Obama O’Trauma
By Truthteller on May 27, 2008 at 3:23 PM in Bamboozling, Barack Obama, Hoodwinking, Obamaisms
Only a desperate candidate raises the specter of the Holocaust for electoral gain.
[UPDATE: WORM Obama intended to mention Buchenwald, not Auschwitz. But the point that he shamelessly exploited the trauma of the Holocaust for political gain still stands, as do my contentions that he does not understand PTSD, military history or European and American Jewry. He remains a man who will do and say anything in order to win an election. And one still must ask why he mentioned Auschwitz, the most notorious of the death camps. Indeed, Americans know of Auschwitz, not Buchenwald, which was, by the way, liberated by Americans in April 1945. Just substitute one camp for another for maximum effect, I guess. Obama also acknowledges that it was his "great uncle" and not his "uncle" who served in WWII. Those who fabricate autobiographies have a difficult time remaining factual.]
American troops did not liberate Auschwitz; the Soviet troops of the First Army of the Ukrainian Front liberated the Birkenau death camp and the Monowitz labor camp on 27 January 1945 under the leadership of Marshal Koniev.
The three Auschwitz camps and its many satellites in Poland on the Eastern Front were abandoned by the Germans nine days before the Soviets arrived. And the gassing of prisoners at the Birkenau death camp of Auschwitz had seized in October 1944. Yes, Soviet soldiers did encounter carnage, destruction, destitution and desolation at the camps, but what they encountered was not as gruesome as some may believe, as the Germans removed and destroyed the evidence before the Soviets arrived. What they did encounter when they arrived were the tales related by those who remained in Auschwitz and Birkenau.
Some claim the Soviet troops did not even liberate the camps; according to some eyewitnesses, the Soviets just happened upon them. And others claim Jews and other political prisoners simply liberated themselves after the Germans abandoned the prisons. The Soviets were the ones to first approach the Auschwitz camps, however. But the photographs preserved for posterity of prisoners embracing Soviet men in uniform near the arch that reads “Arbeit Macht Frei” were staged one month later. No one should be surprised that the Soviets exploited trauma for political gain in February 1945. But one should be surprised that Barack Obama would in 2008, especially as his “uncle” [UPDATE: His campaign now admits that he should have said "great uncle"] and all American forces were fighting on the Western front, not the Eastern front, in January 1945.
Notice only Soviet armies were on the Eastern front in January 1945. And notice the Allied Forces of the West on the Western front had just crossed the Western border of Germany. The Allied Forces were nowhere near Auschwitz.
Auschwitz, by the way, was not the first death camp to be liberated; that distinction belongs to Majdanek, a camp in in Eastern Poland the Soviets liberated on 23 JULY 1944. When the Soviets did arrive at Auschwitz, they knew what to expect, as they already saw gas chambers at Majdanek. They were also aware of all the reports on the gas chambers the BBC had been circulating since 1942.
What I find particularly objectionable about Obama’s attempt to stake a claim in the Holocaust is his exploitation of one of the most traumatic moments of Western history in order to buttress the claim that he is both a patriot and a friend of the Jewish community. Certain aspects of history are not to be blithely invoked and distorted. Indeed, only leaders such as Stalin would exploit the Holocaust for political purposes.
Even more offensive is Obama’s deployment of the rhetoric of trauma as it pertains to the Holocaust in order to elicit the sympathy and empathy veterans who are genuinely concerned about men and women in uniform who are presently suffering from PTSD. For the PTSD engendered by a war involving attacks from all sides from ununiformed enemies unaffiliated with any particular state is very different from the pain and suffering experienced by those who served on the fronts of WWII. It is also very different from the trauma engendered by those who witness of carnage and coordinated acts of genocide. Not all trauma is the same, and psychological maladies of the 1940s are not the same as those of in 2008: the weapons are different; the cultures are different; quotidian experience is different.
Certainly Obama’s “uncle” and other WWII veterans experienced trauma in the wake of all that occurred in the Japanese and European theaters. But to debase those experiences by fabricating a tale of heroic liberation one would expect to view in a Soviet propaganda film while speaking to veterans on Memorial Day 2008 is simply beyond the pale. Anyone with any real relation to the Holocaust would understand this is to be unacceptable. And anyone with any knowledge of World War II would know that it is false. People seriously believe this man should be Commander in Chief?
All of us attempt to render uninteresting anecdotes poignant, but many of us exercise a bit of discretion and historical fidelity when embellishing aspects of our autobiographies.
