with the experience of slavery, even if it deepens it on a different side of the equation."
Gary Boyd Roberts, a senior research scholar at the New England Historic Genealogical Society who published a book on the family lineages of presidents, said he did not think the slave-holding history was "particularly unusual."
"If you have a white Southern mother, or a mother from the middle states who has ancestry in the South, it doesn't strike me that that should be very surprising," he said. While the majority of such families did not own slaves, many with some wealth did, Roberts said.
Reitwiesner's research identifies two other presidential candidates, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Democratic Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, as descendants of slave owners. Three of McCain's great-great-grandfathers in Mississippi owned slaves, including one who owned 52 in 1860. Two ancestors of Edwards owned one slave each in Georgia in 1860.
It was unclear tonight whether Obama was aware of any slave-holding ancestors, but he makes no mention of them in his 1995 memoir, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance.
The book contains many approving references to his mother's side of the family. At one point, he writes that his mother "could give voice to the virtues of her midwestern past and offer them up in distilled form."
The memoir, however, comes close to confirming the Overall-Duvall lineage -- stopping a generation short. Census and other records complete the gaps.
In a reference to his American ancestry, Obama writes "while one of my great-great-grandfathers, Christopher Columbus Clark, had been a decorated Union soldier, his wife's mother was rumored to have been a second cousin of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy."
Clark was actually Obama's great-great-great-grandfather, according to Reitwiesner's research and Census data available at ancestry.com. A 1930 Census document lists Clark, 84, living in the same El Dorado City, Kansas household as a 12-year-old great-grandson, Stanley A. Dunham. Dunham was Obama's grandfather.
Clark's wife, Susan, was the daughter of George Washington Overall, the latest known family slave owner.
Reitwiesner, the researcher, declined to be interviewed for this article. "I'll let my Web page [wargs.com] speak for itself," he said in an e-mail message. The Obama report contains a disclaimer that appears on all of Reitwiesner's work: "The following material … should not be considered either exhaustive or authoritative, but rather as a first draft."
Genealogical experts who reviewed the Obama family tree at the request of The Sun would not vouch for its findings.
Most of the historical entries lack citations of authenticating source material, such as birth and death certificates or marriage licenses, said Barbara Vines Little, past president of the National Genealogical Society in Virginia, adding that "he has nothing here that I can see that would allow you to make any logical link."
"You just can't casually throw some documents together and make a sophisticated analysis," said Tony Burroughs, author of Black Roots: A Beginners Guide to Tracing the African American Family Tree and a consultant on a project by the New York Daily News that found that relatives of former Sen. Strom Thurmond appear to have owned the ancestors of civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton.
But Roberts, the New England scholar, collaborated with Reitwiesner on a 1984 book about the American roots of Princess Diana, and calls him "exceptionally bright" and "quite a good researcher."
The online Obama family tree, Roberts said, is the work of "an informal team of genealogists" who specialize in Internet-based research and post their findings to test their validity.
"When you are gathering up things from the Internet, you can get fantastical -- by that I mean wild and unbelievable -- connections," Roberts said. "Many of them will fall; only a few of them will hold up. But some absolutely extraordinary things do hold up."
Assisting in the Obama research was Christopher Challender Child, a genealogist at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, who said that Reitwiesner culled fragments from a variety of sources. "There's a limit to what you can verify without a lot of money," Child said. "But from what I see, the line looks pretty good."
For some, the records may underscore Obama's unique racial heritage as a presidential candidate.
Author and essayist Debra J. Dickerson wrote in a January salon.com article that she had previously refrained from opining about the senator because "I didn't have the heart (or the stomach) to point out the obvious: Obama isn't black."
" 'Black,' in our political and social reality, means those descended from West African slaves," Dickerson said.
Walters, who was deputy campaign manager for Jesse Jackson in 1984 and the author of Black Presidential Politics in America, agreed that questions raised by Dickerson and others "is an important debate."
"What people are really asking is, 'Can I trust this guy? Do I have confidence in this guy? Does he understand my situation, and therefore [is he] able to take my issues into the political system?'" Walters said.
