Time Mag: How Obama's Mom Made Him Who He Is

Time:

Each of us lives a life of contradictory truths. We are not one thing or another. Barack Obama's mother was at least a dozen things. S. Ann Soetoro was a teen mother who later got a Ph.D. in anthropology; a white woman from the Midwest who was more comfortable in Indonesia; a natural-born mother obsessed with her work; a romantic pragmatist, if such a thing is possible.

"When I think about my mother," Obama told me recently, "I think that there was a certain combination of being very grounded in who she was, what she believed in. But also a certain recklessness. I think she was always searching for something. She wasn't comfortable seeing her life confined to a certain box."

Read the whole story: Time

Comments

[Susan1968]

Obama seems to say nicer things about the father who abandoned him while being more critical of the mother and grandmother who raised him.

.

[iluvsummr]

Really? Please give some specific examples. I guess you haven't read Dreams From My Father. Obama was so disillusioned/disappointed in his father's actions and choices at one stage that his mother (Ann) jumped to Barack senior's defense. That told me what a wonderful human being Ann Sutoro was, because she had every right to just pile on. The book, among other things, lays bare Barack senior's dysfunction and its impact on all the children he left behind. Barack himself has said that if he'd known he only had a short time left with his mother, he would have written about her instead.

[vsign]

Americans are ready for certain changes - a change in government helping us navigate through this economic crisis. We are ready for a national health care solution. We are ready for the government to lead the way on solutions to global warming - with green JOBS.

We are ready to look at our foreign policy relationships with other peoples around the world. I do not think we are ready to be pacifists and lay down our weapons.

Like his mother engaged in risky behavior - I think Obama engages in risky behavior - risky behavior for the Democratic Party and for America.

Obama has asked for too much open ended belief - pure belief - almost religious belief. Belief in him alone. THIS IS RISKY!

[John Warren Gotsch]

RISKY? Risky is putting WILD-Bill back in the WH loaded with young women!

[vsign]

I liked it when Bill said that - next - Obama will tell us to vote for him because he doesn't steal cars.

This in answer to why we should not be influenced by Obama saying he doesn't take money from oil companies since that has been outlawed for a hundred years.

[iluvsummr]

No actually, he's asked for voters to believe in themselves and in their ability to do the right thing. I see nothing risky about that.

[meltingpot101]

How insightful, to imagine Obama as a litle boy, to imagine his mother and his father. It seems he has inherited the best from both his parents...and the best all of people who helped to raise him, influenced him. This explains why he has a higher and more universal understanding of many things really.

[NtFourSale]

I get the sense that Obama would have treated his mother more kindly and seen her in a more positive light had he had the chance to do things over again. He may have gained a better appreciation for her had she lived a bit longer. A real tragedy for both of them.

[ObserverinVancouver]

It is a treat to read so many warm, open generous comments.

[Shantee]

What a fine tribute to Obama's mother....what an exquisitely gentle, strong and bohemian character she was.......an amazing force of nature.....it takes your breath away.......the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, that's for sure.

You have to read this story about Hillary's upbringing----talk about ying and yang:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/paglia/2008/01/10/hillary/index.html

[Shantee]

I am extremely moved by the story of Obama's mother Ann. Someone should make a thoughtful film about her life. She was a true bohemian and a real feminist. Both gentle and strong and curious. It's a pity she's not alive...she would have been so proud of her son. You can see why Barak fell for Michelle, she's strong, smart, and very down to earth.

[crossoverwriter]

Obama's mom was a fascinating person, and very intelligent. No wonder Obama is so amazing, and thinks outside the box.

[The 13 Colonies]

well since we havent had a president for 7 plus years, maybe this time we won't pick someone to have a beer with. If we do want to have a beer with him, we will make sure he doesn't cry about it all the time.

[kellygrrrl]

I consider This brave young woman to be a Renaissance Woman - a true Visionary. It is very difficult, even today, much less 40 years ago, to practice such open-minded forward-thinking style of parenting.

I'm glad we are all getting an opportunity to learn this great American story.

[hankandted]

I think a key to understanding the senator is the fact that both of his parents died when he was relatively young.

[LBM]

She was 53 I think they said, so he was about 30, not a child when she died. The thing that I noticed is that she choose to send him back to the US to be raised by her parents which is a terrible thing to do to your child. If it was more important for him to be in the US then it should've been more important for her to be there with him. I was surprised at how closely my life paralleled with his. My mom was born at the same time as his mom, she was pregnant at 18 and married my dad who she knew in college. We moved around to lots of different states and lived in another country while my dad was in the air force. They're still together though and they never were apart from us. My mom was certainly not ready to have children at 18 and I suffered for it. I think it's so apparent from his reaching out to his estranged father and trying to fit into some community through Wright, that he has also suffered from this upbringing. It's actually very sad. I relate to him, but I don't think he should be president.

[BIG JOHN]

DO YOU THINK A MAN WHO SUFFERS FROM P.T.S.D. SHOULD BE PRESIDENT?

[Binea]

I thought he should be president even before reading the article.Things like government transparency,getting out of Iraq asp,no devisive politics ,restoring by executive order those executive orders which stomped on our cival liberties...character,intelligence,honesty,openmindedness..they Make me sure he should be President.

