Is this for real?

Talk about fuel for the RW Craziness.

the White House talks?!?

From Yahoo site:

The White House acknowledged Thursday that President Barack Obama lived briefly years ago with a Kenyan uncle previously targeted for deportation — after initially insisting there was no evidence they had ever met.

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Why the stark turnaround? “Nobody spoke to the president” when the question first arose in 2011, press secretary Jay Carney told reporters at his daily briefing.

Instead, staff appear to have relied on one of the president’s autobiographical books.

“Back when this arose, folks looked at the record, including the president's book, and there was no evidence that they had met, there was — and that was what was conveyed,” Carney explained.

That appeared to be a reference to “Dreams from My Father,” which famously includes the warning that some people in the book are composites.

Carney also denied any improper White House meddling in the deportation procedures against the elder Obama, whom he described as “his father’s half-brother.” The uncle, who has lived in the United States for 50 years, won his fight against deportation this week.

"Absolutely zero interference," the spokesman said.

And corporations are people!

It is infinitely better to just come clean because the story is gonna come out anyway. In itself, the story is a nothing. Everybody has embarrassing relatives. Billy Carter, Marvin Bush, etc. There's no THERE there. But the denial then becomes a much bigger thing than the original story ever could have been.

his most embarrassing relative was himself.

I get it... Etc. refers to a MUCH longer list.

It is far better to just get it out there. People are much more forgiving than they used to be. Now this will give the GOP weeks of fuel to feed their sick little fires.

nt

He lied about this specifically because he knew it would freak out the nutters! Where's my tinfoil?

It should not even be a story, but it will be, for sure. And it did not need to be.

Don't give the nutjobs the ammunition! They'll find something, but FFS quit helping them!

There are a lot of things PO didn't need/have to do during his term. But people can't see past his godlike glow.



-p

In such a rush to get out in front of the story that they screw it up and it ends up running them over.

said there was no record of the two having met. That in fact was the truth. The Boston Globe got it wrong. The WH did not get anything wrong. The Boston Globe printed a BS story. Maybe the WH should have followed up and corrected the story, but frankly, there are so many BS stories that I don't fault them for not tracking all of them down. They did not see the need to bother Obama with this - when it became a brouhaha Jay Carney asked Obama and he set the record straight. That should be good enough - and will be for everyone except Obama haters but they are becoming more and more irrelevant. And if some reporter tries to pursue this Carney should rip him a new one.

The Boston Globe editorial that the story comes from is being twisted.

I would love to hear the on the record recording of that interview. This was not in a press briefing, it was in a response to a Boston Globe editorial about Obama's uncle.

instead of releasing a literally true, but essentially misleading, comment.

Stop & think--What records would you check to see if Obama had ever met this uncle? How exhaustive would your record search be?

That's not the kind of thing that typically gets written up anywhere, and it's a pretty obvious potential landmine, so I think anybody with the brains to tie their shoes would figure out that he oughtta go ask the boss about it.

business. Doesn't have anything to do with the President's job. This "story" is from 2011. No one gave a flying rip about it at the time. Frankly I don't give a flying rip about whether or not Obama ever met this uncle and neither do most other people - except for bagger types who will do anything to stir things up. Much ado about nothing and only a "potential landmine" because reasonable people don't just laugh it off when they should. There is no end to this if we are going to go into every association which Obama may or may not have had in the past. There was absolutely nothing misleading about the WH response.

They could probably have simply ignored it. But that's not what they did. By responding at all they attached a bit of significance to it, and by responding inaccurately, they gave the wingnut faction one more rock to throw at them. Unnecessarily.

Edited to add--

I think the number of posts this thread has already generated helps to make my point.

I agree they would have been better off not responding at all but in fact, the response was a reasonable one. They checked. They found nothing. They said that. They didn't say or imply they had asked Obama about it so there was no inaccurate misrepresentation whatsoever. That part is on the people who chose to report it the way they did. Quit blaming the victims of shoddy reporting. Blame the shoddy reporters. The number of posts means nothing except that people have something to say about this - and they are not all saying the same thing and some are merely repeating themselves. At least half the people posting are saying - this is bs reporting. How does that make your point?

That's my point. There are no meaningful records of most such meetings. Therefore they shot their mouths off when they shouldn't have. The only useful source of information would have been Obama himself. If they didn't want to bother to ask him, then they had no business commenting on something they couldn't have known about.

