I Can't Stop Wondering About Obama's Mother

I keep wondering what Barack Obama's mother would think about her son's presidential campaign. Unfortunately, she's not around for anyone to ask that question -- she died of ovarian cancer in 1995.

But there is one photo I keep seeing again and again of a young Barack and his mother, Ann Dunham. It's featured in a Time Magazine cover article from earlier this month on Obama -- a pretty young woman holding lovingly and protectively on to her young son so he doesn't fall off the fence he's perched on top of. It's really a lovely photo and captures one of those fleeting moments of life and parenthood that are common and special at the same time.

Surely, she would be proud as any mother would be. But I can't help wondering how she, his Caucasian mother, would react to his campaign's focus on the African-American part of his heritage?

For better or worse, the color of our skins tends to be a somewhat defining factor in how we are perceived and how we understand ourselves in this country. But aren't our lives informed just as much by how we were raised and by whom?

Obviously the fact that Obama is the first African-American presidential candidate with a real chance to win the White House is momentous and historically important. If Obama were to become president, the fact that the leader of the free world would, for the first time, be an African-American could only be a positive thing in terms of our discussions and feelings about race in America.

But I can't help that I want to hear more about how his mother and her family influenced his life, as well. What part of her heritage does he value and how did it influence him as he grew up?

The fact that she raised him almost single-handedly and saw him graduate from Harvard Law School and get elected to the United States Senate says just as much about her as about him. So to understand him better, I'd really like to know more about her -- the Midwestern woman who was able to raise a son of such accomplishment in an era of so much racial tension.

My husband thought it was odd that I would be so interested in hearing more about a candidate's mother. Maybe it's that photo itself. Maybe it's my curiosity about the fortitude and strength it undoubtedly took for a white mother to raise a black son in the 1960s. But I think her story would be a fascinating one and would tell me something more about the candidate who may become President Obama.

Joanne also blogs at PunditMom and MOMocrats.

Follow Joanne Bamberger on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PunditMom

Comments

[NanaK]

07:47 PM on 12/20/2007

Barack Obama's mother died in 1995 before he was elected to the Illinois state legislature, so while she saw him graduate from law school, she did not live to see him elected to any political office. As other commenters have noted, Obama writes expansively about his mother and about his maternal grandparents, with whom he lived for most of his childhood and all of his teenage years, in his first book -- which is a simply wonderful book. But he has also spoken often of his mother and her parents -- and the values he learned from them -- in talks and interviews during the campaign.

[lynnn]

08:37 PM on 12/19/2007

He does not focus on it, it is the media/your colleges who do. Think of everyone who said that Oprah supported him bc he was black! Why didn't anyone ever correct them? Or think of Kerry's comments, or Andrew Young's. Some Americans are stuck seeing black and white and cannot process anything beyond that.

[ikebona]

03:44 PM on 12/19/2007

I love your piece, Joanne.
It was so heartfelt that I teared up a little. I really would've loved to know what Barack's mother would think or say about her son.
I'll save the tears for November 2008.
Thanks for the beautiful piece.

[DANIELLECLARKE]

03:15 PM on 12/19/2007

I am sure she is happy (as i believe she is watching from above)

Last august i met Baracks young second cousin with the same last name as his mother. He too is a humble young man and what he says of his family speaks of the same.

They do not seek the limelight but only want to see positive things for this country and the world. The cousin has helped me many times doing Obama events but he always stayed quiet about his geneology as not to seem to be a glory seeker. ( I had to do a search to find out about him as the name Dunham seemed familiar).
Yes that family has great vibes so it must run in their blood.

[TishiJo]

03:14 PM on 12/19/2007

Senator Obama has never negated his Mother and talks about her influence freely during his town meetings, and wrote extensively about her in his books. He is bi-racial, with dark colored skin so PEOPLE focus on his blackness, it is not a strategy of his campaign. In predominantly white Iowa, he leads in polls and in the hearts of Iowans who want a strong leader who will unite us. Perhaps Ms. Bamburger should do a little research before implying Obama is dishonoring his Mother. His Mother would be proud of everything he has accomplished.

[slc20]

01:45 PM on 12/19/2007

How ironic that you'd claim that Obama "focus(es) on the African-American part of his heritage" when he has been criticized by the african community for "not being black enough" and "virtually ignoring" african american issues.

I'd say YOU re the one who's focusing on his white heritage, just like others have focused on his black heritage.

Obama just can't escape the tendency for other people to see him through their own filters and biases.

[cynara]

12:50 PM on 12/19/2007

Most children of mixed race in the public eye, like Obama and Halle Berry seem to identify, or be identified, most with one of their two heritige's than the other- often the heritage that is not northern european. Which makes me a bit anxious about my own future childrens' embrace of my culture. My husband is proudly Mexican, of mostly indigenous descent. I am proud of my own heritige, which is completly northern European since my family too has an interesting history and its own traditions. Will our (yet unborn) children consider themselves Latinos, and toss the supposably boring white heritage out the window? I've seen this happen in a number of mix race friends. They maybe half white, usually raised by a white mother, but white just isn't cool, so they shun this half of their identity; proudly touting their Latino identity and ignoring their european roots.

Halle Berry makes the arguement that she considers herself African American since it was the way she was treated by others. But I'd prefer my children to recognize and be proud of both sides of their heritage based on who they are, not on how some ignorant neighbor sees them. Maybe in twenty years, I'll know if I've asked for too much...

[jg82567]

12:23 PM on 12/19/2007

he's written two books and there's a good bit of info about his mother in the first 'Dreams From My Father'...don't be misled by the title, there's more about his family in hawaii than his absent father in the actual content of the book

[dtd]

12:19 PM on 12/19/2007

I would imagine she would regret giving him his father's name. Like most mothers raising sons on their own, she gave him his father's name to give him a legacy, sense of identity and bond with his absent father. I'm sure she never imagined that a gift of love would be used against him to derail his aspirations. I'm sure she would be enormously proud that her son got over his pain of rejection from his father and consequential and TYPICAL irresponsible teenage behavior to become an Ivey League educated attorney, first African American President of the Harvard Law Review, US Senator and devoted husband and father, but nevertheless pained to learn that those achievements could never be enough because American is unforgiving of Black men. Unlike prominent White men who will always be forgiven for their past personal failings, Obama will never be forgiven. As we are now witnessing bearing out in the latest polls from NH, all it took was one unfounded allegation to re-cast a scholar and duely elected US Senator into a typical Black male criminal and secret muslim terrorist. She would be feeling both pride and pain.

[SamanthaJaneSalem]

12:16 PM on 12/19/2007

I'd like to know more about Derek Jeter's mother because she did such a fabulous job raising him-- but Jeter's job is to play baseball and help his team win, not tell us more about his terrific mom.

Likewise, Obama-- his job is to help make our country a better place, and whether his mother was white, black, Asian, whatever, these matters of "human interest" take a low priority next to Obama's presidency.

After his two terms are over he can write about his childhood in his memoirs.

[dinarasor]

12:07 PM on 12/19/2007

If you want to know more about his mother and how he was raised, you should read his first book that was written after Harvard Law school...Dreams of My Father....the book really looks into his mind and his upbringing and he is refreshingly open about his life

[WeShallOvercome]

12:05 PM on 12/19/2007

My guess is that being half white doesn't sell as well as being half black. Ask David Axelrod, "Obama's Narrator" and political operative, since it was probably his idea to negate the mother- why confuse the American electorate. They've got a storyline and focusing on his white mom just doesn't fit.