by Christi Parsons
YORK, Pa.--Michelle Obama says her husband is no elitist, and he's got the personal history to prove it.
Democratic candidate Barack Obama's mother was "an 18-year-old single white woman raising a black child in the 60s," who sometimes relied on food stamps to feed her family, his wife told a crowd here this afternoon.
Until a few years ago, Obama said, she and her husband were still in debt, trying to pay off college loans that, combined, exceeded the amount of their mortgage.
And they know what it's like to get a call from a debt collection agency, she said.
"I remember those days clearly," she said, "sweating to get that mail."
Other politicians may not get the daily struggles of "regular folks," she said, but there's a candidate in their upcoming Democratic primary who does.
"What I do know," she said, "is this guy I'm married to, Barack Obama, understands a lot more than many politicians."
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Comments
Oh please, he was the child of a diplomat who went to a private high school. What other BS does Michelle Obama expect us to believe?
Posted by: Jeff | April 15, 2008 3:54 PM
What comic book did you pick that little tidbit up from? Check your facts before you speak, Jeff
Posted by: Sue Ellen Stamp | April 15, 2008 4:21 PM
Sue Ellen Stamp,
If you are a fish, it is wise to vacate the barrel before taunting the man with the gun.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/5572710.html
Posted by: JB | April 15, 2008 4:41 PM
I'm glad you asked, the "comic book" is called "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance." In it Obama recalls his childhood at Punahou School in Honolulu from the fifth grade until his graduation in 1979. He describes the school in the same chapter about "doing a little blow."
There's a sequel comic book to it called "The Audacity of Hope," although this one has fewer pictures.
Posted by: Jeff | April 15, 2008 4:45 PM
Here's some more for you regarding Obama's heritage, Sue Ellen. Yes, his birth father was a Kenyan, but the man who actually helped his mother raise him was named Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian who worked for the Indonesian government and later an oil company. No, he was not rich, but to classify his upbringing as poor is rather dubious.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/familytree/545455,BSX-News-wotreegg09.stng
Posted by: JB | April 15, 2008 4:51 PM
Obama and Michelle have to stop caring what a lot of people think. There is a sect of Americans that would tell them that they are not black and dont have children they are so against the man. They are just haters.
Posted by: Keith Lifetime Southsider | April 15, 2008 5:22 PM
Sue Ellen Stamp,
McCain's book "Faith of my Fathers" details how a dumb kid like McCain was able to sidestep navel academy grade standards and still be admitted because of his fathers and grandfathers influence..
It's very similar to Bush jr's story of how a dumb kid gets into Yale as a "legacy".
The back story on almost all of the Repubs is the same old story, they're all dumber than a bag of rocks,
Posted by: John E | April 15, 2008 5:28 PM
Punahou School-private
Occidental College-private
Columbia College-private
Harvard Law School-private
Honolulu Hawaii-capital
Jakarta Idonasia-capital
Los Angeles Calif.-large city
Manhattan,NYC, NY-large city
Chicago Ill.-large city
Cambridge Mass.- big city
Ah yeas the community orgaization, rasied by one parent/grandparents, still paying off loans is exaclty what you want to focus on becuse the trajectory through private echelons and major cities is something the working class can relate too.
Posted by: me | April 15, 2008 5:29 PM
Well, if going to a mere private high school proves Obama is a child of privledge, what does going to an extremely exclusive private boarding school, that did not admit blacks, say about John McCain?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episcopal_High_School_(Alexandria)
Posted by: Michael | April 15, 2008 5:41 PM
So, Jeff, what is the name of Obama's diplomat parent? Go ahead, prove it. Keep you swiftboat from sinking, it's going down fast.
Posted by: RomanB | April 15, 2008 6:11 PM
Glad to see two things on the blog today--
1. the other diva of the Obama couple is back out and on the trail (is she taking questions about the 30 years of Michelle Robinson tax returns she screamed for HIlary to produce)?
and 2. Well, all the Obama HQ-text-messaged kids on the blogs are napping (they had to get up early cuz they didn't want those who'd done any research to have at the blogs today ). Note to Kids: most of us got ahead because we don't sleep so much--we're working. We don't have time for basketball and such cuz the kids aren't in that cushy cushy U of C daycare or that great Rezko cash to clean our typical houses doncha know!
Don't journalists follow the old saw "Don't tell us, show us"?
Show us the tax records, Michelle Robinson, Michelle Obama, Barry Soleto, Barack Obama. All of em. 30 years now.
Pot meet kettle.
and Yes we CAN all get along.
Gotta go boil the laundry now.
Posted by: Maude | April 15, 2008 6:14 PM