No Place Like Home
EmailABC News’ Sunlen Miller Reports: Barack Obama is coming home to Kansas.
"We’re among friends, we’re family," Obama told a El Dorado, Kansas crowd, during a visit marking a homecoming of sorts.
Much has been publicized about Obama’s Kenyan father. The Senator has often employed his father’s roots to appeal to voters — telling crowds of his grandmother’s house in Kenya without water and electricity, using that to demonstrate his ability to reach out to other countries if he were elected president.
But Obama’s mother was from Kansas, and El Dorado was the town which Obama’s grandfather, Stanley Dunham, grew up.
During his visit, Obama joked that he’d heard that his grandfather had gotten into a bit of trouble when he was in high school. And in the crowd was also another distant relative -– his grandmother’s first cousin, Ruth Wolf –- a connection so distant that even the candidate got confused, guessing first she was his grandmother’s aunt.
"I knew I was going to screw it up," he laughed when he was corrected quickly.
Obama’s visit to the town connected to his roots on his mother’s side of the family comes at a key time in the campaign when the strategies shift towards Super Tuesday states, and he attempts to pickup Republican votes in traditionally red states like Kansas.
Using his family tree to exemplify the American dream, Obama spoke to the needs of middle class Americans –- and not giving up on their goals.
"Our family’s story is one that spans miles and generations, races and realities. . .It’s a varied and unlikely journey but one that’s held together by the same simple dream. . . And that is why it’s the American story," he said.
Obama said the dream all Americans share is more powerful than divisions and differences: "We are not as divided as our politics suggest. Yes, we disagree. Yes, we have interests and ideologies that don’t always align. Yes, we have real differences. But the biggest divide in America today is not between its people, it is between its people and their leaders in Washington, DC. That is where our collective dream has been deferred. . . My story tells me it’s possible. What began here in Kansas all those years ago tells me it’s possible."
The Illinois senator was also endorsed by Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, who delivered the Democratic response to President Bush’s final State of the Union address on Monday, and cited Obama’s "Midwestern" values as one of the reasons for her support.
Santorum: Money Will Not Defeat Obama, Ideas Will 
Rick Santorum's Full Speech at CPAC 2012
He should be going out to Cali with Kennedy at his side!!
Posted by: Ann B. | January 29, 2008, 6:14 pm 6:14 pm
Great speech and great point about the division.
Posted by: Alf | January 29, 2008, 6:39 pm 6:39 pm
SOS – Style over substance support a woman with real issues. Hitlary!!!!
Posted by: sameoldisgood | January 29, 2008, 7:01 pm 7:01 pm
Barack is a living example for minorities to follow. He can truly heal and understand the needs of all minorities because he experienced in his own life the difficulties minorities encounter. He can unite us all.
Posted by: Alma | January 29, 2008, 7:04 pm 7:04 pm
Just keep pumping out distractions. Has anyone noticed that NEVER EVER EVER NEVER has a single critic of ANYthing Obama has said, EVER been right? Not one newspaper. Obama is always there, no no you are not telling it straight. Not one news story that asks a pointed question. Nope, that is distorted. Like the above comment on Ted. NOPE, that was taken out of context, you see. Not a pundit, not a fellow senator, not a congressman, not the President, or Vice, not a foreign radio show, not talk show host. None of them are ever right. He is constantly having to correct the entire world when he is questioned or caught in something. Even now, his own words, and you people STILL say, they are after him because he is winning, he is black, or he is the underdog. I want to know where in the hell are all these people in Illinois whose lives have been transformed into bliss by this guy. Where are the millions whose lives have done a 180 degree turn? Where are the directions to this shining city on the hill? Where are the long lines and traffic jams of people desperate to get into the Obama created Nirvana? They don’t exist. He hasn’t done #### in his state and hasn’t transformed anything but his own status and wealth. No one is coming forward from the slums of Chicago to tell how they made it to Lakeview because of Obama. So until the angels open the gates of Illinois heaven, I’m not buying this truck load of bs. And like Penn and Teller say – THAT’S BS. And they are right.