Again, major fault is in the reporting, not the WH spokesperson.

Let's just leave it at that; we're occupying too much bandwidth with redundancies.

Mistakes happen.

Likely someone told the Boston globe writer, "I'm not clear on that."

The writer put in "they had never met, according to the White House."

Then the person vetting the article goes "Good to go," skimming the article.

I understand Issa just wet himself a little.

Thats a "get out of jail free" card in DC.

and you seem intoxicated, you just have to tell them your on prescription meds like Ambien and they won't even do the field sobriety test before they give you a lift home.

It makes a big difference.

the relationship between the president and his uncle before telling the Globe that they had no record of the two meeting. This time, the press office asked the president directly, which they had not done in 2011. “The president first met Omar Obama when he moved to Cambridge for law school,” said White House spokesman Eric Schultz. “The president did stay with him for a brief period of time until his apartment was ready. After that, they saw each other once every few months, but after law school they fell out of touch. The president has not seen him in 20 years, has not spoken with him in 10” ...

In reversal, Obama says he lived with uncle
By Maria Sacchetti
Globe Staff
December 05, 2013

The headline doesn't quite match the story, does it?

No wonder he wanted Universal Health Care!

speech at CAP and this will be the story. What a shame.

Or Michelle's. Or Bill Ayer's. Or maybe he's Obama's secret MOTHER! Well, at least maybe it'll get their itty bitty minds off Benghazi and the ACA for a while. Their pea brains don't seem too capable of splitting their concentration on more than one major conspiracy theory at a time. Unless they combine all of them and his uncle orchestrated Benghazi to divert attention from the takeover of the US by the ACA which is actually death panels for Faux viewers.

Sorry, but there's no way to make Obama sound good here. One can sling snark or make personal attacks against the person saying it, but the facts don't change. Obama should have acknowledged that he had a relationship with his uncle in the past but hadn't spoken with him in 10 years.

That said, is this a big story? Only if Obama, and his most ardent supporters, refuse to accept that he made a mistake and correct it with an apology or at least a brief explanation such as "my press secretary got it wrong." After that, let the right wing lunatics howl and see how far it gets them. Much like the website, once the damage is repaired, people won't care. The nutjobs will look petty (mostly because they are).

Get a life.

How about I get a life and you get some manners?

reveals that "the White House" stated Obama did not know his uncle without asking him if that was the case. When they did finally ask, he told them.

It looks like Obama took my second option of claiming his PR got the story wrong so now the story dies. Too bad some here can't get past the original comment about Obama fucking up.

Or let me guess, you actually believe the white house press staff is making claims about Obama without asking first. Yet somehow no one gets fired.

Because it looks like it was an informal editorial going through lower level channels and it failed the vetting process.

Carney has to take responsibility for that by saying "we didn't ask" because if he said "we didn't vet it properly" that looks a whole lot weaker. Instead he gets to say "well something didn't seem right so I asked him personally about that and it was wrong."

See, Carney now has the ear of the President and can ask him details about his personal life. Just a wee oversight.

when you always post sitting down?

Can't hide a thing from Agent Mike!

FYI

Although it has been unseasonably warm the last couple of days.... Hmmmm.....

Which is what I originally posted. Now if the wingnuts want to try to drum up story about this they will look pathetic.

What the fuck are you talking about?

Thanks for proving my case.

Silly ass name calling. How sad.

(sorry, it was never going anywhere outside the RWNJ ghetto) to score meaningless little weenie points against the "cultists."

Walk with pride, lad.

It never even got through to your sensitive Obameter, that Obama said nearly exactly what I suggested would end this story - he claimed his PR got the story wrong. Now it's over for everyone but right wing nutjobs and spastic hero worshipers who can't abide any semi-negative critique be laid at the feet of the Savior.

As I said, there should be a maturity test before posting. That way there would be far fewer of the sycophants screaming and crying every time someone doesn't genuflect at a poster of Obama.

Are you scouting for something to be outraged over and this was the most recent thing you could find? Doesn't matter, like just about everyone else in this thread who thinks Obama should be worshipped instead of critiqued, you're going on ignore.

.... "press office" should keep their mouths shut until they have the facts.

If this is truly how it went down someone needs to be looking for another job. These endless stupid mistakes are costly, whether there is any real issue there or not.

Bengazi ... Bengazi... Bengazi.... Omar Omar Omar.

Whether purposely or because they are just stupid, should still be looked into.