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Comments
The King and Queen of Politics of Personal Destruction (Bill and Hillary Clintoon) are in the process of dismantling Barack Obama anyway they can. Obama's black support surges taking away from Hillary, let's look into his past and tip off reporters that his ancestors were slave owners.
Does this now mean that Dorothy Tillman will be looking for reparations from the Obama family?
Oh, how the plot thickens!!
Posted by: John D | March 2, 2007 8:50 AM
I am going to remain consistent on this. I don't see how this is an issue. I didn't think George Allen's ancestry was an issue, and I don't think Obama's is, either. No great-great-great grandchild needs to apologize for the sins of their ancestors, unless they are perpetuating the same problems.
Posted by: JB | March 2, 2007 9:02 AM
The new Opposition to Obama tactic: Paint him as a divider because of his ancestry even though he wasn't yet a twinkle in his great-great-great-grandfather's eye.
Posted by: Jeff C. | March 2, 2007 9:27 AM
The Baltimore Sun has to do the investigative reporting Obama's home town newspaper, the Tribune, doesn't.
And if Gary Boyd Roberts vouches for Reitwiesner's credibility, that's good enough for me or any other genealogist aware of Roberts' standing in the genealogical community.
Posted by: bruce | March 2, 2007 9:31 AM
Why didn't he,B.Hussein Obama reveal all this in his best seller? There are also reports out that his father was a polygamist,a severe alcolholic and a woman beater and this was also left out of his book.....why?
The Clinton smear machine is still in first gear,stay tuned,more to come!
Paulo
Posted by: Paulo | March 2, 2007 9:44 AM
And we should care about this because...?
Posted by: Paul | March 2, 2007 9:51 AM
Please someone point out the relevance of this story. The only thing I can guess is that someone (whether it be Hillary or the Right, as they both have motive) is digging real deep to try to paint a negative picture of this man and steal his potential voters (in this case, black America). I'm descended from Hungarian nobility...illegitimately, but haven't found that that in any way has anything to do with the person sitting here typing today, though I do crave palacsintas every now and then.
Posted by: DD | March 2, 2007 9:54 AM
OK - so does anybody think that their ancestry is "clean" regarding slave ownership if you go back far enough in this country? I'd think almost everyone would be tangled in this embarrassing part of our country's history in some way.
This is a "non-story" - IMO.
Posted by: me | March 2, 2007 9:56 AM
If researchers traced Barak Obama’s African lineage they would undoubtedly discover that he has black as well as white ancestors who owned slaves or participated in the slave trade in Africa. In the United States, virtually everyone, regardless of race, has ancestors who owned slaves or participated in the slave trade. This includes African Americans since free blacks also owned slaves (one of the South’s largest slave owners was a free black man) and many—probably most—African Americans have whites in their family trees. The percentage of freed blacks who owned slaves was small, but so was the percentage of whites who owned slaves.
Slavery was also practiced in all Northern states and was still legal in some Northern states at the time of the Civil War. Most Americans have ancestors who fought for the North as well as ancestors who fought for the South. Hispanic Americans also have ancestors who owned slaves (more than two-thirds of slaves transported from African to the Americas went to Mexico and South America). American Indian tribes had both before and after the arrival of Europeans (the largest slave market that every existed in the Americas was one the Aztecs maintained near Mexico city prior to the Spanish conquest). Slavery continued to be legal on tribal lands inside the United States after the Civil War. The United States finally ended slavery within its borders by purchasing slaves from the Indian tribes and setting the free. The Cherokee was the last to give up their slaves.
Posted by: Blair | March 2, 2007 10:08 AM
Does this mean if "slave reparations" ever became law, then Obama would have to pay reparations to himself?
For purposes of "affirmative action", is Obama "black" (and thus to be discrimianted for) or "white" (and thus to be discriminated against)?
Posted by: Bruce | March 2, 2007 10:08 AM
So, the plot sickens. I knew Obama's ancestors were never slaves. I certainly didn't know that they, on the contrary, owned them.