Posted by: 2009 Where Are You? | January 29, 2008, 7:06 pm 7:06 pm
Be glad Florida, right now, is not in the delegate count – Clinton is destroying Obama by as much as he destroyed her. You see this looms large for next Tuesday, because Florida is a very national audience. Florida is a cosmopolitan makeup of diverse proportions. It shows that when you pander and twist words into race baiting, you are going to pay. Just wait til you see the California primary. It is Clinton 53% Obama 26% Edward 17% with a HUGE HUGE turnout, despite the news saying it is a beauty contest. We here in Florida say to the republicans who voted against Hillary, and the Independents that tried to derail her, and South Carolina where is was race first and anything else last – when you hit a regular old, typical state, with no out of proportion voters, with no cross-over votes allowed, you get a clearer picture. Florida is a typical Super Tuesday type state. And it is going to be a BIG and very different story then these first few, quaint states with their nice put particular ways. S. Carolina has always been an ugly battle state when it comes to politics. Just ask McCain and see what the voters did to him during the Bush campaigns. But when you get to a regular state, its BAM. Done and Dusted. Or should I say- Signed, Sealed, Delivered. Y’all better hope that these delegates don’t manage to get seated in Denver.
Posted by: 2009 Where Are You? | January 29, 2008, 7:32 pm 7:32 pm
PS – so far – Clinton even has 15,000 more votes than Romney! And the Dems weren’t even supposed to show up, remember? She is leading with only 3% counted, but the number of votes are huge, almost 100,000 Democratic votes with just 3% counted. Extrapolate that out and see what that means for turnout. This race thing is going to backfire. That is why Oprah is no where to be found. Not a peep. Not a commercial. Not a little joke on the side. She RAN for cover because she got mail that indicated – don’t do a Bill Clinton and be so obviously one sided, not on the trail and not on the show. So she has hidden. HELL, I wish she had run for President. Now there is an awesome brain for you. She knows money, she knows emotions, she has a heart and has a mind. AND she will admit mistakes and she takes responsibility for her actions most of the time. Obama made an ugly crack on Ted Kennedy not too long ago and he is now saying OH that was taken out of context. No it wasn’t. It was a complete quote. He said Kennedy was ‘old in the spine, and needed . . .’ well, that is not important. All his supporters here will excuse YET AGAIN another accurate portrayal of a hypocritical thing B.O. has said or done.
Posted by: 2009 Where Are You? | January 29, 2008, 7:38 pm 7:38 pm
Posted by: 2009 Where Are You
Don’t you make any mistake about it, the Ice Princess will be defeated and we here in the DEM party will be more than gleeful to hand her – her defeat. I agree, she will win the nomination. But, well, you see many of us don’t want her. We will not let her, Bill or you all ram her down our throats. No sir/ma’am. Your fellow Dems will help in defeating her.
Surely, you didn’t think we would surrender to defeat, forget all the lies the Clintons have said about her opponents and just come together and vote for someone we don’t want do you?
Ha! Now who are the dreamers.
See you at the polls,
Chris
Posted by: Chris | January 29, 2008, 8:14 pm 8:14 pm
Chris: Thank you! I agree with you 100%. I am so sick of Billy and his red face, he looks like he is a madman. I have NO respect for either one of them.This is one middle-aged white woman that will NOT be voting for the CLintons. Two for the price of one? Yuk? That’s no bargain! Obama ’08
Posted by: CS3539 | January 29, 2008, 8:21 pm 8:21 pm
I got news for you the Ice Princess will win the nomination regardless of what you think. Hillary will win California, Arizona, Missouri and Tennessee plus probably Texas. Obama will win those tiny southern states. That’s good enough for him. There is also going to be a fight to put the delegates back in Florida and Michigan which she won. Of course Obama goody goody two shoes will be as hot as a firecracker if that happens. And that’s because he lost. He gets like a child standing in the corner.
Posted by: Mariann Pepitone | January 29, 2008, 9:21 pm 9:21 pm
Hilliary will not carry a single state in the south if she gets the nomination. The Florida election for the dems do not count so she can get all the votes. It will not matter b/c FL will go red-republican in Nov. Whitewater, travel gate, her lies about the Children Defense Fund will be exposed by the republicans. She will not be any competition b/c most southern white women and men cannot stand her and her ex-president husband. You cannot believe a thing that comes out of her and her cheating husband’s mouth.
