October Surprise!
October 30, 2008 4:10 PM   Subscribe

Obama's Aunt is living in poverty in Boston. Apparently Zeituni Onyango - Aunti Zeituni of Dreams from My Father - has lived in Boston for several years. The campaign has confirmed it. Fox News quotes her as saying "I can't talk about it, I just pray for him, that's all...After the 4th, I can talk to anyone."

In probably unrelated news, a CNN poll of polls claims that Obama's lead is down to only five points. FWIW, fivethirtyeight and the WSJ have rundowns of a recent poll that goes against everything we've heard about young voters so far. This particular poll may partially explain CNN's numbers.
posted by nushustu (37 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: yep, this sucks and is a non-story -- mathowie



 
Impossible! Obama's dad is really Malcolm X
posted by birdherder at 4:14 PM on October 30, 2008


Polls incorporate assumptions about voter demographics (weighting for numbers of over 60, Republicans, etc). Also, "only" five points? Bush's 2004 "mandate" was like .00001%. (<-Hyperbolic statement, but true in spirit.)
posted by DU at 4:19 PM on October 30, 2008


Wow, who gives a shit.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:21 PM on October 30, 2008 [1 favorite]


Obama's dad is really Malcolm XObama's dad is really Malcolm X

Oh, please. Everyone knows it was Frank Marshall Davis
posted by IndigoJones at 4:22 PM on October 30, 2008


She donated money to his campaign, so it stands to reason she's supporting him.

What exactly is supposed to be the controversy here?
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:23 PM on October 30, 2008


No. Just no, no, no. You might as well make a post asseting that Obama's birth certificate is faked, or that he bought his house with Saddam Hussein's money, or any other of the fringe talking points sliming their way around the blogs this week.
posted by jokeefe at 4:25 PM on October 30, 2008


I don't understand what the point of this is. Are you supposed to give money to your aunts and uncles that you haven't talked to in decades? Would people be pissed to know I have money in savings but my dad nags me for gambling money that I don't give him?
posted by mathowie at 4:25 PM on October 30, 2008


This is why I can't run for public office. No telling the places they'll find some of my relatives.
posted by notjustfoxybrown at 4:27 PM on October 30, 2008


My grandma lives in poverty in Boise Idaho. My wife has two aunts that live in poverty in Wisconsin. We send them checks. And you know what they do? They spend it at the casino.
posted by tkchrist at 4:27 PM on October 30, 2008 [2 favorites]


Could.... could I have some gambling money, Matt? Huh?
posted by jokeefe at 4:28 PM on October 30, 2008 [3 favorites]


And smokes.
posted by tkchrist at 4:28 PM on October 30, 2008


> What exactly is supposed to be the controversy here?

The fact the somehow, Barrack Obama can spend millions on a TV show, but not provide for his own extended family. Granted to give her campaign money would be illegal, and I get the sense that the Obama's are not exactly rolling in the dough when it comes to their own financial spending.

Of course, it would be illegal for Obama to magically pickup his Aunt, who is able to support herself it seems, and employ her in the campaign making buttons or something, solely to give her more money. Which if he was doing, or supporting, would be the big smear instead.
posted by mrzarquon at 4:28 PM on October 30, 2008 [1 favorite]


In probably unrelated news, a CNN poll of polls claims that Obama's lead is down to only five points.

One thing about any poll that makes them unreliable is that pollsters call land lines. Young people mostly have cell phones. Young people also favor Obama. You do the math. I'm not really young anymore and I haven't had a land line in 10 years. Though there might be pollsters who do actually call cells...anyone know?
posted by zardoz at 4:30 PM on October 30, 2008


OMG how is hussein obamarac going to take care of usa of america if hes cannot take care of hes own poor aunt???!!! why moslem are bad liek this???? :-(
posted by Foci for Analysis at 4:31 PM on October 30, 2008 [3 favorites]


This makes the third Obama post today.

I'll really be glad when the election is over.
posted by Class Goat at 4:31 PM on October 30, 2008


As an October surprise, this is beyond weak sauce. Now if John McCain offers to move her into one of his six spare houses, that, my friends, will be an October surprise.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:32 PM on October 30, 2008 [2 favorites]


Is this still here? *pokes thread*
posted by jokeefe at 4:32 PM on October 30, 2008


Why do the right expect Obama to personally help every person in his family be a middle class citizen?

He's only got a net worth of $1.9 million which is probably close to what most upper middle class families would be around and does everyone expect them to feed and clothe and house every member of their family down on their luck?
posted by Talez at 4:33 PM on October 30, 2008


If you actually read the 538 article, it clearly explains that there are a series of problems with the poll discussed, not the least of which is the sampling size does not reflect a proportionally representative sampling of the younger voter.

A lot of wishful thinking for this clearly Mcainite.

538 is still predicting a 96% likelihood that Obama wins.

Also, you should expect the press to tell us it is getting close. But, I let you watch the film at 11 to figure out why.
posted by jonjacobmoon at 4:35 PM on October 30, 2008


I hear there's this site that's a live stream of a bunch of puppies in a box. I think I'm going to go there for a while. Puppies!
posted by jokeefe at 4:35 PM on October 30, 2008


zardoz - "Young people mostly have cell phones. Young people also favor Obama."