Obama does not understand veterans, the Holocaust, WWII, PTSD, trauma or the pain experienced by a community that literally had to start from zero in the wake of Hitler’s atrocities. For Obama to mobilize all this pain in order to gain the allegiances of veterans and of Jews convinces me that he is cynical, heartless and reckless. This is a man who I believe will do and say anything to become President. But even worse, he will traumatize us with any and all specters, real, fabricated or otherwise, in order to hoodwink and bamboozle us into submission.
Obama should either clarify his statements or issue an apology, for civilized human beings do not play politics with the most horrifying atrocity of documented Western history.
I’m sure he didn’t do it on purpose.
But he needs to do some work on himself,on his history.
He needs to get himself a resumé. For someone who has not done much in his life as a politician he spends way too much time looking down on people and telling us what we should do.
Didn’t “do it on purpose?” So he did it accidently? That is an absurd comment. This casual misstating of actual historic events solely for the sake of personal gain is unforgivable. History teaches us what it means to be human. No one, be he ever so ignorant, has the right to alter our record of the past.
Oh yes that he did on purpose
He was counting on nobody noticing. Maybe he is right about his cultists, but the rest of us pay attention.
Don’t give him a free pass. He and his supporters, judging from the RFK flap, certainly don’t afford Clinton that luxury.
hope the fact that Obama doesn’t know better is no excuse. This man who colors his hair gray in order to look more mature and adds made up characters to his auto biography is a real sicko. He stands for nothing except winning and offers nothing to the masses except to allow them to worship him.
It’s time for Senator Clinton to speak up and call Obama out on this lie.
Only 6 articles have come out noting that this is a lie. CBS reported it and didn’t bother to get the facts (they had to get their kleenex first to clean themselves).
If Senator Clinton refuses to fight on this issue, then we’re in for a gloomy November. The last hope of the Democratic party must fight now.
Who was this uncle?
Wasn’t his mom the only child?
Perhaps a Kenyan uncle in the Red Army?
A Great Uncle……. a really really Great Uncle. A super terrific Russian Uncle
Uncle Vanya
Was Rev Wright the only male? This would mean he never went to war.
Does anyone have proof he was in the service like he claims?
“But one should be surprised that Barack Obama would in 2008, especially as his father was fighting on the Western front, not the Eastern front.”
Should read Grandfather.
no, it should read uncle, and i corrected it. he mentions his uncle.
His Kenyan Granfather Was in World War I as a cook for a British Officer. His American Grandfather fought on the western front in World War II.
Who is the mysterious “Uncle”? Barack has so many with no blood relation.
I’m suittin up…..getting ready for the Democrats to totally get their asses handed to them in the Presidential election. Lordy lordy help us! Can you hear McCain already……Wanna talk about how ugly real war can be Mr. Never Serve and you want talk about paying a price and having dedication during really really hard trying times Mr. Never Serve? It is going to be absolute shooting fish in a barrel.
Obama has no honest respect for military service either. He is completely disconnected from military reality and likes to stay that way. I can’t see that he has any sort of understanding of what it entails and 24/7 adherence to principles first, principles first, principles first. He tries on a new principle daily and that is his perrogative but damn, this guy is possibly our next CIC during these very trying military times and he is completely clueless?
Oops….prerogative. It didn’t look right so I looked it up and I need some spelling lessons.
But it sounds like perrogative - those pre vs per things that mess one up.
Obama has no respect for anyone but himself. He is shameful.
mccain won’t take well to bamy’s little fiction hour i don’t expect. well bamy needs to be shut down hard or expect these falsehoods to get bigger.
I’m sure he didn’t do it on purpose.
Nah. Of course not. But Hillary said ‘assassination’ on purpose! She’s white!
At least when she starts dog whistling history she has the players right.
He said it on purpose - he obviously knows how stupid some voters are, like his own supporters - so you betcha he threw that name out there. They’ll never care about a correction - he’s just pandering to the jews, this will hurt him, THEY are not stupid. Now is great uncle saved us from the nazis!! This better get legs and it better move.
i think most jewish voters know their history very well and won’t appreciate this. it says no respect period!
