Obama Arrives In Hawaii
ABC/NYT | October 24, 2008 12:01 PM
From The New York Times:
HONOLULU — On a whirlwind trip back to Hawaii, Senator Barack Obama spent more than an hour visiting his ailing grandmother late Thursday and is set to return to her bedside on Friday morning after arriving here on a nine-hour flight from the Midwestern battleground of the presidential campaign.
As soon as he arrived on the island of Oahu, Mr. Obama went to the Punahou Circle Apartments, where his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, lies gravely ill. She is to turn 86 on Sunday, but aides to Mr. Obama said doctors advised him not to delay his visit.
It was an unusual departure from the tug-of-war of the presidential campaign, with 11 days remaining in the race. But it was a trip that advisers said he told them was not negotiable. He missed his mother’s death here in 1995, a mistake he said he did not intend to repeat with his grandmother, who has been a stalwart in his life.
Like me, Barack loves his grandmother. He calls his grandma “Toot” and I call mine “Gramps.” My friends all love their grandmothers.
Happy Birthday Grandma !!!
Go Barack !
Prayers and Birthday Wishes for Barack’s Grandma Toot. Michelle did a good job filling in today, imho.
Obama is so determined to see Grandma – he just had to also sit down for an interview about it first. This is kind of funny for a couple reasons, though. So deeply is he worried … he even managed to work it into an attack on McCain. What a noble guy, this Obama.
Shalom,
— Leland Milton Goldblatt, Ph.D. ®
Distinguished Professor
Barack Hussein Barack Hussein Obama has no ideological compass. All Barack Hussein Obama cares about is the aura of him, because he has no ideological center, which he admitted himself, offering the first self-inflicted warning signal that everyone should pick up for President.
HONOLULU, Hawaii, (AFP) – A heavy-hearted Barack Obama Friday said goodbye for perhaps the last time to the ailing grandmother who brought him up, who he said may not live the 10 days until the presidential election.
The Democratic nominee grabbed some precious time with Madelyn Dunham, 85, in her apartment complex in Hawaii, after stepping off the campaign trail for a day and a half and flying halfway across the Pacific to his native state.
He spent a total of seven hours with Dunham, who he affectionately knows as “Toot” after arriving in Hawaii on Thursday, and was due to hit the campaign trail again in Reno, Nevada on Saturday.
At one stage in the morning, a somber looking Obama emerged from the building for a solitary walk around his boyhood haunts, trailed by a lone Secret Service agent, before spying some reporters and heading back in an SUV.
Obama’s decision to quit the White House trail so close to the election raised some eyebrows, but his wife Michelle and vice presidential nominee Joseph Biden picked up the pace.
“I’m still not sure whether she makes it to election day,” Obama told ABC News of his grandmother, in an interview recorded before the election front-runner left the mainland.
“We’re all praying, and we hope she does … she’s still alert, and she’s still got all her faculties and I want to make sure that I don’t miss that opportunity right now.”
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_bids_dying_grandmother_farewell_1025.html
I wish Barack and his family many blessings. I hope that she lives to see this historic moment in history. Michelle and Biden are doing an outstanding job filling in for our soon to be President. Barack we will rock the vote 4 u!!!!!!!!!
I lost my Grandmother 8 years ago and was unable to be by her side; this testifies to the character of this man no matter which side you are on. My humble prayers for your grandmother Mr. Obama and God bless her soul.