Posted by: Jeff | March 2, 2007 10:44 AM
After reading this article, one is left wondering whether to yawn and watch the ink dry on another ‘non-binding’ resolution or laugh at something that almost could have been written by Hillary Clinton’s bloggers. If Obama’s maternal lineage owned slaves, then his persona is strengthen in that he can claim an emotional reference to scorn the taint of this country’s most egregious atrocity—Slavery—from both sides of his bi-racial background. What many people fail to realize is race is more a matter of perception than a matter of genes. If Obama was standing on a street corner waiting for a cab next to someone who looked like his mother—the chances are good he would be on his way to his meeting before Obama. Slavery was abolished 142 years ago, but today and probably another 142 years from now, someone like Obama will be referred as “you know the Black guy running for President,” instead his name alone. Because Barack Obama represents both sides of the equation—he may be the bridge which allows this country to finally Just Get Over It—Race. York Van Nixon III 3/2/07 York@YorkVanNixonIII.Com
Posted by: YORK VAN NIXON III | March 2, 2007 10:50 AM
John D,
Do I even have to waste time asking for proof that the Clinton's are behind this? You obviously were never a journalist. Otherwise you would know what slander and libel mean. No wonder your editors never let you print any articles. You just make stuff up all the time on the Swamp.
Posted by: Janet | March 2, 2007 10:53 AM
It is great that Senator Obama can trace his ancestry back so far on both sides of his family, which is something that many Americans on both ends of the color spectrum cannot do, but almost all in the middle of that spectrum find impossible. Since he is in the middle of the spectrum it's remarkable. Being in the middle means that some of your ancestors were of one race, and some of your ancestors were of another race. Unfortunately, for so many American's of African descent who try to look back into the past for ancestral linkage there is a great abyss owing to the inhumanity of slavery which robbed people of their names and knowledge of their past. Just look at pre-1870 plantation census records and you see people listed by gender and age and that they were slaves. I wonder if this disclosure is intended to embarrass the Senator, take him down a notch, or bump him up a bit. Whatever the case, his candidacy and the messages that he is conveying, is inspirational and in a way can help all of us out the muddied water of our slave past and build a truly united America.
Posted by: GW | March 2, 2007 10:59 AM
So what is Obama supposed to do? Acknowledge that someone took the time and effort to dig into his great-great-great-great ancestor's background and apologize for their actions? Then what?
This is such a non-story, but the Republicans will still use it to slime him.
Posted by: BC | March 2, 2007 11:04 AM
So when did we become responsible for the sins of our fathers? That was then, this is now. People need to move on (that includes you, John D., when you blame Clinton for everything or you start your infamous whining "Well, what about the Clintons").
Posted by: Janstress | March 2, 2007 11:06 AM
Wow. This guy might actually have a real shot at the presidency. If the media has to go back to the 1800's to find dirt on Obama, it means they got nothin'.
Nothin'!
Posted by: cms | March 2, 2007 11:09 AM
Oh Janet, dear, you have no clue about libel and slander. IF anything, your comments about me are more libelous and sladerous than my note that Hillary is behind this. Oh, and Janet, dear, in 20 years of professional journalism, I've had hundreds of articles published, I've had articles picked up the AP, picked up and used by think tanks, associations, businesses and more.
I suggest you go back downstairs with John E. and Catherine, OK?
Posted by: John D | March 2, 2007 11:18 AM
Talk about ancestory! Christians will vouch for this one!
I just read a report that says Obama is directly descended, as are all of us, from Adam and Eve!
Not worrying about how so many people could have come from one lovely couple, I think Obama should aplogize for these ancestors biting the apple, given by the snake, and getting the boot from the garden. How dare they? What were they thinking?
And since we are all decended from the same two people, Rudy G is in deep water because now he may have married 3 cousins!
Sorry, just finding that ANY candidate of ANY party that is asked to ammend for ancestors mistakes is ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as talking about a snakes, apples, Adams rib bone etc. While we yammer away here in the swamp about old slavery issues, people are dying in Iraq.
So being Friday I thought I would throw my Christian bible story take on the whole thing which makes Obamas ancestory moot. We're all Adam's children, cant we just get along?
