Already mixed-race, Obama becomes an Indian too

Sen. Barack Obama, campaigning on an Indian reservation in Montana today for the Big Sky State's June 3 Democratic primary, got a new name and necklaces for each of his wives.

Stopping at a park in Crow Agency, Mont., he became the first presidential candidate to visit and address the tribe, which adopted him as an honorary member. As drums drummed and tribal members ululated, the Illinois senator was guided by his new tribal "parents" and named "One who helps people throughout the land."

With The Times' Nicholas Riccardi watching, the tribal chairman gave Obama several beaded necklaces "for your wives."

“I only have one wife,” the candidate hastened to add. “I don’t want to get in trouble when I get home. I can have new parents, but no new wives.”

Obama struggled with the tribe’s....

...native name, Apsaalooke. “What an enormous honor it is to be here with the Apsaa, the Apsaaloo….”
“I was just adopted into the tribe,” he reminded the crowd. “I’m still working on my pronunciations.”

Obama pledged to appoint a senior advisor on Indian affairs and hold an annual meeting with tribal leaders. Audience members in tribal headdresses, robes, jeans and cowboy hats cheered wildly as he also promised to improve services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

He ended his short talk with on an unusual personal note, speaking of growing up as one of the few black youths in Hawaii. “I was looked at as something of an outsider," Obama recalled. "So I know what it’s like to be on the outside. I know what it's like to not always be respected or be ignored.

“A lot of the times you feel like you've been forgotten, like African Americans have been forgotten or other groups in this country feel forgotten,” Obama told the crowd.

“I want you to know: I will never forget you….That’s the commitment we’re making to you and now that I’m a member of the family, you know I won't break my commitment to my brothers and sisters.”

--Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Liah]

A Man with clear mind and charismatic heart can understand and connect with people of all kinds, creeds and colors.

Adopting tolerance and respect to all beings, is the best way for humanity.

[dave]

a way to honor these native american people would have been to at least have bothered to learn their tribe name. and the rest is a disgrace. what's next? a visit to a nursery, for obama to say 'uh, wahhh' and become an honorary baby; and a home for the elderly, to sit in a rocker and become an honorary senior citizen; sit in a wheelchair and become honorarily disabled; to become anything to anyone, by remote or touch or proxy, seems to be the strategy, in the race for power.
or really just an ordinary madman, by embracing madness?

[to dave]

dave, what is wrong with you my brother? That was a very touching post. Why can't you accept that there are people out there who appreciate what it means to be different and yet be one? I can strongly relate to the words that Obama spoke at the end of the post. Have you never felt a strong connection with a group that makes you want to work hard for them? I have. Be it your family or a class that you teach, an experience is a powerful thing that makes you want to work hard for something that you believe strongly in. So in this case, i am very touched by what he said. ie that he would never forget them. and i believe him. the learning of the name is a purely physical thing (how well he can move his tongue) has nothing to do with the promise he made or the respect he feels for them or the solidarity he shares with them. Please do open your mind a little so that new understanding may enter it. Thank you for reading my dear Brother

[kris]

Dear poster Dave,

I hope you can find some help soon. Your heart sounds dark and heavy with sickness. Please take good care of yourself. Counseling and therapy are a healthy first step on the path to emotional/physical health. Meditation can also help. Best wishes on the path to clarity.

[jennifer potenciano]

caveat, voters in tomorrow’s oregon primary. be properly warned, the great american people.

what’s wrong with the american electorate in this year’s presidential elections?

what are you, oregon voters, you the great american people looking for in your next president? do you simply want a mere GLIB-TONGUED SPEAKER, a SMOOTH-TALKING SPEECHIFIER to be the NEXT AMERICAN PRESIDENT?
is that HOW CHEAP YOU ARE? you want A MERE TALKER AS YOUR PRESIDENT? but i thought you knew that WORDS ARE CHEAP?

pollsters say that you, oregon voters, favor obama over clinton? why? what has obama done in his 46 years of existence to merit your votes—except to promise you the moon, the stars, the entire constellation, the heaven just so he can get your support?

obama has been a state legislator & a freshman u.s. senator now--& from there he wants—SO SOON--catapulted to the highest position in the (u.s.) land. pray tell me, what ONE, TWO or THREE GREAT THINGS you know obama has done for his country & for you, the great american people in all his years as a public servant, that you should prefer him over the much-experienced hillary rodham clinton?

do you know the outstanding track record of hillary in both the academic & professional spheres, more so as a public servant? do you know that we in the third world countries envy you for having such an excellent WOMAN LEADER like HILLARY—who’ll be, if you give her the mandate, one of the best american presidents ever?

& yet pollsters say you want obama instead? compared, say, to our philippine national hero, dr. jose p. rizal, who is obama? at 35 when he died, shot to death upon orders of the imperialist spaniards in 1896, our rizal was already our national hero, a linguist, surgeon, surveyor, canvas artist, social novelist, multi-awarded poet, political philosopher, a compleat genius.
in contrast, obama, though an ivy-league school-produced lawyer, is just a mere promiser of good tidings, who’s a master at pulling everybody’s legs, & who’s only expertise is a glib-tongued oratorical prowess?

