You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
I'm completely forgetting who, but yesterday in a comment thread someone outlined all of the ways in which Barack Obama's family and childhood were outside the norm. The commenter then expressed surprise that the Obama campaign's m.o. would be to paint Mitt Romney as "weird." That's the language that people close to the campaign have been bandying about for months.
This has to be the most ill-considered campaign strategy ever. For instance:
The Daily Beast contacted the office of Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer today to talk about whether his state would be in play in the 2012 presidential election. About a half hour later, the governor called back, and he had a lot to say. He didn’t think that Montana would be a swing state, but the Democrat did say that Mitt Romney could have issues nationally because his father was “born on a polygamy commune in Mexico.”
Now, I married someone who was raised Mormon and I can tell you that when I found out, on the eve of our wedding, that he had polygamous ancestors, I was more surprised than I should have been. Everyone on earth probably has polygamous ancestors, but in most cases mine are a hundred generations or so removed. It's not part of my culture and we have well-established theological reasons for opposing it.
But are we really supposed to believe that Romney is beyond the pale because his father was born on a polygamous commune? That argument would seem to work a lot better if President Obama's father weren't in exactly the same situation. As the Washington Post mentioned:
The line of polygamists in Obama’s family can be traced back generations in western Kenya, where it was an accepted practice within the Luo (pronounced LOO-oh) tribe. His great-grandfather, Obama Opiyo, had five wives, including two who were sisters. His grandfather, Hussein Onyango, had at least four wives, one of whom, Akumu, gave birth to the president’s father, Barack Obama, before fleeing her abusive husband. Obama Sr. was already married when he left Kenya to study at the University of Hawaii, where he married again. His American wife-to-be, Stanley Ann Dunham, was not yet 18 and unaware of his marital situation when she became pregnant with his namesake son in 1961.
I'm not a campaign professional, but if we want to have a weird-off instead of discussing the actual issues, I'm not entirely sure this would help President Obama as much as his advisers seem to think it would.
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Oct '10
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
Mollie - apparently you need to be reminded of the all-purpose Democrat retort, suitable for all occasions and circumstances:
"That's different! Obama's Dad wasn't rich or white!"
Mar '12
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
Polygamy is rare, but practiced, in my husband's community. (Chinese expat men who have one wife in one country and another in a different one. And both know about each other.) It's more common and legally respected for Muslims in Malaysia, though not legally acceptable for other people there. The polygamy thing was really weird to me, but even weirder for me is that my husband's grandmother is really for truly illiterate and was never taught to read. That one threw me for a loop.
May '10
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
This is not snark, but a serious question: Can someone explain to me the ethical differences between A) polygamy, B) a serial monogamist and C) a man that has five or six baby Mommies?
In cases A and B there is at least a good chance that the relationships and their offspring are well documented. In case C, how long before you get inbreeding between unknown half-siblings?
And to the left and their media minions C is the preferable choice!
Jul '11
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
Actually this makes sense. The Dems believe that this issue will alienate a block of voters that would be inclined to vote for Romney that would not vote for Obama. If this issue is an actual problem for this block of voters then they may decide to just stay at home and not vote at all. This would be effectively a win for Obama since it would not be a vote against him. A while back there was a post about the micro targeting of messages that both the Obama and Romney campaigns are doing. This would be an example of select message being targeted to a very select block of voters.
Mar '11
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
I've always wondered what happens to young men in such societies who get the short end of the mate stick when older, more powerful guys get all the gals for themselves. Crony Marriage! Occupy the Chapel!
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
Add this to the list of how Romney and Obama are the same - like their love for government mandates on how to spend your after-income tax dollars (ObamaCare and RomneyCare).
They're the same guy.
May '10
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
Mar '11
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
EJHill · 1 minute ago
Holy crap, it's an Oompa Loompa with an MBA!
Mar '12
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
They're called Lost Boys in the FLDS.
It's one of the serious problems with polygamy, which artificially restricts the supply of women--you get crowds of young men who don't have a prayer of getting a partner, ever, because older men are hoarding all the women. They cause all sorts of social problems, though the FLDS largely outsources this by expelling the boys from their enclaves for trivial infractions. This is starting to happen in some parts of Asia due to sex selective abortion, which also artificially restricts the supply of women.
This an excerpt from the memoirs of one FLDS Lost Boy:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104359348
Edited on April 20, 2012 at 4:26pmJul '10
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
Tommy De Seno: Add this to the list of how Romney and Obama are the same - like their love for government mandates on how to spend your after-income tax dollars (ObamaCare and RomneyCare).