Posted by: creswell313 | January 29, 2008, 9:26 pm 9:26 pm
Also, do u really think the US will ever vote a person of color especially a black person president. Read your comments and our true white racism is exposed. Thanks America – we will always try to protect, the red, especially the white, and the blue. That is where both parties are exactly the same!! Let’s keep protecting our white privilege. Got to love it.
Posted by: creswell313 | January 29, 2008, 9:31 pm 9:31 pm
Clinton wins Florida? What the hel$ is there to win? she has won Nothing! Obama will win and he will win without games!
Posted by: jeff | January 29, 2008, 10:12 pm 10:12 pm
Ha ha clinton and her games! She WILL LOSE in the end!
Posted by: jeff | January 29, 2008, 10:13 pm 10:13 pm
Wow!!! can’t understand why some people thinking florida matters now that’s insane there’s group of people still living in stone age shows how old their reasons are. Obama has made it clear already it’s not about rich or poor, black or white, male or female it’s about future and past lets all support visionary that’ll unite us together instead running after loosers like “Clintons”
Posted by: abdul | January 29, 2008, 11:16 pm 11:16 pm
Over 20 newspapers have endorsed Obama in CA. Hillary only got one. The most influential paper in SF Bay Area, SF Chronicle endorsed Obama with the following:
“There is no doubt about the Democrat with the vision and skills to bring that period of reprieve and renewal. It is Sen. Barack Obama.
All three have vowed to phase out the U.S. military presence in Iraq. Obama, however, stands alone in his opposition to the invasion at the outset. Clinton and Edwards each voted to give President Bush the authorization to use military force against Saddam Hussein. Edwards acknowledges his mistake, Clinton parses the meaning of the resolution. It was Obama’s instincts that proved sound.
Clinton, who arrived in the U.S. Senate four years before Obama, has tried to make experience the issue. As senator, she has proved skillful at representing diverse New York interests and working with Republicans. But if she wants to highlight her White House experience as a defining difference, then it’s only fair to point out that two of the projects she was most deeply involved with produced a debacle (health care) and scandals (fund raising). Especially in recent days, her campaign has shown the sharp elbows that evoke the ugly underside of the Clinton years, and the (Karl Rove inspired) Bush years that succeeded them: the reflex to scorch the Earth, to do what is necessary to vanquish political adversaries … all is justified if you are left standing at the end.
America deserves better than these cycles of vengeance and retribution. Its possibilities are too great, its challenges too daunting, for partisan pettiness.
In a Jan. 17 meeting with our editorial board, Obama demonstrated an impressive command of a wide variety of issues. He listened intently to the questions. He responded with substance. He did not control a format without a stopwatch on answers or constraints on follow-up questions, yet he flourished in it.
He radiated the sense of possibility that has attracted the votes of independents and tapped into the idealism of young people during this campaign. He exuded the aura of a 46-year-old leader who could once again persuade the best and the brightest to forestall or pause their grand professional goals to serve in his administration.
Of all the candidates who talk about change, Barack Obama has made the case most forcefully and most convincingly. He gets our endorsement for the Democratic nomination.
Posted by: Mountain Tree | January 29, 2008, 11:30 pm 11:30 pm
mariannpepiboner, did you get a new name? Or is ’2009 where are you’ your other half? Are you ever going to post anything factual?
Posted by: GC | January 30, 2008, 12:19 am 12:19 am
Many voters will be “hoodwinked” by the first-term senator from Illinois, whose ambition forced him to think about seeking the presidency after only 1 darn year in the U.S. Senate.
He’s fond of quoting John F. Kennedy, but JFK spent 14 years in Congress before becoming president.
‘Nuf said.
Posted by: Otillap | January 30, 2008, 12:35 am 12:35 am
Clinton won in Florida huh? What exactly did she win? NOTHING! No delegates were awarded! This woman needed momentum going into super Tuesday and this was her only choice. If she had another choice she would have done it! This makes her look DESPERATE! All 3 candidate’s understood that no delegates would be handed out for Michigan and Florida. Her rally for “victory” the minute the poll’s closed in Florida made her look pathetic. Look at me I won NOTHING! Please!
Posted by: jeff | January 30, 2008, 10:30 am 10:30 am
The issue around the watercooler is now Edwards. My guess is Obama although Clintons will beg him not to…Edwards does not have to endore anyone. He has 26 delegates so at the end of the day , it is not a huge amount. Actually the endorsement would mean more than the delegates at this point.