Ok now they have the Concentration Camp right — but I bet there is no uncle. Obama is to liar what steer is to steak. Its so harrrrrd for him to keep campaigning during this long primary season — just like the Bataan Death March he says where thousands of American soldiers died. Why sure BO my heartaches thinking of your suffering in that private plane taking you everywhere in the utmost comfort while providing you with the best meals. Yes its just like The Bataan Death March. Aren’t you glad you weren’t in that march. Bet you would have ratted everyone else out to curry favor with the Japs.
Jewish voters aren’t stupid and when you pander to them you better get your facts correct. No wonder they are not supporting him.
ROFLMAO
The “My Uncle helped to liberate Auschitz” line plays well with the highly educated, high-info intellectual elite voter. A lesser man might see right through it.
Well it sure isn’t playing well with me. But maybe that’s because I’m well educated and intellectual, but not elitist. . .
I don’t buy anything he says about anything. Just add this to the list.
I would rather be one of the dummies to sees through Obama than one of those Liberal elites who gets it wrong every time.
Wow. I’m stunned by his audacity. And sooooooooo depressed by it all……….
i am on lou show
i am gonna thank him
and i am gonna mention –larry johnson –noquarterusa–also
Wow. Unreported huh. sAD.
Obama, constant liar, all bullshit, all the time. He is disgusting. No way are you getting to the White House Obama, no way. Get it, now pack your happy ass up and get to Kenya with cousin Odinga. You fit perfectly in there you fascist pig.
I am just wondering which part of his family “Uncle”?
The story is now up on the widely read Wonkette and Fark humor sites, making fun of Obama:
http://wonkette.com/393487/obamas-uncle-takes-credit-for-communists-work
That’s funny! Gaffey McGaffealot Obama!
I made myself watch that. That’s quite a reach there Bambi. So…what was his point? Was he talking about today’s vets and PTSD or was he trying to reach out to the Jewish community? What a lazy ass. There are thousands of real PTSD cases from Iraq alone. Do a little research and pick one. Why try and ingratiate himself that way? God, he sickens me. I still can’t believe our so called DNC leaders found this moron inspiring. I get more inspiration from a feminine hygiene commercial.
did u guys hear me
i was on lou radio show
i am aisha
You were great. Very good points. Thank you.
were u listening
i never talk to anybody
but
this was first time ever —i was just mad
was i effective???
you rocked!!!
I am with the lady in the pants suit all the way to Denver and the White House baby!!
BOOYAH!!!
HILLYEAH!!!
thx
Is there a Podcast available? I missed it….
Links to the show are appreciated.
That’s so cool! Way to go!
You had the Indian accent?
Was that you?
good comments if it was you.
yes
that was me
aisha –
any audio available?
Not wishing to ruin your party and rain on your parade, but even Ben Smith of Politico, who’s normally kind of busy kissing Hillary’s rear, has posted a clarification on this story. As usual, Obama didn’t make anything up, the facts check out and you are all shouting at clouds!
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0508/Obamas_World_War_II_history.html#comments
Funny, everytime Barky fucks up, one of you guys has to show up here and either clear things up or smooth things over. WORM=What Obama Really Meant. So if barky gets to the white house, will there be a new WORM branch of the government? Marty, my love, you’ll have your hands full.
Buchenwald is not Auschwitz. And Buchenwald was liberated three months after Auschwitz. Obama cited Auschwitz, as that is the most notorious camp.
Visited Buchenwald when my husband was stationed in Germany. Bad place, very bad. Bambi should be popped in the gob for using the holocaust as a political ploy.
Can you imagine being Jewish and this idiot who wants to be the next idiot leader of the free world (because Bush wasn’t idiot enough) figures a concentration camp is a concentration camp is a concentration camp, and when you want to sound “credible” just pulling any old camp out of your hat will do? If your Great Uncle has seen one camp he’s seen em all - and if he was part liberating one camp well hell, he’s liberated em’all. Obama’s history is always fubar……..WTF. Most of his supporters can’t get the full history of shit straight either and they don’t even want to.
Tracy, this is what passes as an Ivy League educated person? Forget it. I’ll take my little community college, along with the years I back packed the world and throw in the years as a military spouse over Harvard anyday.
truthteller — because Obama doesn’t care if he gets it right. He wants to show his empathy — as if he has some. So whats the diff — one Concentration Camp is the same as another and Buchenwald skipped his mind. Give him a break — Messiahs are not used to pandering.