...without having asked the president? "No record," my ass.

How the fuck does a president let such a statement lie for years?

You know, the one in which he lied.

Thanks.

If people like yourself could accept that your savior isn't absolutely perfect in all his 12 dimensional aspects, you might find that people like me aren't against him, we understand he's a real person who will make mistakes like this and make suggestions based on that.

I want to praise Obama for his successes, you demand we praise him for being Obama.

Not that they told the Globe, which the Globe claimed, "That they never met."

an uninformed DU'er. Read comment 49, above.

And I really don't respect the opinion of anyone who throws a spastic fit over what I posted.

It's a reasonable question. Who lied and how so?

The WH responded to an inquiry from the Boston Globe saying "there was no record." Then when the crap hit the fan, Jay Carney asked Obama about it and Obama provided the details. So tell me exactly what mistake Obama made?

Everything from "Obama fesses up on lying" to "Obama lied" to the now edited version of the OP's title, "After denial, White House now says Obama lived with uncle."

As opposed to Obama lying about something.

Something this small should never be allowed to be twisted the way it is.

It was clearly originally reported in an editorial, likely veted by some intern, and the one phrase, "He has never met his famous nephew, according to the White House" is what was used as a "gotcha" by the right wing.

Furthermore he mentioned the uncle in his book, proving that Obama himself was not trying to hide some kind of connection here.

It's actually somewhat surprising given how strong the PR has been over Obama's administration. But I think because it was literally 11 words that "got him" someone just messed up. I skimmed that article originally, I missed it the first time too.

Just complicates things. Obama, that was a bad move.

directly and just relying on their own info database.

Nobody did anything wrong here, least of all Obama.

".....On Thursday, a White House official said the press office had not fully researched the relationship between the president and his uncle before telling the Globe that they had no record of the two meeting. This time, the press office asked the president directly, which they had not done in 2011. “The president first met Omar Obama when he moved to Cambridge for law school,” said White House spokesman Eric Schultz. “The president did stay with him for a brief period of time until his apartment was ready. After that, they saw each other once every few months, but after law school they fell out of touch. The president has not seen him in 20 years, has not spoken with him in 10” ...

You can't just say "Why lie?" followed up by "Obama, that was a bad move." and just leave it at that. You are in effect saying that Obama lied, so the burden is on you to explain how it is that he lied, with the appropriate citations of course.

is if the 'White House' means someone other than Obama who didn't have the facts correct.

but one that should have been handled better.

Like the Teabaggers are ever going to run out of minor gaffes to gin up into big ass controversies.

This one is awkward, but explainable. You can dive off the bridge over what the Teabaggers MIGHT say about something, but I'll stay put.

He should resign.

You're actually worried about a teabagger birther boom with real-world consequences over this piece of 30-something-year-old trivia? Pathetic.

they said they had no record of a relationship. They didn't ask Obama directly the first time. They now have, and it has been clarified. For Christ sake will you please move on to a real issue.

As someone who has been misquoted numerous times in the press I can tell you that these kinds of "errors" are definitely not avoidable except not to talk to the press at all and even then, some will turn the lack of response into "White House refuses to deny......" In this case "no record of that" became "White house denies it." And trying to correct these kinds of misquotes is not always the best strategy either. It is part of the landscape. This was a non-issue, still is a non-issue and yes the baggers will likely make something out of and what of it? As if they never have made a non-issue or a fantasy into an impeachable offense. The good news is that no one cares what the baggers are braying about anymore.

Someone should've noticed "no record of meeting the uncle" was being translated to "never met the uncle."

That's a huge discrepancy and someone should've caught it.

It was election time and Romney was using it as ammo, claiming he'd deport Obama's uncle. It was a very bad oversight, at the time. What if it came out then that Obama had stayed with the alcoholic uncle? So we can't forgive Obama's team completely here.

Still, it is correct that Obama did not lie and that this is being blown out of proportion, particularly today.

It's also plausible that if the President ever did say something more definite, that it was to keep his uncle out of the limelight that potential troublemakers (Republicans) might shine on him.
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not cause further embarrassment as a topic. "No record of" is lawyerly weasel wording from whoever was handling the matter: meaningless, can't easily be refuted, and meant to deflect further query. Dumb way to handle it, but obviously the WH wasn't all that worried, or they would have put much more effort (and their "A" team) into handling a goofball-relative eruption.

very reliant upon a tight inner circle of advisors and has been in kind of a bubble at least in regards to ACA management, maybe it was his "A" team that thought it best to handle it this way (kind of a weak "who's that, not even sure we've ever heard of him!&quot . And he let them, or possibly wasn't even aware of how they dealt with it. It is a problem for him, because while they seem to be loyal, their judgment isn't always that great. Looking at you, Valerie Jarrett. Maybe some heads need to roll--a second-term shakeup can work wonders.