Posted by: erick | March 2, 2007 11:35 AM
Can anyone seriously think the Clintons don't have a hand in this? Come on. The people who hired "The Dust Buster" (according to Joe Klein)? We know Clinton's former campaign advisor Rahm Emanuel thought nothing of sitting on the Mark Foley news (safety of pages, who cares!) to get maximum political effect out of it. One of Hillary's advisors has already passed a vicious rumor to Maureen Dowd that McCain gave up information under interrogation at Gitmo.
Face it Clinton fans, these are the people who INVENTED the politics of personal destruction. You are the people your parents warned you about.
Posted by: Jeff | March 2, 2007 11:43 AM
John D,
If you can submit proof that the Clintons are behind this story please show us otherwise you are a filthy liar.
PS Show links to the "hundreds of articles published...picked up the AP, picked up and used by think tanks, associations, businesses and more".
Posted by: Janet | March 2, 2007 11:49 AM
WHY. IN. THE. WORLD. DOES. THIS. STORY. MATTER?
Posted by: Whiskey | March 2, 2007 11:52 AM
"So, the plot sickens. I knew Obama's ancestors were never slaves. I certainly didn't know that they, on the contrary, owned them."
Posted by: Jeff | Mar 2, 2007 10:44:01 AM
McCain's great-great-grandfather owned 52. His plot seems to be thicker if this story actually meant anything significant. But it doesn't.
Posted by: jethro | March 2, 2007 11:54 AM
ALL ABOARD THE BARACK EXPRESS !!!
BRING THEM HOME,OBAMA IN 08 !!!
Posted by: John E. | March 2, 2007 12:15 PM
I share most of the posters' opinion about this "news"... so WHAT??
But then, many public figures aren't as intelligent and discerning as the typical Swamp poster.
For example:
"J. Dickerson wrote in a January salon.com article... 'I didn't... point out the obvious: Obama isn't black' [meaning] 'descended from West African slaves'".
And:
"[Ronald] Walters, who was deputy campaign manager for Jesse Jackson in 1984... agreed that questions raised by Dickerson and others "is an important debate."
Why are people (NOT loony Rightists, BTW) trying to force this into being an issue, when it's a safe bet that most of America couldn't care less?
Posted by: Leo T | March 2, 2007 12:23 PM
I thought Republicans wanted to end race based politics.
Posted by: jethro | March 2, 2007 12:23 PM
So what his whit side of the family owned slaves. I am sure there are plenty of white people now who’s ancestors owned slaves. Like Barack said it is a representation of what America use to be and that is the truth. I can get really deep into slave ownership but I will not but I will say that some black Americans may have been slave owners directly and indirectly themselves. It really kills me when folks point out slave ownership of someone’s ancestors. Yes. It was wrong but the person now did not do it. Yes. Reparations were not paid out as they should to the slaves. Yes. They should be paid out now. But that is not the issue with this article.
This story is nothing more but an attempt (through the media) by lamo Hillary Clinton to turn black voters against Barack and to give right wing neo-cons something to babble about. I am pretty sure the Clintons and the Rhodam’s (sp?) owned slaves or even supported slavery. Black America is much smarter than this story! In our eyes Barack is black and his mother was white that is it. In our eyes the same white person we call a “friend” family could have owned slaves. Do we hold it against them NO. I knew this was going to happen. Race is going to be a major issue for Barack’s campaign. The same liberal media that “loves” black people are the same ones using nasty tactics to prevent a black man from becoming president!
Maybe 200 yrs from now when the Clintons children run for president, a story will come out how their great great great great grandma signed over to Bush to send innocent men and women to fight an illegal war. We will blame that on Clinton ancestors 200 yrs from now!
Posted by: Jessica | March 2, 2007 12:32 PM
JohnD.
From what I have read in a certain JohnE. post,Janet and Catherine may have a little more room in the basement...somebody left to go fight for his country last month.
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2006/10/13/index.html
Under Bush: Cut,run,cannot hide......
29th post down!
Paulo
Posted by: Paulo | March 2, 2007 12:54 PM
This isn't a Swamp loveletter to Obama. What gives?