Auschwitz is not the Ohrduf camp though and if you are going to dog whistle the Holocaust and run against the many generations of military service McCain you can’t be an idiot about such things! But Obama is an idiot about such things!
r u obama,s watchdog??
we dare you to call LOU DOBBS SHOW —
go on air and give clarification ===ha ha ha ha
and by the way —-we trust our own sources
u don,t tell us where to look or read
Once again. Mr. Hope LIED and his cultists are trying to excuse it. Excuses, excuses, excuses. I’m sick of excuses. How does Auschwitz even begin to sound like Ohrduf? IT DOESN’T! The idiot LIED, again, and got caught.
yeah and who would expect a politician like Uhhbama to know the difference between the EASTERN FRONT AND WESTERN FRONT
after all Zbiegnew the “soviet union” antagonist is his adviser..Zbiegnew is all anti Russia and maybe that is why Uhhbama keeps calling it the Soviet Union all the time and saying Iran is not as big a threat as USSR was, and didnt we have Pershings lined up before we talked to them?
Uhhbama wants to CUT defense spending, SS and Medicare spending..(see CNBC interview with Maria Bartiromo)
uhmm how do we do that at war on 2 fronts, needing a military reset and with Boomers retiring?
I KNOW lets jack up payroll taxes 30% on the middle class! and privatize their benefits! and roll back defense spending cause hey we can sing kumbayah with all our enemies, Castro is with it so is Ahimidienjad!
great plan Barack!
NO NO NO and again NO NO NO
we are with Hillary all the way to Denver and the White House baby!!
Hillary will keep us safe and not tax us to death and ensure our SS is there when we need it..
HILL-A-REE
HILL-A-REE
HILL-A-REE
BOOYAH!!
HILLYEAH!!!
Obama ought to be really ashamed of himself..
How does he dare!! How does he dare being so disrespectful so caviller… What, uncle, great uncle, Auschwitz or Buchenwald, it doesn’t matter? Just another concentration camp??? He is a disgrace !!
This is unforgivable.
First Ben Smith is an Obama supporter. I have read his column daily.
Second, Obama has obfuscated the truth in his books and speeches and has always had to provide an explanation. Is it surprising that he is not believed?
Frankly, I believe he would make no mistakes regarding his father’s background with which he identifies. He has not researched his mothers to an equivalent degree and when visiting her roots did not recognize the house. He had not been there before.
Oh he lies a lot about his fathers background. Dear old dad is another “composite” of other relatives and political figures in his fictional autobiography.
The real Kenyan father? Not worth too much at all.
Too bad his uncle’s service wasn’t important enough to Barry to get the facts straight before he opened his pie hole …. when in doubt, the expression “concentration camp” might have sufficed. Ya think? Not for him, though. He just had to mention the one with the very worst reputation for cruelty. So now, he looks like the idiot that most of the people he was trying to impress already believe him to be …. hahahahahahahahahahaha …. that’s the part I love, you?
Then why did he come out with an apology this afternoon?
Martin — if the facts check out than Obama’s uncle was with the Russian Army. Nice real nice.
Give your support of Obama a rest. The guy is a loser. If you support him so are you.
i as mad —
i blamed obama for not stoping media for calling clintons racist
i talked about him calling everyone racist
i was telling him –how people been calling hillary –bitch—-
and firing a week later is too late
and i thanked him and —i mentionmed –larry johnson –noquarterusa,,,for fair coverage–
and now –i just e-mailed lou for taking my call
and i thanked him for his fair coverage
and i mentioned larry johnson again with this blog site address
yayyyyyyyyyy
test
FOXNEWS picked this story up and is running with it as their political Lead story.
CNN now has it as the Lead story on Political Ticker
politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/27/rnc-hits-obama-over-auschwitz-claim/
Looks like the RNC is getting involved now with it.
HERE WE GO BABY!!!!
W.O.R.M…..he really meant to say his Uncle helped liberate that OTHER death camp. He just misspoke. AGAIN.
This won’t touch him. Poor baby didn’t mean to say what he actually said….he meant to say something else! Leave him alone!!! Stop picking on Baby Bama!
Let’s face it. The guy is super dumb. No news there. He has no idea what he is saying ever. He always has been a shucking and jiving. This didn’t just start lately.
He clearly is NOT qualified to be president.
It’s a wonder he has a job at all. I think he is unemployable.
Can someone get him out of the race. We have all had a belly full and are sick and tired of his insanity.
He needs to bow out and apologize to America for inciting race divisions and lieing the us and tearing down women. Out of here bub.
I want this to stop now.
