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Politics : THE WHITE HOUSE -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pompsander who wrote (25000)	11/3/2008 7:19:29 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	1 Recommendation Respond to of 25737

The Trail, A Daily Diary of Campaign 2008: Obama's Grandmother Dies Updated 5:37 p.m. By Shailagh Murray voices.washingtonpost.com CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The day took a tragic turn for Sen. Barack Obama when his ailing grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, died today. Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Dunham died at home late last night in Hawaii, or roughly between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Eastern. Obama learned of the news a little after 8 a.m. in Florida, where his campaign held a morning rally. The campaign released a statement from Obama and his sister Maya Soetoro-Ng this afternoon: "It is with great sadness that we announce that our grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died peacefully after a battle with cancer. She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility. She was the person who encouraged and allowed us to take chances. She was proud of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and left this world with the knowledge that her impact on all of us was meaningful and enduring. Our debt to her is beyond measure. "Our family wants to thank all of those who sent flowers, cards, well-wishes, and prayers during this difficult time. It brought our grandmother and us great comfort. Our grandmother was a private woman, and we will respect her wish for a small private ceremony to be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, we ask that you make a donation to any worthy organization in search of a cure for cancer." John and Cindy McCain issued a statement of condolence after receiving the news. "We offer our deepest condolences to Barack Obama and his family as they grieve the loss of their beloved grandmother," they said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to them as they remember and celebrate the life of someone who had such a profound impact in their lives." Obama had recently taken time off the campaign trail to visit Dunham in Hawaii. The Post's Robert Barnes filed this report about the trip, and about Dunham's role in the Democratic presidential contender's life: Dunham, Obama said, is the "rock" who provided financial and practical stability among the colorful and enigmatic characters who populated his young life: the Kenyan father who left early on, the anthropologist mother given to wanderlust, the dreamer of a grandfather who was, as Obama wrote, "always searching for that new start." But Dunham was the down-to-earth one. "She's where I get my practical streak," Obama has said. "She's the one who taught me about hard work," he told a packed stadium in Denver the night he accepted the Democratic presidential nomination. "She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. "She poured everything she had into me." The candidate often mentions Dunham on the campaign trail -- including her days in a bomber assembly plant during World War II -- and he never praises parents who sacrifice for their children without mentioning grandparents as well. But Toot, as Obama calls her -- a shortened version of "tutu," the Hawaiian word for grandparent -- is largely unknown in the political world. She has not played a role in his campaigns, although she was filmed here in Hawaii for a commercial Obama ran during the Democratic primaries, and her poor health in recent years has kept her largely confined to her apartment. Obama at times points to Dunham as an example of a generation of women who advanced despite sexist constraints. She worked her way from the secretarial pool to become the Bank of Hawaii's first female vice president and the family's breadwinner. But it was a process that took more than 20 years, and in the memoir that he wrote as a young man, "Dreams From My Father," Obama said his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, complained about the treatment her mother received. "More than once, my mother would tell Toot that the bank shouldn't get away with such blatant sexism," Obama wrote. "But Toot would just pooh-pooh my mother's remarks, saying that everybody could find a reason to complain." Part of the reason may have been that she never thought of her job as a career. Obama wrote that late in life, his grandmother told him she had always dreamed of life as a housewife or volunteer. "I was surprised by this admission, for she rarely mentioned hopes or regrets," he wrote. "It may or may not have been true that she would have preferred the alternative history she imagined for herself, but I came to understand that her career spanned a time when the work of a wife outside the home was nothing to brag about, for her or Gramps -- that it represented only lost years, broken promises."