Posted by: jethro | March 2, 2007 12:59 PM
John D,
Please post a copy of one of your articles "used" by "think tanks". By used, I don't mean as an emergency substitute for toilet paper.
Even the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation has it's standards. No reputable news organization would use an article teeming with insults, invectives, innuendos, and prevarications, as is characteristic of ALL of your post here.
You have never made even the slightest effort to post a rational, measured, non-inflammatory comment on this blog, even when Elizabeth Bennett challenged you to on several occasions. Now, she is someone who I would believe is published.
Posted by: dt | March 2, 2007 1:11 PM
John D,
Please post a copy of one of your articles "used" by "think tanks". By used, I don't mean as an emergency substitute for toilet paper.
Even the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation has it's standards. No reputable news organization would use an article teeming with insults, invectives, innuendos, and prevarications, as is characteristic of ALL of your post here.
You have never made even the slightest effort to post a rational, measured, non-inflammatory comment on this blog, even when Elizabeth Bennett challenged you to on several occasions. Now, she is someone who I would believe is published.
Posted by: dt | March 2, 2007 1:17 PM
No one's asking him to amend for his ancestors' mistakes. I think it's at best a genetic curiousity. It does, however, illustrate the point that Obama does not relate (literally or figuratively) at all to the experience of the average African-American in this country.
Obama was raised in the lap of privilege by wealthy parents and grandparents whereas the average African-American in the USA actually IS descended from slaves who were liberated by Abraham Lincoln. Economic hardship and institutionalized racism are still an everyday reality to many of these people and that's a direct result of slavery and the civil rights abuses that followed it. While they have had to live with and overcome this painful reality, Obama has simply drifted along above it all. Yet he did complain in his book about how difficult life was for him in an expensive private school and "doing some blow" to escape his suppposed hardship.
Since then he's had an election handed to him and now a national party is attempting to hand him a presidential nomination. Hopefully the voters will see through it.
Posted by: Jeff | March 2, 2007 3:06 PM
ANCESTOR WORSHIP
The Baltimore Sun reports that it appears that forebears of Barack Obama's white mother owned slaves, according to genealogical research and census records. This is somewhat of an odd counterbalance to the news that the great-grandfather of Rev. Al Sharpton had been a slave owned by a relative of Strom Thurmond.
On learning of his connection to Strom Thurmond, Mr. Sharpton had said only that he had always wondered why he had nightmares about Senator Thurmond. On the other hand, Senator Obama's headquarters released documents and data showing that the brother of the Senator's father had been held for eight years as slave to an Arab family.
Not to be left behind, several other politicians released information regarding their lineage.
Mitt Romney released a statement that his great-grandfather had been a good friend of William Lloyd Garrison.
In an interview, Hillary Clinton remarked that one member of her Rodham family in Chicago had been involved in the St. Valentines's day massacre. She added that, of course, Bill's ancestors had all been sharecroppers.
Senator Trent Lott announced that, indeed, his great-grandfather had owned slaves but that he had freed all 35 of them before the Emancipation Proclamation.
John McCain advised David Letterman that in years past the McCains had kept slaves and slaveowners out of Arizona by using fences and vigilantes.
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani stated that there were no slaves in Sicily.
President Bush said that in the 1800's, prior owners of the Crawford property had used slaves to clear brush. Now, he does it all himself. Mr. Bush also noted that neither his father nor his grandfather had used slaves on their Connecticut and Maine properties.
John Edwards said that his father had been a mill worker.
from Homer at www.altara.blogspot.com
Posted by: Homer Hewitt | March 2, 2007 3:29 PM
Jeff says that "Economic hardship and institutionalized racism are still an everyday reality to many of these people ..."
So now it's a badge of honor to have suffered racism? If you asked any of "these" people they would tell you they wish they never had to face racism. And, by the way, racism goes both ways in today's diverse society, and it's obvious that you've never felt it yourself. Given your inexperience, you should perhaps refrain from commenting on who's qualified or not.
