Not His Brother’s Keeper
Or his aunt’s. Or his uncle’s.
The Times of London finds the long-lost relatives Barack Obama could not, but does this really have anything to do with the election? Zeituni Onyango played a memorable role in Obama’s memoir Dreams from My Father, but now lives in a public-housing project in Boston.
…
[A] few miles from where the Democratic presidential candidate studied at Harvard, his Kenyan aunt and uncle, immigrants living in modest circumstances in Boston, have a contrasting American story.
Zeituni Onyango, the aunt so affectionately described in Mr Obama’s best-selling memoir Dreams from My Father, lives in a disabled-access flat on a rundown public housing estate in South Boston.
Speaking outside her home in Flaherty Way, South Boston, on Tuesday, Ms Onyango, 56, confirmed she was the “Auntie Zeituni” in Mr Obama’s memoir. She declined to answer most other questions about her relationship with the presidential contender until after the November 4 election. “I can’t talk about it, I just pray for him, that’s all,” she said, adding: “After the 4th, I can talk to anyone.”
It’s nobody’s business but Barack’s if he chooses to send his Auntie a couple of hundred bucks a month to find a better place to live—from the sound of it, he knew exactly where to find her (and buy her silence).
But that hasn’t stopped her from donating to him:
The Times could not determine their immigration status and an official at Boston City Hall said that Ms Onyango was a resident of Flaherty Way but not registered to vote on the electoral roll. However, that Ms Onyango made a contribution to the Obama campaign would indicate that she is a US citizen.
I wouldn’t be so sure, given the revelations of fundraising shenanigans in the last few days.
In any case, if he won’t help out his aunt (or his brother), why does he think it so important that we do?
PS: BTW, thanks to modern technology, you can use Google Maps to check out her neighborhood: Flaherty Way, South Boston. I recommend Street View to a real sense of the ‘hood.