Obama's visit to his ancestral home and the woes of family

In the canon of Western literature, the novel Anna Karenina, by 19th century Russian author Leo Tolstoy, is considered by literati as one of the finest novels ever written, perhaps the greatest.

Its very first opening line reads: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." It is arguably the most famous sentence in world literature.

The quote came to mind when former US President Barack Obama came calling a week ago in a visit that exposed some barely hidden family dramas.

Certainly I wouldn't say the Obamas are unhappy. Far from it. The nuclear circle of Obama, wife Michelle, and their two young daughters, come across to the world as wholesome and exemplary.

The extended family, however, is another story. It is, undeniably, quite dysfunctional.

BEYONCE CONCERT

Tongues started wagging when Michelle skipped the opening of sister-in-law Auma Obama’s Sauti Kuu Centre in Kogelo, which her husband had specifically come to launch.

Instead, she was spotted dancing at a Beyonce concert in Paris, together with the singer’s mother. It was reported that Michelle had flown to the French capital with her 17-year-old daughter Sasha, straight from an eight-day family safari holiday in Tanzania’s Serengeti park.

“In-laws ‘manenos,’” huffed social media gossips about her bypassing the Kogelo event.

It so happened the Paris concert coincided with the victory of a largely black French football team at the World Cup in Russia. Michelle is partial to occasions like these where racial inclusivity is on display. The concert was turned into a massive celebration of the French football victory.

Back in Kenya, one Malik Obama, who styles himself as the senior Obama sibling, absented himself from the Kogelo event.

ENDORSED TRUMP

He had some tart comments to make, too. “(Rita) Auma is not the Obama family. It was her and her brother’s affair,” he told the press.

Malik had occasion to visit his half-brother when he was resident at the White House, but at some point the relationship soured badly.

During the 2016 US presidential election, Malik did what amounted to a slap in the face of President Obama when he loudly endorsed the Republican candidate, Donald Trump.

When certain relatives and extended family are prone to be drama queens, and become a nuisance, its best to cut them off and move on.

Was this the message Michelle was deliberately sending across?

Of President Obama’s Kenyan kin, Auma seems to be closest to him. The chemistry has always been evident.

HANDOUTS

However, she annoyed many Luos by seeming to be patronising when she criticised what she claimed was a culture of “handouts” among them.

She later clarified that she had not directed any insult at them, and that all she sought to promote was a spirit of positive self-reliance amongst the community.

Still, many Nyanza residents accused her of excessively micro-managing her brother's visit. Local politicians were unhappy at not being given a chance to speechify at the Sauti Kuu inaugural ceremony.

Obama's late father, Barack Snr, married four times, resulting in offspring who would be scattered in nearly every continent.

His remarkable story is told in the book, “The Other Barack: The Bold And Reckless Life Of President Obama's Father”, written by American journalist Sally Jacobs, formerly with “The Boston Globe” newspaper.

She spent considerable time in Kenya doing research for her book, and came to observe the complicated Obama family dynamics in rural Kogelo up close.

INTRA-FAMILY DETAILS

When she first flew to Kenya, I was among one or two people she knew out here beforehand, having spent some time at “The Globe” in 2008. I became a useful sounding board, while learning a lot from her of some embarrassing hanky panky she was unearthing about certain of the Obamas. When her book finally came out, I was pleasantly surprised that she had largely left out the awkward intra-family details to concentrate on Obama Snr's life in Kenya and in the US, which was colourful enough. I duly sent my congratulations.

In his coming out memoir, “Dreams From My Father”, Obama presents a sanitised picture of his Kenyan family, intentionally leaving out the inconvenient stuff.

But things certainly were a headache once he became president and a very big global name, with everyone competing for his attention and favour, more so in his family.

Malik has repeatedly groused that Obama “ignored” his Kenyan family after he was elected the first black US president.

KEYNOTE SPEECH
On his latest tour, Obama's sights were set on South Africa, where he was heading to give a keynote speech on the 100th commemoration of Nelson Mandela's birthday.

In his time as an international public figure, Obama has spent more comfortable time in South Africa than anywhere else on the African continent.

His and Michelle’s best pal, TV talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey, even runs a posh school there.

At the Mandela event, Obama gave a blistering speech attacking Donald Trump and the Trumpist ideology without ever mentioning his successor's name. Give it to the former president: He gives a flowery speech.

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