Dreams of Barack's Father

Presto Pundit uncovers a critique by Barack Obama Sr. of a policy paper written by pro-Western Kenyan political leader Tom Mboya. The Senior Obama, a Harvard educated economist was very critical of the paper, writing that it was "neither African nor socialist enough."

Presto Pundit notes that authors E. S. Atieno Odhiambo and David William Cohen in their book The Risks of Knowledge published by the Ohio University Press, copyright 2004 cite among the positions put forth by the Senior Obama in his attacks on Mboya's paper published in the East Africa Journal were:

1. Obama advocated the communal ownership of land and the forced confiscation of privately controlled land, as part of a forced "development plan", an important element of his attack on the government's advocacy of private ownership, land titles, and property registration. (p. 29 of The Risks of Knowledge)

2. Obama advocated the nationalization of "European" and "Asian" owned enterprises, including hotels, with the control of these operations handed over to the "indigenous" black population. (pp. 32 -33)

3. Obama advocated dramatically increasing taxation on "the rich" even up to the 100% level, arguing that, "there is no limit to taxation if the benefits derived from public services by society measure up to the cost in taxation which they have to pay" (p. 30) and that, "Theoretically, there is nothing that can stop the government from taxing 100% of income so long as the people get benefits from the government commensurate with their income which is taxed." (p. 31)

Nice.

In 2003 Philip Ochieng, an editor with the Nation Media Group wrote his impressions of Obama Sr. as charming, generous and extraordinarily clever, Obama Senior was also imperious, cruel and given to boasting about his brain and his wealth.

It was this kind of boasting that proved his undoing in the Kenyatta system – although, as he said, there was tribalism in it –and left him without a job, plunged him into prolonged poverty and dangerously wounded his ego.

Early on in the blog post Presto Pundit quotes Senator Obama on the driving source of his inspiration as he writes in Dreams For My Father that, "All of my life, I carried a single image of my father, one that I .. tried to take as my own.".... Obama cites his image of "the father of my dreams, the man in my mother's stories, full of high-blown ideals .." and "It was into my father's image .. that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself."

Given the company the Senator keeps with the likes of Frank Marshall Davis whom Obama simply refers to as "Frank" in his book Dreams From My Father, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers and others I'd say that even in the 21st century the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.

I see a man on a mission to connect with and fulfill the unrealized legacy of his father, fueled by a longing for approval from a vital man in his life that he did not know.