Good to have the facts. Better than acting over defensive and hostile like a couple people have.

UNCLE OMAR!!!!

As TPM more fully explained (gee, JOURNALISM!):

The White House confirmed Thursday that President Obama did meet his uncle, Onyango Obama, and lived with him briefly, after Onyango insisted Tuesday in his immigration hearing that the two had met, according to the Boston Globe.

The administration in Jan. 2012 said that it had no record Obama and his uncle had met, who also goes by the nickname Omar. But White House spokesman Eric Schultz told the Globe Thursday that the White House had not fully researched the relationship before making that statement. This time, press aides checked in with Obama on the nature of their relationship.

"The president first met Omar Obama when he moved to Cambridge for law school," Schultz said. "The president did stay with him for a brief period of time until his apartment was ready. After that, they saw each other once every few months, but after law school they fell out of touch. The president has not seen him in 20 years, has not spoken with him in 10."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/wh-confirms-obama-met-his-uncle

Yes, sloppy by the WH staffers, but not an instance of the President lying as the Post story suggests.

But hey, Issa needs another scandal, and the Post needs to sell more papers.

The only scandal is Darryl Issa himself.

I'm sorry, but Obama should have come out at the time the story initially broke and said, "yes, I lived with him when I was a student for a brief period of time and then we lost touch as happens these days. I'm sorry to hear of his legal troubles and wish him the best. This is America and I know justice will prevail." Sure the nutters would have tried to make something of it, they always do. The missteps, miscues and backtracking from this White House are getting annoying and it's increasingly harder to let them slide. Everybody has relatives they wish they didn't.

This is a non-issue unless we help make it one.
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How about checking with President Obama before putting out a response. Now it's back peddling and trying to play catch-up. It looks bad and like nobody is in charge. The White House had some inkling how the right-wing reacts from a few years ago with The brou-ha-ha over President Obama's aunt.

"All the stupidity" is reserved for those who think that where in the U.S. a student lives is a relevant issue, worthy of wringing hands over.

This is not the first time he has been caught in an interntional deception or lie.

and now, two years later, they're just getting around to correcting it, after someone else caught them in the lie. This should have been corrected the day after it happened.

These people are a complete disaster

If one makes a claim like this it needs to be backed up.

... sometimes, you have to tell a little lie.

I blame the rabid diseased dogs (in other words, right wing), not Obama or his staff. A big fat middle finger to all those racist morons who are and were attempting to "prove" that Obama is not a US citizen. They are scum. They lie-monger and falsely accuse daily, and telling that pack of dogs a lie to throw them off the trail for a while is not a bad thing, though only to be used sparingly.

BEN GAAAAAAZI!!!!!

Can you remember a time where you spent 2 weeks of your life 30 years ago. Obama was probably smoking some pretty good shit back then, so he probably forgot.

Consider his first book was about about his father. It is likely that his uncle may have been one of the few real links to that side of the family. Not to mention, he housed him while before he had his apartment.

I think there were some immigration issues and I would bet his campaign advised him - stupidly - to deny things.

The truth would not have hurt. The problem with the lie is that it comes right after the Republicans succeeded in really damaging his score on being "honest".

These same people who are going to complain AKA Teabaggers didn't care Rmoney NEVER showed us his tax returns. I couldn't care less if Obama were born in Kenya.

He may not have seen enough of this relative to remember which one he was.

I can remember all kinds of things that most have forgot from many years back. Just sometimes someone will bring something up that seems a little foggy and it takes a little work to bring it back. That's why DU is so cool, there are so many here with such good memory skills and information.

Really, we all should be noticing how desperate these right wing nut-jobs are, they are going to this length to try and find something. I really pity them, they have found a really tough one to crack

The President was too high to remember living somewhere for two weeks?
Really?

...why I should care.

Neither about how the the WH worded what it told the Globe, or if the president stayed with his relative. What I do care about is that this country has real issues facing it while some petty people attempt to make hay out of a non issues such as this.