This week we saw Barack Obama fly to Hawaii to be with his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, near her life's end. In the middle of a presidential campaign, he showed us that family is his first priority, that love trumps ambition, that we are true to ourselves when we are true to those we love. That poignant journey got me thinking about family values, and how Barack and Michelle Obama are loving, respectful, and supportive with each other and their children. We have not seen much of his relationship with his grandmother, but that journey says a great deal.
Then I saw GOP mouthpiece Brad Blakeman opine that Obama using his campaign plane to make the journey was an outrage, without displaying a scintilla of compassion or empathy. And I wondered what it is about the right wing in this country that such harshness is acceptable.
Which brings me to Steve King, the Republican congressman from Iowa's Fifth District, and what he said about Obama's background.
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