May 19, 2012

Why would Obama pretend to have been born in Kenya?

I asked this question the other day, when Breitbart broke the news of that literary agent's brochure that said Obama was born in Kenya. I said:
Where's the advantage in being seen as African African? It certainly isn't a way to get affirmative action from law school admissions and appointments committees. They may crudely care mainly about the way their classrooms look and take advantage of African African applicants, but the theories of affirmative action (especially the legal ones) have to do with black people who come from the American culture with its history of discrimination, prejudice, and disadvantage.
Mark Steyn has a good answer: Obama had reason not to want to be seen as having been born in Hawaii:
After all, if your first book is an exploration of racial identity and has the working title “Journeys in Black and White,” being born in Hawaii doesn’t really help. It’s entirely irrelevant to the twin pillars of contemporary black grievance — American slavery and European imperialism. To 99.99 percent of people, Hawaii is a luxury-vacation destination and nothing else. Whereas Kenya puts you at the heart of what, in an otherwise notably orderly decolonization process by the British, was a bitter and violent struggle against the white man’s rule. Cool! The composite chicks dig it, and the literary agents.
That reminds me of what Rush Limbaugh said yesterday: "Maybe this business he was born in Kenya, maybe it was just compression, you know, like his girlfriend in the book.  Maybe he was just writing it himself as a composite." But Rush's bigger point was:
If you're Barack Obama, wouldn't you rather... people get all absorbed and sidetracked on some blurb in a literary pitch years and years ago?  I can see Obama and his boys sitting in the White House saying, "You know, let's have some fun with the birthers. Let's go ahead and release this thing...." 

32 comments:

gadfly said...

The Birthers had best shut up, because Sean Hannity has declared that Barry was born in Hawaii for sure - now that the president has finally released his birth certificate. I wonder when Sean was able to examine an official paper COLB from our island paradise?

Andy said...

I can see Obama and his boys sitting in the White House saying, "You know, let's have some fun with the birthers. Let's go ahead and release this thing...."

The dumb/racist wing of the Republican Party doesn't need any help or encouragement.

Petunia said...

I think Steyn has a point. Being born in Honolulu and raised for several years in Hawaii, a place many people can only dream of visiting, doesn't exactly jibe with the "deprived black guy raised by a single mom and working his tail off for every single thing he's achieved" theory.

Especially when you're really mixed-race, were raised by the white half of your family, and took advantage of affirmative action every step of the way.

edutcher said...

Maybe he wasn't pretending*. At this point, one scenario is as likely as the other.

Agree with Petunia except that the fact his grandmother, the bank VP, was the one who raised him in the lap of privilege was hardly difficult to find.

Andy R. said...

I can see Obama and his boys sitting in the White House saying, "You know, let's have some fun with the birthers. Let's go ahead and release this thing....

The dumb/racist wing of the Republican Party doesn't need any help or encouragement.


Apparently the dumb ones were the Ivy League crowd who were afraid to question anything about this guy for fear of being rraaaaciisssst.

Their own soft bigotry is as bigoted as anything of which they accuse the rest of the country.

* The Demos fired a shot across McCain's bow WRT to his being born in the Canal Zone, early in the campaign. Given how he didn't challenge Zero too hard for fear of race riots, this could have been their dream scenario.

Hagar said...

I think I remember that the bitter fighting during the post-war "decolonization" of Kenya was a lot more between Kikuyus and Luos than with British.

Barack Obama Sr. was a Luo and an adherent of Tom M'boya, who was shot and killed by Jomo Kenyatta's Kikuyus, and Obama Sr. found it prudent to depart Kenya for the time being.

lemondog said...

In the ‘90’s he was in Chicago’s south side as a community organizer. It is possible he felt the need for greater authenticity as a black man, and as an African-born African wished to distinguish himself from other community leaders and gain more sway with the black community.

Chip S. said...

I'd like to say something nice about the Obama Administration, and this seems to be as good a place as any.

The State Department appears to have done a good job in the case of Chen Guangchen. We don't know what the quid pro quo was, of course, but my expectations for this case were highly pessimistic, and they appear to have been wrong.

edutcher said...

Maybe Hillary got her way, for once.

Supposedly, that's why she can't wait to get out.

AllenS said...

edutcher said...
Maybe Hillary got her way, for once.

Supposedly, that's why she can't wait to get out


How's her changy thingy in Libya and Egypt turning out?

edutcher said...

The final straw; they just shut down the belly dancing channel.

As they used to say, "Of course you know, THIS means war!".

PS I'm on your side; that's the rationale given for why she's walking around looking like something the cat wouldn't drag in.

Oso Negro said...

Perhaps the Obama campaign or even Jay Carney should be asked by someone just precisely how Obama explains this long-standing misrepresentation of his nativity. I should think it would ratchet up the pressure to release at least some of the missing documents.

ronalddewitt said...

You shouldn't go hard on Obama on this one. We know that geography isn't his strong suite, and at the time he may still have thought Hawaii was part of Kenya.

Penny said...

Obama's innocent enough "white lie" never expected to meet Al Gore's internet.

Penny said...

Is it PC to still call them "white" lies?

Probably not.

Oh dear, what should we call them now?

Carl Vero said...