Can this stop now!~
we used to have presidents who won prizes and respect. gore, carter, kennedy come to mind. they have all written books and know/understand history. bami however is clueless.
I wonder if Obama was talking about his crazy Uncle who sometimes says crazy things that he doesn’t always agree with?
dumbass!
Oops, looks like Obama made CNN with it and soon we will be hearing from the McCain about it…. he’ll have a good chuckle for the cameras I’m sure.
Maybe McCain will send Lieberman out — he knows what Concentration Camp is what. Europe shivers as the US turns into Idiot’s Delight.
Candy Crowley just covered in on CNN and just said the story is true only it was a great uncle not and uncle and oops he got the camp wrong it was not Auswitz oops but he told the truth if you ignore the two lies within his story.
LOL!
Nothing he says is genuine, and Candy Crowley can take cover because she’s one of that fat as*es Obama blames for global warming. Maybe the Middle East will feel better if she goes on a diet.
Barky made himself look sloppy, lazy and disrespectful. Nice going there, Bambi! Just what we need running up against a guy who spent five friggin’ years as a POW. God in heaven, just shoot me now. We are so dead in November. I need a drink. I CAN’T FUCKING BELIEVE WE ARE GOING TO RUN THIS TWAT AS OUR NOMINEE!!!!! I need a hug.
Wait a minute how do we know the uncle spent 6 months in the attic. Even Obama called if a family legend.
The man is a shameless whore.
Isn’t it ironic that his wink-wink endorser HAMAS said, on the day the Jews have their memoriam for the holocaust dead, that the Jews created the holocaust themselves to get rid of their weak.
Barack Obama, you are a vile, shameless, despicable piece of crap. If it were up to you and your pals, Israel would be blown to smithereens.
obama is a boob
Just like I said, it would be his great uncle in another place, once they found out a place they could cite instead.
“BO” doesn’t want two BIG states counted. “BO” doesn’t want to debate publicly. Coward “BO” wants to win by hiding the truth.
——————————————————————————–
It’s despicable. BO wants the nomination handed to him through the “affirmative action” of not counting MILLIONS of votes in two big Democratic states.
BO refuses to debate in NC, even though there have only been FOUR debates between him and Clinton (he deceitfully claims they have debated 21 times, but those include 6-candidate debates).
BO is disgustingly deceitful and cowardly. This guy doesn’t deserve to be anywhere near the White House
you were great aisha,
spot on,
and i loved how you got in the f word,
THANK YOU
I GET NERVOUS –I LOOSE WORDS
BUT I TRIED
THANKS —-
He did it on purpose : what a pig. I am furious about this; madly furious.
And if he didn’t then: shame on him !!!
How can he do this? How can he be so arrogant?
What? Who cares whether it was a concentration camp her or there??
I am enraged by this; truly enraged.
Thank you Truthteller for bringing it up on a post.
I have been mad all day since I heard about it.
so careless with such issue:
Was it the same speech where Obama said he saw dead people? Two gaffes, one speech.
Reminds me of GWB, how ’bout you?
notice how frequently this is happening. maybe bambi is in free fall.
Very good point - Auschwitz is well known. He was deliberately pandering a very serious issue, with no regard for the accuracy of what he was claiming.
Now he looks feckless (yet again), and more importantly, disinterested in the history of the Holocaust. Good luck with those Jewish voters.
I always go back to Karl Rove’s depiction of Obama: TOO ARROGANT TO DO HIS HOMEWORK.
Has Anybody Noticed What Has Happened?
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The so called democratic party has been taken over by corporate liberals. The republican party is controlled by conservative liberals. They are coke and pepsi both controlled by corporations. Who is there police force? The media. The media protects corporations from being critiqued are reigned in. Hillary is trying to do this and look what has happened to her. The middle class conservative or liberal have all been left out of this. This is how badly SOME people got douped. They have nothing in common with upper class liberals! Hillary must stay in it, she’s the only voice of the middle class. London banks, goldman sachs love Obama, he represents a manifestation of corporate control from other countries. Hang on tight this is going to get rougher. Can someone say Hillary and Lou Dobbs…mmmmmm.
I’m sorry - there’s something here I just don’t understand. I was under the impression Barry was Jewish? No?
If things get bad enough for BO he will have himself circumcised. The guy will do anything for attention.
Maybe is was the crazy Uncle Rev Wright?
You’d think Michelle would’ve been really proud of her country when Barack first told her of his Uncle’s helping to liberate this camp.