Obama’s “Racist” Granny

Did Obama misrepresent this part of his “historic” race speech?:

"a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."

Obama has written about his grandma’s heart wrenching “racism” in his book, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance.

Blogger Steve Sailer reviewed the book in ’07, and remembers this little vignette:

Obama’s white grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who was raising him and earning most of the money in the family while his own mother was off in Indonesia working on her 1067 page dissertation on peasant blacksmithing, rode the bus each morning to her job as a bank executive. One day, the 16-18 year old Obama wakes up to an argument between his grandmother and grandfather. She didn’t want to ride the bus because she had been hassled by a bum at the bus stop. She tells him:

“Her lips pursed with irritation. ‘He was very aggressive, Barry. Very aggressive. I gave him a dollar and he kept asking. If the bus hadn’t come, I think he might have hit me over the head.”

So why did Obama’s lefty grandfather not want to drive his own wife to work? Because to help his wife avoid the hostile, dangerous panhandler would be morally wrong, because the potential mugger was … Well, I’ll let Sen. Obama tell the story:

“He turned around and I saw that he was shaking. ‘It is a big deal. It’s a big deal to me. She’s been bothered by men before. You know why she’s so scared this time. I’ll tell you why. Before you came in, she told me the fella was black.‘ He whispered the word. ‘That’s the real reason why she’s bothered. And I just don’t think that right.’

“The words were like a fist in my stomach, and I wobbled to regain my composure. In my steadiest voice, I told him that such an attitude bothered me, too….

Ugh, let’s just stop it right there. What we have here is not a racist grandmother, but two sexist assholes of a husband and grandson. Never-mind the hyper sensitive drama queen tendencies of young Barry – (fist in his stomach?), and the dripping with leftist white guilt tendencies of gramps…the fact that neither of them could take this capable woman, (who was the main bread winner of the family) seriously, when she tells them that she felt threatened by an aggressive hobo says more about their moral failings, than hers.

If that story is what he was referring to……wow. Just wow.

Aggressive hobos scare me, too…I don’t care what color they are.

Incidentally, Obama’s grandma is still alive and is living in Honolulu.

Hat tip: Newsbusters

More on Obama and his grandmother at Gateway Pundit.