They're the same guy. · 4 minutes ago
I suspect both Ann and Michelle would be surprised by that revelation.
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.:
I'm not a campaign professional, but if we want to have a weird-off instead of discussing the actual issues, I'm not entirely sure this would help President Obama as much as his advisers seem to think it would. · · 41 minutes ago
I think they figure Obama is inoculated from this type of stuff since he's already been elected. I'm not so sure. I think it tends to reinforce the fact that the American public knew virtually zip about the guy when they chose him.
Feb '11
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
How about a slavery discussion, if it's going to be sins of their fathers. I doubt Obama will come out so well on this one.
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
EJ that is hysterical!
May '10
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
This is only ostensibly about polygamy. The point is to remind everyone that Romney is a Mormon. In the media's imagination Mormons are weird.
If you point out Barack Obama Sr.'s polygamy, you are just reminding people that he is African. Africans aren't weird; Africans are numinous.
Remember the uncanny valley? The point of these articles is to make Romney the political equivalent of a prosthetic hand. Pointing out Obama's oddities just puts him in stuffed animal territory, which is not a bad place to be.
Jun '10
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
As most of you know, I'm a Mormon. I have polygamist ancestors on both sides (though it's worth noting that most Mormons back then were not polygamists). It was on October 6, 1890 (that's right, 122 years ago) that Wilford Woodruff (4th president of the Church) ended the practice of polygamy.
The quickest way to be excommunicated from the Church is to practice polygamy. When you hear about small groups who practice polygamy, you are hearing about splinter groups, most of which splintered many decades ago. They are not associated with the same Church that Mitt and 6 million other Americans belong to.
I am always willing to be ribbed over polygamy. It doesn't offend me in the least--but at least make the joke funny.
I hope that I am not judged by my ancestor's actions (though I think all were good folks just trying to do what they thought was right), just as I am sure my descendants will not want to be judged by my actions.
If this is all they've got, they're desperate.
Edited on April 20, 2012 at 4:58pmMay '10
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
What would you give to see the Obama campaign's internal polls?
Sep '11
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
EJHill: This is not snark, but a serious question: Can someone explain to me the ethical differences between A) polygamy, B) a serial monogamist and C) a man that has five or six baby Mommies?
In cases A and B there is at least a good chance that the relationships and their offspring are well documented. In case C, how long before you get inbreeding between unknown half-siblings?
And to the left and their media minions C is the preferable choice! · 1 hour ago
Case C gets even worse. In cases A and B any children are properly identified. In C the identification of the father is, uh, less well-documented.
So somebody wins the lottery, or is drafted in the NFL first round. And dies--so questions of inheritance and "next of kin" status emerge.
There is a fascinating--and deeply depressing--legal seminar on contract and family law here.
Sep '11
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
FJG--
I think you're absolutely correct. The O campaign's evident concern about black voters and black turnout, coupled with the "micro-campaign" (you have trademarked the term, no?) among the evangelicals, makes a lot of sense: they think they're losing North Carolina. They need to depress the evangelical vote to a greater degree than they perceive the black vote to decrease.
Jun '10
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
EJHill
What would you give to see the Obama campaign's internal polls? · 14 minutes ago
$1,000 (will you go halves with me: we can get it back when we sell them on the web).
Feb '11
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
tabula rasa
EJHill
What would you give to see the Obama campaign's internal polls? · 14 minutes ago
$1,000 (will you go halves with me: we can get it back when we sell them on the web). · 41 minutes ago
I get information about it second hand about what is going on in NC. It's not looking that good for O here. But since NC was closest to the cliff and there's a lot of electoral leeway for Obama, I wouldn't read that much into it.
Jun '10
Re: You Can't Win The Presidency If You Have Polygamous Ancestors
Hang On
tabula rasa
EJHill
What would you give to see the Obama campaign's internal polls? · 14 minutes ago
$1,000 (will you go halves with me: we can get it back when we sell them on the web). · 41 minutes ago
I get information about it second hand about what is going on in NC. It's not looking that good for O here. But since NC was closest to the cliff and there's a lot of electoral leeway for Obama, I wouldn't read that much into it. · 3 minutes ago
Your gov. hasn't done herself any favors. We've got to win the states back one at a time, and if we can't get NC back we're in big trouble.
Edited on April 20, 2012 at 6:16pm