Posted by: gre1 | January 30, 2008, 10:40 am 10:40 am
Clinton is behind on delegates. The “promised” delegates mean nothing untill she actually has them. She will be activly seeking the delegates from Edwards. Obama is the one with momentum right now. The Clintons have made themselves look very bad in the past 2 weeks and the american people are tired of this kind of redrick. Her stunt last night in Florida was actually embarrassing. She looked like a fool. She cannot promise to seat them votes! If she had not had the largest amount of votes, she would be fighting the hardest go with prior agreements. Dirty, dirty Clintons!
Posted by: stace | January 30, 2008, 10:52 am 10:52 am
I agree with ‘Demo Rules’ that Hillary voted for the Iraq War, never apologized like John Edwards did and didn’t champion bringing the troops home until she started running.
Obama was smart enough to see the Iraq Resolution as a mistake right from the start just like he saw that NAFTA was a bad deal for the U.S. Bill and Hill championed that debacle, they actually pushed it through Congress despite the pleas of labor unions and experts that it was going to hurt our work force.
Obama seems to be looking out for all Americans, not just the ones in corporate America. Listen to him on youtube in his victory speech for South Carolina. It will make you feel hopeful for our country again. Then go to his website and read under ‘issues’ his long term plans. They are wonderful, workable and will help middle-and lower income people alike. (Just as one example he wants seniors who make less than $50,000 to not pay any income tax. This would be a godsend for so many on their fixed incomes. The average senior would save $1800 a year.) He is the uniter this country needs now.
Posted by: Lydia | January 30, 2008, 12:47 pm 12:47 pm
On the one hand, Obama has more than just mid-western values — he grew up in Hawaii and in Asia — he is the quinessential candidate of sophistication with an inate ability to think outside the box. This is a great attribute for dealing with the diverse peoples of the world in a very positive, peace-invoking fashion — he will achieve our goals of Americans in the process. On the other had, as a conservative democrat, I am so alienated by the rather desperate and “childish” behaviour of the Clintons’ in their sleezy, distorted attempts to discredit Obama that I am not likely to vote for her even as dog catcher if she should win the nomination — unless of course Obama is on the ticket. Otherwise, I will vote my conscience on the one issue which concerns me — abortion, I hate to say — Republican.
c gingrich
Posted by: c gingrich | January 30, 2008, 2:27 pm 2:27 pm
Two times this month, today and Jan 22, 2007, Bush and the Republican Financial wizards have cut the Interest Rate. Five times since Sept 18, 2007 the Interest Rate has been cut. Manipulating the numbers is what Republicans do best. Way to go Bush and Republicans. Destroying the American Economy is what you do best.
Posted by: Angel | January 30, 2008, 4:59 pm 4:59 pm
Obama, I live in Kansas, and you are no Kansan! The same goes for Sebelius, she comes from Ohio
Posted by: plainsmm | January 30, 2008, 7:49 pm 7:49 pm
Wow, you’re doin’ great Obama. $32 Million in January!!! See you at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!!!! OBAMA ’08!!
Posted by: RuthieM | January 31, 2008, 1:29 pm 1:29 pm
Have you noticed a connection between Hillary doing well in a state and both her and Obama not campaigning there?
The more people see of Obama, the more they like him; the more people see of Hillary the less they like her.
Before the primaries started Hillary was WAY ahead in all the polls. The more time voters have to meet the candidates, the more they swing away from her.
Iowa got the most attention; Hillary came in third. Not second, THIRD.
NH had only a short time for the candidates to spend after Iowa, Hillary won. Michigan and Florida didn’t see the candidates at all; Hillary won by wide margins.
SC and Nevada about two weeks with SC later than Nevada and more time spent in SC by Obama (Clintons were mostly just Bill); Obama crushed Hillary.
Nevada is the only one that doesn’t fully fit the pattern; Hillary won a thin victory in numbers, but Obama edged her in delegates. Obama had the support of the culinary union, but just over a month before the caucus Hillary had a 29 point lead in the polls so that is still a pretty amazing job of closing the gap by Obama.
Now Super tuesday where the candidates get spread pretty thin. My guess is advantage to Hillary.
Posted by: adam | January 31, 2008, 6:09 pm 6:09 pm