However, I would note anecdotally that today when I stopped by the local Republican Party Headquarters to pick up some McCain-Palin Zionism buttons for my halloween costume, it was being staffed by one very attractive 20-something little brunette. After I confirmed that I certainly wasn't using this stuff for a halloween costume she confided in me - "You know, many people are being deceived about this election." I vigorously nodded my head.

Indeed.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 4:37 PM on October 30, 2008 [1 favorite]


take your ranty blog post somewhere else kthxbai
posted by desjardins at 4:38 PM on October 30, 2008


Um, what on earth is this for?
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:40 PM on October 30, 2008


mathowie - I don't understand what the point of this is.

I agree. Now fuckin' delete it. Please.
posted by gman at 4:43 PM on October 30, 2008


What's intresting about the election so far is watching the right wing completely lose their minds. They're making attacks now that don't even make any sense... calling Obama a "socialist"!? Like we might end up like Canada or France!? OH MY GOD!

This is just the latest nonsense. the article uses words like "poor" and "impoverished" but how do we really know that's the case? Obama has only been wealthy for the past few years as people started purchasing his books. It makes sense that his relatives wouldn't have all moved to big houses and shit, why would they have? If she donated $260 to his campaign, she can't be totally broke. If he was sending her money, she still might not have moved out of her place. And if he was sending her money the wingnuts would flip out about that just the same.

And is it any wonder she won't talk to the press now? Just look at the right wing insanity machine. Now they're smearing this Khalidi guy simply because he knows Obama and happens to be Palestinian, an implicitly racist (anti-arab) attack on the guy simply because of his nationality.

There are so many little Roves out there, I'd be hesitant to talk to the press myself if I knew Obama.
posted by delmoi at 4:45 PM on October 30, 2008 [1 favorite]


more realistically:

Obama's national lead obtained by averaging the polls is 6.0%/
- Diegeo (Obama +7)
- Gallup expanded (Obama +7)
- IBD (Obama +3)
- Rasmussen (Obama +5)
- Research 2000 (Obama +5)
- Washington Post/ABC (Obama +8)
- Zogby (Obama +7)


via electoral-vote.com. Much as the media is trying to manufacture a close race, "tightening" is not happening in any meaningful way. McCain has not led in a single national poll in months. IBD seems to be an outlier, at one point last week they claimed 78% of 18-25s backed McCain. And five percent is more than enough for a huge landslide in the electoral college anyway. Finally, national polls are meaningless, look at the state polls. It will be very hard for Obama to get less than 311 EVs now.

Off to flag now.
posted by drjimmy11 at 4:46 PM on October 30, 2008 [1 favorite]


Is it possible to favourite a post more than once?
posted by gman at 4:47 PM on October 30, 2008


The day I'm financially responsible for adult members of my family, is the day I disown them.

I don't expect them to take care of me. They'd best not expect me to take care of them.
posted by five fresh fish at 4:48 PM on October 30, 2008




For the record, I am in no way a fan of McCain. I just thought this was interesting, as I have been waiting for some kind of October surprise. McCain et al haven't done anything better than throw around "socialist" and "terrorist" for the better part of a month. I figured something new would come out before it was all over. I just thought it would be something more, I dunno, controversial.

I probably should have been a little more snarky with this thing, because at the end of the day, everybody is right: this isn't much of an October surprise. (Frankly, McCain's campaign has been much of anything, except maybe just generally incompetent.) But it was my first FPP in the blue, and I didn't want to interject too much bias or anything.

A sincere mea culpa if the post is no good.
posted by nushustu at 4:50 PM on October 30, 2008


A more meaningful (but less "tightening" narrative-creating) way to put it would be that no poll with realistic methodology gives Obama a lead of LESS than 5%. The only sensible interpretation of these numbers is that an Obama landslide will happen and with early voting, is already happening.
posted by drjimmy11 at 4:51 PM on October 30, 2008


"You know, many people are being deceived about this election."

True that! Many people, for example, are still under the impression that we will be deciding the election based on actual votes this year. Not so. This year, the election is determined by the Real American Ratio: (Growth rings + folksiness) / K (votes), where K is the universal constant for potential competence.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:52 PM on October 30, 2008


Actually, on the 4th, the media is going to go over the last 28 weeks, and count up who 'won' them in terms of the media narrative. Then that person will be the president of imagination land, while Obama runs the actual country.
posted by delmoi at 4:54 PM on October 30, 2008


I asked the same "what is it for" question when I read the article, and settled on the theory that it's simply for accosting some person in her private life--minding her own business, just trying to live her life--in an effort to garner an otherwise meaningless headline/story and a paycheck.

In short, it's 'for' the same thing that whatever the latest Brangelina/Paris Hilton/Britney Spears story is 'for': not a goddamned thing.
posted by Brak at 4:56 PM on October 30, 2008


I'm African American, and I'm broke. I blame Obama. lol
posted by Flex1970 at 4:56 PM on October 30, 2008


FWIW, fivethirtyeight and the WSJ have rundowns of a recent poll that goes against everything we've heard about young voters so far. This particular poll may partially explain CNN's numbers.

More accurately, 538 and WSJ obliterate the veracity of that poll.

And if you really wanted to go with the "Hey, look, it's the October surprise!" angle for a FPP, I'd have recommended Khalidi. If I wasn't already sick to death of reading FPPs speculating on this or that alleged October surprise, that is.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:58 PM on October 30, 2008


In probably unrelated news

Really?
Really?
posted by joe lisboa at 4:59 PM on October 30, 2008


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