to his absent, larger than life, socialist father. Newsweek does the Obama Sr. / Obama Jr. story:
"To put yourself through what is a pretty rigorous process of running for president, you've got to have learned to set up some pretty high expectations for yourself-something's got to be driving you-and in my case if you have somebody that is absent, maybe you feel like you've got something to prove when you're young, and that pattern sets itself up over time," [Obama] said. "The stories I heard about my father painted him as larger than life, which also meant that I felt I had something to live up to. You could argue that if you're too well adjusted, you don't end up running for president. So if the pattern sets in pretty early on where you're pushing your comfort level, it probably has to do with those very early influences, and that can come from either the absence or the presence of a father who ends up motivating you in some way."And this. Newsweek discloses yet another Barack Obama fictionalization of an episode from his life which has been contradicted by an eyewitness to what actually took place:
As Eldredge, now retired, recalls the morning [Barack Obama's father spoke to his home room], Barry could not have been more delighted. The son, Eldredge says, introduced the father to the classroom, which was filled with 54 students. Barack Obama Sr. was dressed in traditional Kenyan clothing -- Eldredge remembers it looking something like a skirt -- and spoke about the importance of education. "He was like a visiting professor," says Eldredge. "It was a special occasion." Obama Sr. spoke for about 30 minutes and then answered the fifth graders' questions. Eldredge recalls the young Barack's warm reaction to the performance: "He seemed to be real proud, right at his side, kind of holding on to his dad's arm." A touching scene of paternal interest in his son, and of the son's pride in the father -- except that Barack Obama's recollection of the moment is at odds with the retired teacher's ..At this point one must ask, is there a single page of Obama's memoir which accurately tells the story of his life? The repeated answer, so far, is NO.