Posted by: Roger B. | March 2, 2007 3:49 PM
Roger, when did I say it was a badge of honor to have suffered racism? I agree that nobody wants to face racism but to pretend it doesn't exist is ridiculous. I certainly think the "racism" Obama feels he felt in private school is nowhere on par to that felt by the average African-American.
I've felt racism before so don't preach to me. Since you missed my point, I'll let Ronald Walters illustrate it a little better for you:
Walters, who was deputy campaign manager for Jesse Jackson in 1984 and the author of Black Presidential Politics in America, agreed that questions raised by Dickerson and others "is an important debate."
"What people are really asking is, 'Can I trust this guy? Do I have confidence in this guy? Does he understand my situation, and therefore [is he] able to take my issues into the political system?'" Walters said.
Posted by: Jeff | March 2, 2007 4:04 PM
What I find interesting in this story is the Senator Edwards' family owned slaves. Maybe he understands more about "two Americas" than I thought.
The fact that Boy Wonder's family owned slaves 150 years ago, no big deal. I'm waiting for the story (yes I'll be happy with one from the MSM)about Boy Wonder's polygamist daddy - three wives.
Posted by: Terry | March 2, 2007 4:35 PM
"...AS FAR AS OBAMA GOES,I LIKE HIM AND WILL PROBABLY VOTE FOR HIM...."
Posted by Leo T. Jan 26,2007 11:59:27 AM
I agree with you Leo,once the GOP nominates Rudy for President we'll get to pick either Democrat Obama or Democrat Rudy for President.
What a great country we have!!!
Posted by: John E. | March 2, 2007 4:41 PM
Jeff/Bill,
Your concern for the disadvantaged sounds sincere. Why then, are you so enamored with the republican party? Social Darwinism is their creed. Their so-called brand of "Compassionate Conservatism" is a fraud ( GOP-speak for balancing tax breaks for the wealthy, by cutting social programs for the needy, the very people you mention).
Posted by: dt | March 2, 2007 4:53 PM
- By the way, John E, How's the weather in Iraq? Winter here has veen brutal. Glad you're able to post all day, every day while you're there.
- Jeff is correct inasmuch as Obama's atypical background is relevant. An African American may understandably ask: how could you -- with your private schooling, and being raised by an upper middle class white family -- POSSIBLY empathize with me and my situation?
However, anybody's great, great, great etc grandparents owning slaves is irrelevant. Period.
- dt, the "Social Darwinism" generalization is, like all generalizations, largely incorrect. You can do better.
Posted by: Leo T | March 2, 2007 5:08 PM
dt,
Little Johnny D and Paolo think that they are really putting you down if they say you're living in the basement.....no wonder they can't ever win an argument
"CLEAN UP ON ISLE 3!"..Paulo grab your mop,Little Johnny get the broom we're going to clean up the mess that is the Republican Party after their 06 election meltdown....
OBAMA IN 08 !!!
Posted by: John E. | March 2, 2007 5:24 PM
Wow John E, you've only repeated the "clean up in aisle 3" joke several hundred times now. And its still SO funny! Glad you were able to borrow that one.
Keep safe over there.
Posted by: Leo T | March 2, 2007 5:59 PM
This "non-story" is being discussed as if it will affect the way that African-Americans will vote. To insinuate that they will make their decision based upon whether someone is "black enough" is not only insulting, it's racist and ignorant.
And for JD, if you've been a journalist for 20 years, why can't you construct a sentence correctly?
Posted by: gypsy | March 2, 2007 6:20 PM
This thread is getting pretty silly. Hell, if you want to play "Roots", Mitt Romney's great-grandfather had 5 wives. To be honest, I think mine did too. Shhhhh.. don't tell.
Posted by: dt | March 2, 2007 6:32 PM
Paulo, I remember John E talking about his "son" in Iraq (funny how he never does anymore and I remember when he posted that the DoD sent him a letter telling him he was being brought back into the military (yeah, right) and heading off to Iraq in February. See, Janet dear, that's the kind of folks you affiliate with. True liars.
Oh and DT, I have made many posts loaded with nothing but facts and analysis, including links, but they never do any good. Catherine never provides links.