It's about time for an updated version of a song from Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore:
He is a Kenyan!
For his literary agent said it,
And it's greatly to her credit,
That he is a Kenyan!
For he might have been a Russian,
A French, or Turk, or Prussian,
Or perhaps Indonesian!
But in spite of all temptations
To belong to other nations,
He remains a Kenyan!

David said...

Rush is right. Magic is rooted in distraction and misdirection. Obama is indeed the Magical Negro.

David said...

Andy R sez: "The dumb/racist wing of the Republican Party . . . "

Andy! Kumbaya! Some Republicans are not dumb and racist.

Swifty Quick said...

So now when we have Obama expressly admitting he was born in Kenya, he's "just pretending."

You can't make this stuff up.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Wait.. let me cover my eyes and ears.. and say no comment.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Rush is right. Magic is rooted in distraction and misdirection. Obama is indeed the Magical Negro.

For the record, Rush was quoting an article in the LA Times.

Not that matters anymore..

Richard Dolan said...

Marc Steyn, Rush and (to some extent) Ann frame the question as 'what did Obama stand to gain by inventing an African birthplace?'. So, the speculation goes, he did it to position himself better for future endeavors.

Perhaps that was his motive. But I suspect that it was also an early exercise in O's capacity to fantasize about himself, to create myths starring his favorite character. An African origin is, in its way, a badge of authenticity and ethnic power. Having written two books about himself, surely the movie version couldn't have been far behind in his imagination. He was already casting himself as the prince of the people, the One come from afar and destinrd to lead them. Like Lancelot. Except his Camelot would surpass JFK's in every way, starting with the guy at ths center. It's who he wanted to be, and how he saw himself.

Sara (Pal2Pal) said...

The man is a pathological liar. He either claimed he was born in Kenya and that is a lie, or he claimed he was born in Hawaii and that is a lie. Since he has now claimed both, does it matter which is true? He is a liar. He needs to go.

JAL said...

Is Richard Dolan seeing a light at the end of his tunnel?

That kind of thinking described is somewhat narcissistic. Ya think?

In the long run not good for children, or other living things including slow metabolizing bactterium.

Lawyer Mom said...

To your point, it's hard to disagree. Elizabeth Warren was an encouraging signpost, wading in as she did, as a Cherokee.

But if we're talking raw strategy, why not "Dreams from my Rainbow"? It's dreamily Rorschach, says nothing, and enraptures all. There is no black and white, just multi-culti hip-and-cool.

And I thought our president was so prescient. Damn.

james conrad said...

Anne is interested in the WHY, myself, i could care less, the bottom line is Obama obviously lied about his country of birth and continued living this lie until it became inconvenient.

Rusty said...

David said...
Andy R sez: "The dumb/racist wing of the Republican Party . . . "

Andy! Kumbaya! Some Republicans are not dumb and racist.



Ferget it Dave.
Andy has a cartoon running in his little noggin. It's a black and white cartoon. Everyone in it is a victim except Heckle and Jeckle. They are republicans.It isn't a funny cartoon. The cartoon makes Andy angry.

Tabor said...

Even assuming a Hawaiian birth, maybe he really grew up thinking he was born in Kenya. After all, how does any child know where they're born unless their parents tell them? Maybe his Mom thought it would be exotic to tell him he was born in Kenya. She seemed the type that would do that.

Mick said...

gadfly said...

"The Birthers had best shut up, because Sean Hannity has declared that Barry was born in Hawaii for sure - now that the president has finally released his birth certificate. I wonder when Sean was able to examine an official paper COLB from our island paradise?"



NO ONE knows yet, and Obama has never proven, WHERE he was born. A pic on a website is proof of NOTHING. Even the "law prof" should know that (but I guess she doesn't). Regardless, even if he was born on the Oval Office desk, and delivered by JFK, while a big star shown above, he would not be a natural born Citizen. BHO2 was born of dual allegiance (at best) to Britain and the US, and quite possibly still holds British citizenship today. Obama Sr. was an improper ancestor ("improper ascendant"- Federalist #68). The purpose of the requirement for nbC was the prevention of FOREIGN INFLUENCE, so it is not possible that Obama, born with, and possibly still having, allegiance to foreign nations, is eligible. He was exactly the ilk that the founders were preventing from the office. They were SO right. Now he must answer to me. I am sovereign, and have taken an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. I will have my day in court.

Astro said...

A lot of what's gone on over the past few years makes a lot more sense under Jack Cashill's thesis that Obama was being groomed to become mayor of Chicago.

Phil 314 said...

Well Zumunda was already taken.

JAL said...

It must have been that he could see Kenya from Hawaii.

hum'n'mum said...

Hey, Ms. Althouse:

You must be damn proud of that sterling readership you've cultivated.

No matter how informed and/or lucid your musings might seem to you, even you must see that you've attracted all manner of dolt and creep to your blog.

Our descendents, having duly noted our apparent moral progress in the latter half of the twentieth century, will hardly believe that the mindless hatred and pathetic insecurity revealed in your comments section could still announce itself in a public forum in 2012. But, I suspect that shock will pale next to their disgust at your eagerness to slake your readers' thirst for anything mean, dumb, or dishonest.

This roll call of ignorance, bigotry, and just plain nastiness is your legacy, Ms. Outhouse. You will "not escape calumny."