Talk:Early life and career of Barack Obama

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Contents

[edit] Kudos and school essay

I am very pleased with this page since it gives a place for information about Barack Obama as a person, not just a candidate. I added an item on his third grade essay which had been deleted from the main article last month. Please note that the item is about the actual essay, not about Senator Clinton's making it a mini-issue in the campaign. It seems to be well sourced by the Wall Street Journal and the Chicago Tribune, who interviewed his teacher. I think it is also something that gives an insight into Obama as a person, and will certainly be mentioned in his future biographies. Borock (talk) 16:48, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] "Registered by his family as a Muslim"

It's true that the registration form at the Catholic school young Barry Obama attended for three years listed him as a Muslim. But the Chicago Tribune story which has the most detail about the school notes that:

The enrollment form from the Catholic school, which has been cited as evidence that Obama was a Muslim in Indonesia, also was rife with errors. It listed Obama as an Indonesian, listed his previous school incorrectly and failed to list his mother, Ann, at all.

Should we note something in the article about this? Does saying "registered by his family as a Muslim" give too much credit to the accuracy of the enrollment form? Is there another wording which could indicate what the enrollment form said, while also recognizing that it wasn't terribly accurate otherwise? —Josiah Rowe (talkcontribs) 19:59, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

It could be listed that it had a number of errors, but I don't think the Muslim bit was in error per se. In other reports that I've seen, Indonesia had 5 official religions at the time (Muslim, Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, and either Hindu or Judiasm) and it was required to select one. --Bobblehead (rants) 20:48, 8 April 2008 (UTC)
Probably Hindu, since most of the inhabitants of Bali are Hindu. I don't doubt that Lolo Soetoro was at least nominally Muslim, and I don't doubt that he registered Barack as a Muslim. I guess I'm just wondering whether there's some way for us to indicate that the registration seems not to have been done with a great deal of care. On the other hand, I don't want to give undue weight to this registration form. Hmm. —Josiah Rowe (talkcontribs) 21:51, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] New article on college years

AP has a new article on Obama's younger years. Nothing major here, but could flesh out some less well-known times. Here's the article [1]. Remember (talk) 20:00, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Addition request

Include: Born out of wedlock by his parents, his mother conceived him, then later married. Barack Obama was mainly raised by his mother's parents. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.163.0.43 (talk) 16:47, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Why is blocked?

I dont understand why this is blocked and why despite the caption of libellous material, it is deemed as 'essential' in this biography 2 things: - That he was once 'registered muslim' - That he took cocaine and marihuana Obviously the first thing is quite irrelevant and the second quite 'libellous material'. This is biased. As a european who wont vote however i find quite insulting the 'subtle bias' of this article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.94.16.127 (talk) 02:02, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Umm.. Obama was registered as a muslim in third and fourth grade while attending Catholic school in Indonesia and Obama has admitted to drug use in his autobiography.. Not much libelous there, I'm afraid. --Bobblehead (rants) 02:09, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps the people who read this are simpletons but i can read between lines. The choice of news is what makes this article biased. There are things that are relevant and there are things that nobody cares except if you want to create a lbelous article. in the sense those are 2 very difficult issues for an american voter to swallow. Just why dont you ad an 'osama' error as i see sometimes on fox international... This is biased. As a european who wont vote however i find quite insulting the 'subtle bias' of this article. But the last paragraph explains it all. It seems it is fundamental to end the article considering the friendship of this man with a palestinian. Of the hundreds of friends i assuem he has, this is it seems the fundamental way to end his young life. That he is very good friends with a palestinian. It is obvious what type of anti-obama partisan has written this article but i wonder what kind of objectivity has this wikipedia for someone to lock in that info as 'relevant'. As i cannot edit i hope any editor who has common sense to take away that last paragraph and the one on drugs if you dont want this to look... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.94.16.127 (talk) 02:21, 10 June 2008 (UTC) pathetic. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.94.16.127 (talk) 02:13, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Good catch on the "He knows a Palestinian" paragraph. That definitely shouldn't be in this article.. Campaign issues should be in the campaign article, not here. --Bobblehead (rants) 02:34, 10 June 2008 (UTC)