I am totally flabbergasted by this

During the Saddleback forum, Barack Obama casually tossed out a reference to Matthew 25:40 and the "least of my brothers."  But what does Obama himself actually do for the least of his own brothers?

Well... until this morning, I had no idea Obama had a half-brother, George, living in poverty in Kenya.  Today, it is all over the news.

"No-one knows who I am," he told the magazine, before claiming: "I live here on less than a dollar a month."

The brother - ok, to be honest, the half-brother - of the Democratic Party nominee for President is living on less than $12 a year, in a tiny and exposed shack.  You would think a multi-millionaire like Obama could go out of his way, just a little, to help his relative live a better life.  After all, Obama wants to take more of all our money in taxation in order to pay for more social welfare programs.  But what has Obama done with his own money for "the least of his own bretheren"?

Apparently, not a damn thing.  Barack Obama has millions of dollars - and has been at least fairly wealthy for many years since graduating from Harvard Law School, authoring best selling books, and serving in the Illinois legislature and U.S. Senate.  Obama has even met with his brother George since joining the Senate, and written about him in those books:

He has only met his famous older brother twice - once when he was just five and the last time in 2006 when Senator Obama was on a tour of East Africa and visited Nairobi.

The Illinois senator mentions his brother in his autobiography, describing him in just one passing paragraph as a "beautiful boy with a rounded head".

Of their second meeting, George Obama said: "It was very brief, we spoke for just a few minutes. It was like meeting a complete stranger."

Clearly, Barack Obama has known well of his brother's poverty, and has been in a position to help him - and rejected him.  Just a few thousand dollars - chump change for a man who earned about a million dollars in 2006 - could have given his brother a safe home in impoverished Kenya and the chance to make something of his life.  Hell, Barack's tax refund from 2006 would have been enough to send his little brother to college - with full room and board - virtually anywhere in the world!  That's the same year Barack last met George!  Yet, here we find George living in miserable conditions, in a 6' by 9' shack with only a calendar and a few posters to remind him what life is like in other parts of the world - other parts of the world where his own relatives have every luxury available.  What kind of compassion can Barack Obama really claim to have, and why should we believe him when he talks about concepts like giving up more of our money to help the less fortunate?

What does the younger Obama think of his family relations?

"If anyone says something about my surname, I say we are not related. I am ashamed," he said.

Ashamed.  I would be, too.  Now, I admit full well that over the years I have become distant from many of my closer relatives.  I live far away and have little in common with them anymore.  But I allow myself to remain distant knowing that my family lives safe and comfortable lives.  If some of them became homeless, I would gladly move them into my own home.  If some of them became hungry, I would make sure they had food to eat.  And I would offer them all the resources I had to help them get back on their feet and back to living safe and comfortable lives.  And I know they would do the same for me.  That's what families do.  But the man who wants to be not just the President of the United States but the moral leader of the world can't even make sure his own closest relatives aren't living in abject poverty.

Meanwhile, what does John McCain actually do to help people living in poverty?  He brings them to America.

Comments

[Independent Thinker]

here is a telling tidbit from the link about Obama's taxes, regarding charitable deductions:

"$5,000 of which went to the Obamas’ church, Trinity United, whose reverend has made news lately for his anti-American sermons"

So... Obama could give $5,000 to the church he now says he admits was wrong for him to belong to, but he couldn't spend $5,000 of his own money to fly his half-brother to America and help him get an education and a head start on a successful life. Hell, with Obama's university connections, he probably could have set his brother up with a full scholarship.

Instead, George lives in a 60 square foot shack.

Nice.

[Justa Dog]

Oh no need to worry about Africa. Obama authored the Global Poverty Act, and if becomes law then over half a TRILLION $$$ of your money and mine will be channeled over the years to all his long lost relatives - and all those his adulterous father gave birth too as well - not to mention the corrupt governments.

Ain't he just a peach of a guy!

[Gullyborg]

I just saw a blurb at electoral-vote.com, where Obama is no longer winning, by the way, attacking Cindy McCain and claiming Obama is great to all his relatives around the world.

I wonder if they are going to retract that...

[Patrick Joubert Conlon]

Obama's phrase, a "beautiful boy with a rounded head" says it all. A totally empty meaningless phrase. I thought all human skulls were round - well at least not square.

[Gullyborg]

Sounds like Charlie Brown.

[Paul Terry Walhus]

This is a generic problem with the rich thoughout our American society. Rich people generally keep everything for themselves and don't want to get involved with their poorer relatives.

[LLoyd]

"..(A)beautiful boy with a rounded head".

Now am I the only one to pick up the double ententre here?

[Gullyborg]

ummm... yes, you are. please explain.

[TheGunGeek]

If I were running for office and counting on a lot of my support to be due, at least in part, on my being of a particular ethnicity, I wouldn't want anyone to be talking about my relatives if doing so might cause people to notice that I was not what I claimed to be.

Not that there's anything wrong with being Arab... I don't care what you are as long as you're honest about it.

[Gullyborg]

Kenya is not an Arab nation. Just so we're clear on that.

[Steve]

You have forced me to have “sympathy for the devil” in this case. This isn’t an appropriate line of attack.

Obama’s deadbeat dad left Obama when he was only two. Didn’t have much contact with him afterwards.

So, why should he feel any family loyalty to any of his father’s offspring after his father left him. Yeah, his father went around having child after child but if I was Barack, I would have no feeling once so ever for those offspring. If I had any feeling it would be one of antipathy.

I hear this commonly happens, although in this case yeah, there were some unique factors. But I have heard that it is often the case where a father (sometimes a mother) abandons his “Starter family” and indeed becomes a very good father to his new family, but for the children of his first marriage he just for the most part cuts off relations with them.

No wonder that the “starter children” would have so much resentment towards the “new children”. The new children have the father that he should have been for for the starter children but wasn’t.

By making fun of this situation in the case of Barak you are alienating all the “starter children” out there who have found themselves in a similar situation.

One thing I do find interesting about the whole “George Obama” thing is that his father named him Barack (an Arab name) and this guy George (an American name). Or is this just a nickname, like say Barry?

But again, don’t blame Barack for not not helping a guy who really isn’t his brother except genetically. First we don’t even know if he knew about George, and even if he did why should he care? I honestly wouldn’t care if some offspring of my deadbeat dad who left my mother and I as a child lived or died. He would be like a stranger.

Although, I am am just speculating on how I would feel as my dad never left my mother and I.