Obama's sister

I've written before that the discomfort that many people feel with Senator Obama is not just that he's African American, he had a Muslim father (and stepfather), and he has a Middle Eastern-sounding name. It's also that he grew up in Asia and Asian America, he's a second generation immigrant, and he's multiracial (and in more ways than one). Obama grew up in Indonesia (an Asian and a Muslim country) and Hawaii (the country's only "majority minority" and Asian American-majority state) and is half-black, half-white, and - culturally - part Asian/Asian American. Obama's half sister (Maya Soetoro-Ng - pictured above) - child of his mother and her second husband, an Indonesian businessman whom she married when Obama was young - is - like Penny and me - half Asian and half white. Ng has in fact been doing outreach for Obama with Asian American communities. And she was one of several family members (including Michelle Obama's brother, the new Oregon State men's basketball coach) who helped introduce Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention last night.

When voters I call in Kentucky or talk with in West Virginia say that there's something "funny" about Obama, I think it's not just that he's African American, with some Middle Eastern/Muslim heritage, and a second-generation immigrant, it's also this multiracial/multicultural heritage that makes people scratch their heads and wonder/worry. It might be OK for Paula Abdul or Shakira or even Tiger Woods or Tony Parker to have this ambiguous racial and cultural identity. But maybe not someone who's running for president.

-- Perry