Oh and to those who want me to "prove" my written works, sorry but you deranged Loony Lefters will never get my full name. Last time the Tribune published a letter of mine, I got way too much mail and way too many phone calls from you deranged folk.
But I need to prove nothing to the deranged Left. I've made some pretty good money over the years, I am editor of a magazine and much better in every way than anyone from the Deranged Loony Left.
How is Iraq treating you John E. and John E.'s son?
Posted by: John D | March 2, 2007 7:07 PM
The fact that Boy Wonder's family owned slaves 150 years ago, no big deal. I'm waiting for the story (yes I'll be happy with one from the MSM)about Boy Wonder's polygamist daddy - three wives.
Posted by: Terry | Mar 2, 2007 4:35:02 PM
And that reflects Obama how?
Posted by: Tony | March 2, 2007 8:38 PM
Leo T/no name,
I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.
OBAMA IN 08 !!!
Posted by: John E | March 2, 2007 11:46 PM
Everyone of us have relatives from WAY BACK that have committed a crime or had slaves. Give it a rest, I'm tired of people thinking generations today should be responsible for generations long ago. That's what keeps the race problems alive in this country.
Posted by: A Concerned Citizen | March 3, 2007 7:05 AM
Like I said Tony, "no big deal".
However, how many folks on the left are having their hissy fits about Romney and his Mormon background, where polygamy was outlawed 130 years ago, but hardly a mention that Boy Wonder's dad was a polygamist!
The issue is the treatment by the media.
Posted by: Terry | March 3, 2007 8:59 AM
John D,
Are you the guy who owns a company making industrial doors and wrote a letter to the Tribune calling all your workers lazy communists and signed it w/ your real name?
Posted by: jethro | March 3, 2007 9:42 AM
Smoking some more weed, Jethro?
Are you the same jethro from Beverly Hillbillies?
Posted by: John D | March 3, 2007 11:13 AM
And that reflects Obama how?
Posted by: Tony | Mar 2, 2007 8:38:49 PM
Tony! Tony! Tony!: This is how it reflects Mr. Obama, he never bothered to mention his fathers' antics in his book. This in turn throws up a big RED FLAG that he's starting to remind people that perhaps his real name should be Pinocchio Obama. There are lots of little slices of his life that he has been less then honest about. In
fact from here on in I will now address Mr. Obama as Pinocchio. If he ever starts doing live interviews and clears up some of these discrepancies, i will think Geppato is pulling his strings.
Posted by: Donald Bondi | March 3, 2007 11:38 AM
And that reflects Obama how?
Posted by: Tony | Mar 2, 2007 8:38:49 PM
Tony! Tony! Tony!: This is how it reflects Mr. Obama, he never bothered to mention his fathers' antics in his book. This in turn throws up a big RED FLAG that he's starting to remind people that perhaps his real name should be Pinocchio Obama. There are lots of little slices of his life that he has been less then honest about. In
fact from here on in I will now address Mr. Obama as Pinocchio. If he ever starts doing live interviews and clears up some of these discrepancies, i will think Geppato is pulling his strings.
Posted by: Don B | March 3, 2007 12:31 PM
Jeff:
Since Black female slaves were routinely raped by their white masters (hence the various hues and shades of the collective Black community), it can be argued that ALL Black people in America are decendants of slave owners. What is the point? This is a non-story, placed by some opposition research group-campaign( Hillary, anybody?) to smear Senator Obama. She tries to muscle her way into a historic event in Selma to which she was not invited to show her supreme arrogance that she is somehow entitled to the Black vote. She, who has done absolutely NOTHING for Black people. Yet she wraps herself in her husband's mantle thinking that we don't know that he did nothing for Black people either! We are not as dumb and stupid as she thinks us. If she wants to lead Black people, lead in her state to insure that no other Black child dies from a toothache. Make sure no other Black man is murdered by the police on his wedding day! But, she will find that she needs to offer something and not just to Black folks. She is not an imperial queen. We've had enough of that!
Posted by: Loraine | March 3, 2007 12:52 PM
John(Stalin)D, I have often provided links but like all lockstep wingnuts, you can't comprehend or reason.
