To fully appreciate the venality of Obama's treatment of his grandmother, one needs to read the other stories he tells about her. Yes, Obama does tell in his book the story of his grandmother fear of a man who accosted her on the bus (p.88):

I took her into the other room and asked her what happened.

"A man asked me for money yesterday. While I was waiting for the bus."

That's all?"

Her lips pursed with irritation."He was very aggressive, Barry. Very aggressive. I gave him a dollar and he kept asking. If the bus hadn't come, I think he might have hit me over the head."

It is to justify his refusal to give her a ride that his grandfather reveals that the man was Black implying that that added to her concern. Is she prone to exaggeration? Not according to Barry/Barack. Unlike, his grandfather, she was not (21):

She's wise that way, my grandmother, suspicious of overwrought sentiments or overblown claims, content with common sense. Which is why I tend to trust her account of events.

So, why did he choose in this case to accept his grandfather's version of the events? Would his grandmother not be as scared if an aggressive white man had accosted her?

Does he have any reason to believe she was a"typical" prejudiced"white person?" No. The opposite is true. Unlike Barack himself, his grandparents were active anti-racist. So much so, that they had difficulty fitting into Texas' racist society of the early 1960s.

He writes(pp.18-21):

. . . At a bank where she worked, Toot (his grandmother's nickname)made the acquaintance of the janitor, a tall and dignified black World War II vet she remembers only as Mr. Reed. While the two of them chatted in the hallways one day, a secretary in the office stormed up and hissed that Tood should never, ever," call no nigger 'Mister.'" Not long afterworlds, Toot would find Mr. Reed in a corner of the building weeping quietly to himself. . . .

They (grandparents) decided Toot would keep calling Mr. Reed"Mister," . . . . Grams began to decline invitations from coworkers to go out for a beer, telling them he had to get home to keep the wife happy.

He goes on to tell a story about his 11 year old mother who played in the front yard with a young Black girl. Neighborhood Children gathered outside the picket fence shouting:"Nigger lover!" and"Dirty Yankee!" The grandmother tried to get them into the house. The grandfather went further:

Gramps was beside himself when he heard what had happened. He interrogated my mother, wrote down names. The next day he took the morning off from work to visit the school principal. He personally called the parents of some of the offending children to give them a piece of his mind.

No, his grandfather did not say that he could no more disown racist whites than disown the white community. The grandmother, he dismisses as a"typical white (racist) person" explained their attitudes thus:

Your grandfather and I just figured we should treat people decently, Bar. That's all."

It seems that she succeeded in raising a color blind daughter but not a color blind grandson. Obama said his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, is"glued to CNN"’ and follows the campaign closely, even though severe osteoporosis prevents her campaigning. I can only imagine how defeated his dismissal of her as a"typical white person" must make her feel. She may be grateful, her husband is no longer alive and forced to see himself dismissed as a typical white racist.

For Obama on biracialism click here

For more, click here