The president finally acknowledged he briefly lived in Cambridge with his Kenyan uncle in the 1980s, contradicting what the White House press office said two years ago — that there was no record the two ever crossed paths.
The matter came up at Onyango Obama’s recent deportation hearing. As reported by the Globe’s Maria Sacchetti, the president’s uncle testified that he had lived in the United States illegally since the 1970s.
He also told the court that Barack Obama stayed with him at his Cambridge apartment for three weeks, while preparing to attend Harvard Law School in the 1980s.
“It’s a good thing to let your nephew stay with you,” said Onyango Obama after the hearing, which ended with a ruling that he can stay in the United States, unless the Department of Homeland Security appeals the case within 30 days. “Your brother’s kids are your kids as well.”
However, his hospitality was apparently not such a good thing for Onyango Obama’s now-famous nephew to recognize.
Their relationship became news in 2011, when the presidents uncle was arrested for drunken driving. “I think I will call the White House,” he allegedly said at the time.
But the White House apparently wanted no part of a story involving a presidential relative who was in the United States illegally and fighting deportation.
So back then, White House officials issued a Clintonesque denial, telling the Globe there was no record the nephew and uncle had ever met.
Obama let deception stand until his uncle told the truth in court — just like he let deception stand about the Affordable Care Act until he was outed by the unavoidable truth.
He stuck with “If you like your plan, you can keep it,” until hundreds of thousands of notices about canceled insurance policies became impossible to ignore.
He said Obamacare would lower costs, when the truth is it won’t, as rising premiums make clear.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/columns/2013/12/12/uncle-onyango-could-tell-president-obama-why-americans-don-believe-him/ROp6JaH7OY81Z5tEV4V3uJ/story.html