Posted by: Catherine | March 3, 2007 1:17 PM
[quote]
in 20 years of professional journalism, I've had hundreds of articles published, I've had articles picked up the AP, picked up and used by think tanks, associations, businesses and more.
[/quote]
John D:
Since you make this claim, have been challenged to provide even one link to proof, and YOU REFUSE, how can you ever expect us to take anything you say as truthful? You say you have nothing to prove to us, but you are totally wrong - we are challenging you to PROVE to us that you are telling the truth.
Either that or join the ranks of Paulo, who refuses to back up his claims made in Swamp posts, even after having been given NUMEROUS opportunities to do so.
So, the bottom is: are you telling the truth, or are you fabricating your "facts"?
Posted by: BC | March 3, 2007 3:57 PM
Virtually all Americans, regardless of their race or ethnicity, have ancestors who owned slaves. Many African Americans who researched their family trees would be shocked to discover that have black as well as white ancestors who were slave owners. In the United States, free blacks as well as whites owned slaves (one of the South’s biggest slave owner was a freed black man notorious for his harsh treatment of his slaves). The percentage of free blacks who owned slaves was small, as was the percentages of whites who owned slaves, but the intricacies of the genetic pool guarantee that virtually everyone is related to them. African Americans who traced their heritage back to Africa would discover that virtually all their African ancestors were involved in the slave traded. The African tribes ran the “supply side” of the Atlantic slave trade. The ancestors of Hispanic Americans owned both black and Indian slaves. American Indian tribes practiced slavery both before and after the European discovery of America. The Cherokee Nation, for example, recently voted overwhelmingly to revoke the tribal citizenship of about 2,800 descendants of Cherokee slaves.
Posted by: Blair | March 4, 2007 9:28 AM
John D,
Do you write for Safety and Health Magazine?
Posted by: TheReamer | March 4, 2007 10:22 AM
"This is how it reflects Mr. Obama, he never bothered to mention his fathers' antics in his book. "
Why should he? His biological father was out of his life by the time he was two years old. He din't know him directly, he only knew him through family srories. I doubt those family stories included the alledged bigamy.
Do you expect all politicians to mention all of their ancestors sins or just Obama?
Posted by: Tony | March 4, 2007 1:12 PM
This guy is lying through his teeth. If he even submitted a letter to his local rag, they wouldn't publish it. How can any of you think that someone would pay John D. to write? God! It reminds me of snotty little prince Georgie saying that corporate CEOs are over paid and should be paid based upon their performance. If we turned that same standard on Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice/Ashcroft/Scalia/Scalito/etc. they would all OWE money to us. These people are reprehensible. Impeach! Impeach! Impeach!
Posted by: gypsy | March 4, 2007 5:50 PM
gyp,
I would like a link to some legit article by John D.
Posted by: C.Morris | March 4, 2007 7:43 PM
C Mo,
John D's idea of a scholarly article is a marketing pitch for his former employer, Burr Wolf, as it relates to "tax reduction" software.
Posted by: dt | March 5, 2007 4:32 PM
What tribe was Obama's mother if she was part Native American?
Posted by: Dorene Wiese | August 16, 2007 11:47 PM
For those who posted and said that this is not importtant:
Isn't this what Obama was saying in his speech that we the white americans should feel guilt for those that had blacks in slavery?
Come on you can't have it both ways!
Obama chose to make this an election about race when he said he is African-American. But at the same time he says he wants to unite the country? How can he do that unless he drops the hyphenated crap and becomes just a plain AMERICAN? Is it too much to ask people that want to live in this great nation to call themselves AMERICANS instead of being hyphenated? My daughter is half asian and sahe doesn't run around with a flag or license plate on her car declaring she is Asian or Korean American! And don't respond with the old being proud of your heritage song and dance. We encourage her to be proud of both of her heritages. She was even raised in South Korea the first 9 years of her life. It's time EVERYBODY stopped the BS and stood and became AMERICANS first! And furthermore those immigrants that come to America need to ASSIMILATE into our society and learn ENGLISH or go back to where they came from!
Posted by: Steve B | March 19, 2008 2:29 PM