Talk:Barack Obama

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Ethnicity

Why is he listed as "African American" rather than mixed race (his mother being white)? LeapUK (talk) 11:26, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

See the "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)" at the top of the page, click "show" on the right to expand and then find Q2. Tarc (talk) 12:31, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

Also, see the No true Scotsman fallacy. He's an African American. --OuroborosCobra (talk) 14:17, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

This has been dealt with during the User:Antiedman edit War of 2009-2010. Iamiyouareyou Iamiyouareyou (talk)

His being of mixed-race seems to be an obsession to some. I'm a Brit, so when I see Barack Obama I don't see a black man - I see an American. 5.81.27.83 (talk) 14:24, 27 August 2015 (UTC)

Bill Ayers controversy

For some reason, Bill Ayers is ommitted from even a mention in this article but he was a focal point of the 2008 campaign and their relation even has an article, Bill Ayers 2008 presidential election controversy. Move to add? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 100.14.57.197 (talk) 18:35, 11 September 2015 (UTC)

It was a relatively minor issue in a single political campaign that has no significant nexus with Obama's biographical story, did not change the course of the election, and probably had less of an effect than some of the other strange issues like the birther, secret muslim, and socialist/communist/fascist conspiracy theories. Interestingly, some non-mainstream parts of America are still carrying on about this, but that's their issue, not Obama's. If this article were book length, and probably in some serious books that would cover the span of his life and career, an issue like this might get half a page as part of the discussion of campaigning, but we only have so much space here. - Wikidemon (talk) 19:31, 11 September 2015 (UTC)

My goodness. That article is enormous in comparison to how much of an issue it was. I'd forgotten all about it. -- Scjessey (talk) 21:25, 11 September 2015 (UTC)

There was a recent edit war on the main Ayers and Weather Underground articles that spilled over onto AN/I over the perennial drive-by efforts to label them a "terrorist" group. I would have thought that the "pals around with terrorists" meme has died down to the point where this is just garden variety anger over anti-American groups, but a google search shows that the conservative blogosphere is still hung up on it.[1] - Wikidemon (talk) 22:13, 11 September 2015 (UTC)

Wouldn't the fact that there's an entire article on it suggest it noteworthy enough for at least one sentence though? 100.14.57.197 (talk) 21:17, 13 September 2015 (UTC)

No more than the Birther conspiracies have a place here, no. The Ayers issue was a criticism that arose duyring the 2008 presidential campaign, and had no impacting on the subject's overall history/biography. Tarc (talk) 22:15, 13 September 2015 (UTC)

If we're looking at the broad picture, I would say 95% of what is written here is not really impacting his overall history or biography. Criticisms are part of the campaign too, and I think this one is relevant because he found himself frequently defending his relationship (or lackthereof) with Ayers and Jeremiah Wright. 100.14.57.197 (talk) 01:21, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

That's a funny definition of "frequently", when, out of 54 years of his life and 5+ years of a presidency, Obama has spent maybe 6 months having to answer questions about the matter during election season. Tarc (talk) 01:35, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

I agree that the story had been dead for a long time. I don't reall Ayer's name being mentioned at all during the 2012 election cycle and it's a safe bet that the Republicna would have brought if up repeatedly if it was considered significant at that time. Simply put it was not considered important enough for this biography then and it certainly is not now,--174.91.187.135 (talk) 03:09, 14 September 2015 (UTC)