Madelyn Payne Dunham passes away

In a sad final note to the most historic presidential campaign ever, Senator Barack Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham passed away Sunday evening.

She was responsible for most of the Democratic presidential candidate's upbringing, and Sen. Obama credits her with instilling the work ethic and values that have helped propel him to the verge of the presidency.

From the AP story -

Obama announced the news from the campaign trail in Charlotte, N.C. The joint statement with his sister Maya Soetoro-Ng said Dunham died late Sunday night at her Honolulu apartment after a battle with cancer.

"She's gone home," Obama said as tens of thousands of rowdy supporters at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte grew silent in an evening drizzle.

"And she died peacefully in her sleep with my sister at her side. And so there is great joy as well as tears. I'm not going to talk about it too long because it is hard for me to talk about."

My condolences go out to Sen. Obama and his entire family. While tomorrow may otherwise be one of great joy and spectacular achievement for him, it will do little to assuage the heartache of their loss.


(pic courtesy USA Today)













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...And to the wing nuts who cried about some sort of conspiracy when Senator Obama took a break from his campaign to visit the woman who so inspired him when she was ailing (documented at HuffingtonPost here) -


Bite me.


(Hey - Senator Obama and his family have to be tactful, civil, and restrained. Me? Not so much.)

Barack Obama and his sister Maya Soetoro-Ng have asked that people make donations to a search for a cure for cancer in lieu of flowers (CNN) If any of the wingers have even a shred of conscience, they'll make just such a donation.

I'm not going to hold my breath on that one.

Later!