& yet you, oregon voters, you american people would rather fall for this phony man?

phony, because i suppose you have, by now, read, of course, joan vennochi’s highly revealing news feature (titled “the change we can believe in?”—yes, in a question mark!) on the wily obama in the may 11, 2008 edition of the boston globe, have you? the self-declared “change agent” is unmasked as a “phony” crusader, ditching his pastor wright when it was politically convenient to do so; discouraging revotes in michigan & florida since it would help hillary, not him; & dishing out ordinary political carpetbagger’s spoutings; his flap, if double-faced ways, on nafta; his equally double-standard behavior towards lobbyists when he was a state & u.s. senator, & now as prexy wannabe; & other dr. jekkyl-mr. hyde track record on other issues. (other equally revealing accounts about obama have seen the light of print, i just wonder why you, the great american people, choose to still paint obama as lily-white.)

is this the candidate you want, a black fakir of a snake oil salesman, whom mccain would love to spar against this fall, seeing in obama a pushover of an opponent? & you’d ignore, even demonize, the decidedly better-prepared, better qualified nominee like hillary rodham clinton?

better wake up, guys, get hold of your senses, before you regret your decision, before it’s too late.

[clifton sandlin]

Obama speak with forked tounge.

[mike]

the more we are together as a nation the powerful we will be as a nation. together as one

[CreekFreedmen]

I am glad to see Obama petitioning the support of Indian Country, however I am disturbed that he does not support individual Indian rights. Recently he came out in support of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma denationalizing of its former African slave descendants. He said it was not the US business, even though it was the a treaty that freed the slaves and gave them citizenship in the Cherokee Nation in 1866 signed by the United States. More than 100 thousand African Americans in OK, TX, KS, Ark, and even in California are descended from African slaves of the FIve slave holding tribes..oops I mean civilized...Obama, I know your African heritage did not endure the centuries of slavery in North America, but come on man...your wife, your children are descendants....I was a supporter of you until, I read about that....btw...I hear there are Indian lobbyist on your staff..and they are Cherokee.
Shame on you OBAMA!

[Atlanta for Obama]

Senator Obama is a rare person and politician. We all should be honored to have such a rare, sincere, and genuine person who embodies all ethnicities in this Country. He is our son and a Uniter.

[David]

The U.S. is embarrassed, and rightly so, by its history with Native Americans. The country's response has basically been to ignore Native Americans and wait for them either to die off or abandon their cultural identities.

Obama seems willing to develop a mature, responsible, and respectful relationship with Native Americans. Such a thing is long overdue, and I hope he is able to follow through on it.

[John Cornsilk]

Well Jennifer, you post reads like a sick repug though you appear to be a Mz Bubba fan, I would rather have seen Mz bubba at the helm as well... Appears we may be a minority.

I am Still not 100 percent sold this is all Obamas doing, sure McCain will revel in the chance to bury Obama, and his help will come from the middleclass redneck faction! But he will get my vote over the Repug option!

The good part could be A Real Native American by adoption, headed for the white house, but I must add for what that’s worth, we have had them there before, and didn’t mean CRAP, i.e. Brad Carson, and ole Ben Nighthorse Campbell, those elected are no different than the appointed ones being Indian don't mean CRAP to them click this link to see Campbell’s BS http://www.jalagi.org/ben.html ! Obama could prove to be an exception to the rule, Dang I could be fooled!

John Cornsilk
Cherokee Member of CNO

[bizziebee55]

Poor Jennifer

By chance you happen to be a Hillary Clinton supporter.

Since you seem confused as to why anyone would choose

Obama over Clinton---well, lets see...

Clinton is a liar---Bosnia sniper fire?? She's also a cheat--
trying to get votes to count now that she earlier said would not count. You can't go changing horses in the middle of the
stream--YOU'LL DROWN. Emphasis on DROWN---which
is exactly what Hillary Clinton is doing right now--drowning. And last but not least she is selfish.
Much too self-absorbed to be the leader of the free world.

So, pray tell, why would anybody want those widely publicized character flaws in the white house? Hmm?

[lorraine Palmer]

Dear poster DAVE I think Sen. Obama is standing behind his slogan. CHANGE. It's time for a change and he's the person to do it. It's about time that our first citizens of this country are recognize. It's people like you with your mentality that holds us down.

[dave]

john cornsilk e.a.,

...this is why it makes more sense to check out on your own who of all FOUR (4!) candidates for president left in the race, shows by his consistent integrity in his ACTIONS that he is worthy of the office of president, and that his INTENTIONS are honest, and honorable - no matter what all the media or other people keep telling you. what is heartless is not to tell the truth as you see it, but to deceive the hearts of loving, trusting people.
'the man who promises everything is sure to fulfill nothing, and everyone who promises too much is in danger of using evil means in order to carry out his promises, and is already on the road to perdition.' - carl jung

[John Cornsilk]

Well Dave, looks like ole Carl Jung, got it bout right, Obam is sounding good to the Indian, if they will ignore his stance on the hotest topic in a long time, the Racist act of Chad Smith and his hawkers of pure Racist BS, against a class of minority Cherokee People one of which I showed you with Campbell's article, and the sad fact is all it takes to come down on the right side is simply read Congresswoman Watson's Bill which you can see at the top of my Website www.cornsilks.com plus all the documentation of the case law she cites in the Bill, then to learn a little history of the Freedmen and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Traitors (CNOT) click the John and David's articles banner!

Then to see Obama's Stance on the Smith Rhetoric as espoused by Campbell see this article http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/obama-answers-call-weigh-cbc-cherokee-nation-controversy you will see he is willing to stand back and ignore the situation!

John "The Elder" Cornsilk
Cherokee CNOT Member
Purveyor of Simple Truth

[dave]

what might be seen as the underlying issue here, is not only the fate of more than 100 thousand people disenfranchised and the foundation of their family history, and cultural identity severely messed with - it is what seems to be the greater plan to completely destroy individual liberty, and to ultimatively withdraw self-reliant structures from all people, regardless of their background. the transparent goal is to manipulate the native american people, to corrupt and destabilize their legal status, and next to steal their liberty and brithright: for all alike to become the slaves of new world order governance imposed. the candidate for president to defend and promote liberty: RON PAUL.