[December7]

If its a question of suffering they all have their share, McCain was POW, and we don't know what led to his first marriage breakdown, and Hilary is still distancing herself from Bills "policies". We shall judge them only on their policies, leadership and convictions. I believe they have a core integrity they maintain to be who they are no matter who they have associated with. My greatest take in Obama is his grasp and understanding of the constitution, the sacred creed and source of all that is America. That is the only doctrine we require the president to be fluent in

[ladygreenslippers]

THis is one of the reasons i feel that Obama was reluctant to bring up his mother in the campaign, especially since she is not alive to defend herself. I think he is sad that it is necessary to bare himself if he wants to be relateable, which i think he thinks have nothing to do with his politics. That what HE has done with his life thus far, should suffice. I too have a similar upbringing, and it would break my heart if i someone blamed my parents for sending me at 12 overseas to go to school. They do what they think is best, they try to give you what they can't. I suffered for it, but i benefited too. It is a hard thing to do - i'm glad that i have the luxury to NOT have to make that choice.
My sense is, when she was alive, Obama felt she was fragile and needed his protection. Now that she is no longer around, and he has kids of his own, i'm sure he now appreciates what a great, strong woman she was. She was the one who stayed, yet, like all children, he obsessed over the parent who left. I think he realises that she got the short end of that stick, and feels even more protective towards protecting her personal legacy.

[Shantee]

LBM....please don't judge. First of all to lose your parents when you're 30 years old is still quite young. How nice for you that you had a "leave it to beaver' upbringing.....you are in the minority. When I look around me I think many kids are better off being raised by their grandparents. The nuclear family is a farce. Children brought up in extended families are much healthier emotionally. This fellow Barack Obama didn't turn out too badly. His mother would be so proud of him. We have all suffered and benefited from our upbringing in one way or another in a variousdegrees. It sounds like his mother was a true bohemian.

[tiredofwaiting]

no wonder he's the way he is - i feel pity for him now. an ungrounded upbringing, dragged from here to there, not knowing who he was or where his roots were - not who i want for my president!

[EvoMan]

Idiotic remark. You would do well to look into the background and upbringing of some of our greatest presidents. Start with Lincoln.

[veracal]

and include FDR among others

[sherbug]

I can see your point when I look at Dubyah...fine upbringing and very grounded in the finest of families. He certainly makes a fine President.

[ladygreenslippers]

You're right, i don't want someone who is empathetic, who understands what it feels like to scrounge around for food stamps, who had a mother who had to drop out of school to raise him because she wasn't rich, and who had to wake up at 4 am to study because he was too poor to go to the elitist school. And especially since he had to witness the death of his mother scourged by the worry of having to pay hospital bills, because she had no health care. It doesn't make sense to elect someone who understands personally the problems we face as a country. I want someone who smells like a crayola crayon, has a perfect Barbie and Ken life with a Made in China label on the back of his neck!

[TurnThePageGA]

Fact Check: She had health insurance. It was the high copays associated with her health care plan that she had to worry about.

[TurnThePageGA]

Forgot to say above that this was a good post!

[robXdion]

Part 2

Furthermore, if Obama as a small child was raised in the continental US in the mid 60s, he would have been subjected to all the blatant racism and hatred countless other blacks dealt (and still deal with in a subdued form) with thereby eroding and destroying his self-esteem. What Obama covers in his book about racial ambiguity and confusion along with drug pressures and image problems are 65% of what most blacks go thru staying in the continental US.

Basically, there are a lot of societal factors that could have destroyed Obama at a young age. These factors are a direct reflection of the moral degradation of inherent in US society that everyone wants to act like is "unpatriotic" to talk about. Rev. Wright talked about these issues. The same issues that could have destroyed a damn good potential US President. His mother did us all a favor in taking him far away to save us from ourselves.

[robXdion]

Part 1

People are wowed by Obama's story but the sad ass truth is that his life and cheerful outlook was only possible because he was raised far from mainland US. If his mother and father had met at ANY university in the continental US, his father would have been chased back to Kenya.

A mixed child like Obama was a prime candidate for an abortion by a white woman in the early 60s. Per chance his mother would have given birth and raised him anywhere on the mainland, she would have been ostracized and caught pure hell beyond relief. That factors into why she stayed the hell away and kept moving.

[tbone99]

I can't help but feel bitter about the wonderful unique person Ann Sotoro was , obviously gifted and devoted to the best for her children.Yet Obama writes a book about his father , who was never there, and doesn't even visit his mother when she's dying .Seems so much like the short shrift women are given everywhere in the world.

[IronMikeHouston]

Well she wasn't good on the eyes.

[Shantee]

You are wrong about that ironmike.....depending on what photograph you look at. In some photographs Obama's mother looks quite attractive. What's more interesting to me is that she was truly a free spirit, an authentic bohemian.

[robXdion]

Maybe you outta relax and worry about your own life instead of reading up on others. Its only natural for a man that always had contact with his mother to actually wonder about the father responsible for his darker hue and bequeathed to his son the label of "blackness" and his own namesake. While he could always tell his mother he loved her, he never got to talk much to his father. Ever think of it that way? Or are you to bitter pining away over the plight of women and applying it to ever one else's business.

[babybabybaby]

I think he wrote the book about this father because he felt that was a side of him that needed exploration. It was probably more for him than anyone else. But I've yet to read it so, take that with a grain of salt.

[farseer]

The book came out while his mother was still living. But in the new edition he has a preface which is very complimentary about his mother and says if he had known she was going to die, the book would have been more about her and less a meditation on the absent parent. Read the preface at Amazon.com (see the sample pages). Book title "Dreams of my father"

[Binea]

We always long for the ones who aren't there.Obviously you have never felt that.It's a common feeling among the younger generation.Those from broken homes etc.