Fogbow

Obama family matriarch has died in a Kenyan hospital at 99
Mama Sarah, as the step-grandmother of the former U.S. president was fondly called, promoted education for girls and orphans in her rural Kogelo village.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS 03/29/2021 09:25 AM EDT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Sarah Obama, the matriarch of former U.S. President Barack Obama’s Kenyan family has died, relatives and officials confirmed Monday. She was at least 99 years old. Mama Sarah, as the step-grandmother of the former U.S. president was fondly called, promoted education for girls and orphans in her rural Kogelo village. She passed away around 4 a.m. local time while being treated at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral hospital in Kisumu, Kenya’s third-largest city in the country’s west, according to her daughter Marsat Onyango. “She died this morning. We are devastated,” Onyango told The Associated Press on a phone call.

“Mama was sick with normal diseases she did not die of COVID-19,” a family spokesman Sheik Musa Ismail said, adding that she had tested negative for the disease. He said she had been ill for a week before being taken to the hospital. President Barack Obama had been informed of the death and has sent his condolences, he said. She will be buried Tuesday before midday and the funeral will be held under Islamic rites. “The passing away of Mama Sarah is a big blow to our nation. We’ve lost a strong, virtuous woman, a matriarch who held together the Obama family and was an icon of family values,” President Uhuru Kenyatta said.

She will be remembered for her work to promote education to empower orphans, Kisumu Governor Anyang Nyong’o said while offering his condolences to the people of Kogelo village for losing a matriarch. “She was a philanthropist who mobilized funds to pay school fees for the orphans,” he said. Sarah Obama, was the second wife of President Obama’s grandfather and helped raise his father, Barack Obama, Sr. The family is part of Kenya’s Luo ethnic group. President Obama often showed affection toward her and referred to her as “Granny” in his memoir, “Dreams from My Father.” He described meeting her during his 1988 trip to his father’s homeland and their initial awkwardness as they struggled to communicate which developed into a warm bond. She attended his first inauguration as president in 2009. Later, Obama spoke about his grandmother again in his September 2014 speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

For decades, Sarah Obama has helped orphans, raising some in her home. The Mama Sara Obama Foundation helped provide food and education to children who lost their parents — providing school supplies, uniforms, basic medical needs, and school fees. In a 2014 interview with AP, she said that even as an adult, letters would arrive but she couldn’t read them. She said she didn’t want her children to be illiterate, so she saw that all her family’s children went to school. She recalled pedaling the president’s father six miles (nine kilometers) to school on the back of her bicycle every day from the family’s home village of Kogelo to the bigger town of Ngiya to make sure he got the education that she never had. “I love education,” Sarah Obama said, because children “learn they can be self-sufficient,” especially girls who too often had no opportunity to go to school.“If a woman gets an education she will not only educate her family but educate the entire village,” she said. In recognition of her work to support education, she was honored by the United Nations in 2014, receiving the inaugural Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Education Pioneer Award.

Bo, the Obamas’ Portuguese Water Dog, Dies
Former President Barack Obama said the family had lost “a true friend and loyal companion.”
Bo greeting President Obama in 2012. “For more than a decade, Bo was a constant, gentle presence in our lives — happy to see us on our good days, our bad days, and everyday in between,” Mr. Obama wrote on Twitter.
By Michael Levenson May 8, 2021 Updated 5:41 p.m. ET

Bo, the Portuguese water dog who became the first presidential pet in the Obama White House, romping in the halls of power, died on Saturday. Bo, who was 12, had cancer, Michelle Obama said on Instagram. President Barack Obama said the family had lost “a true friend and loyal companion.” “For more than a decade, Bo was a constant, gentle presence in our lives — happy to see us on our good days, our bad days, and everyday in between,” Mr. Obama wrote on Twitter. “He tolerated all the fuss that came with being in the White House, had a big bark but no bite, loved to jump in the pool in the summer, was unflappable with children, lived for scraps around the dinner table, and had great hair.”

Bo arrived at the White House as a 6-month-old puppy in April 2009, a gift from Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and his wife, Victoria, to the first children, Malia and Sasha Obama. The girls named the dog Bo because their cousins had a cat with the same name and because Mrs. Obama’s father was nicknamed Diddley, after the musician Bo Diddley. Right away, the dog was an object of national fascination, the latest in a long line of four-footed White House occupants that included President Lyndon B. Johnson’s beagles, Him and Her, President Ronald Reagan’s King Charles spaniel, Rex, President Bill Clinton’s cat, Socks, and President George W. Bush’s Scottish terrier, Barney. President Biden resumed the tradition in January with his two German shepherds, Champ and Major, after President Donald J. Trump’s term ended as the first in decades without any pets living full time at the residence. Major was recently sent for training after a series of biting episodes.

Bo was known for cavorting on the South Lawn in front of the White House press corps, barking at news conferences and attracting fan mail from children across the country. He also posed with his tongue out for an official White House portrait and was the subject of a children’s book, “Bo, America’s Commander in Leash,” written by Naren Aryal and illustrated by Danny Moore. In 2013, Bo was joined at the White House by a second Portuguese water dog, Sunny, after Mrs. Obama said that Bo needed more interaction with other dogs. Mrs. Obama said that although Bo was originally supposed to be a companion for Malia and Sasha, “We had no idea how much he would mean to all of us.”

She said the dog had been a “constant, comforting presence in our lives,” sauntering into their offices “like he owned the place, a ball clamped firmly in his teeth.” He was there for the traditional Easter egg roll on the South Lawn and when the pope came to visit, she said. After Malia and Sasha went to college, Bo helped the couple adjust to life as empty nesters, Mrs. Obama said in a post on Instagram that was signed “Michelle, Barack, Malia, Sasha, and Sunny.” “This past year, with everyone back home during the pandemic, no one was happier than Bo,” she wrote. “All his people were under one roof again — just like the day we got him.”

neonzx wrote: ↑Sat May 08, 2021 10:50 pm That was an expensive dog. The Kennedy's gifted him. He was family.

A Portuguese Water Dog puppy is likely to cost between $1,500-$2,890 with the average price being $2,200. First-year expenses are around $4,150 and will be about $1,655/year (or $138/month) after that. Through the dog's lifetime, the average cost of owning a Portuguese Water Dog is $22,355.

The Portuguese Water Dog originated from the Algarve region of Portugal. From there the breed expanded to all around Portugal's coast, where they were taught to herd fish into fishermen's nets, retrieve lost tackle or broken nets, and act as couriers from ship to ship, or ship to shore. Wikipedia
Hypoallergenic: Yes
Life expectancy: 12 – 15 years
Height: Female: 17–20 inches (43–52 cm), Male: 20–22 inches (50–57 cm)
Temperament: Intelligent, Obedient, Docile, Impetuous, Quarrelsome, Brave
Weight: Female: 35–50 lbs (16–23 kg), Male: 42–60 lbs (19–27 kg)
Colors: Black, White, Black & White, Brown, White & Chocolate

Obama setting up big bash to celebrate his 60th
BY AMIE PARNES - 07/26/21 07:21 PM EDT

Former President Barack Obama is planning a big bash for his 60th birthday in Martha's Vineyard, sources tell The Hill. The former president, who has spent recent weeks at his home on the posh island, is expected to be joined by dozens of friends at his oceanside abode, set on nearly 30 acres. “It's going to be big,” said one source.

It's unclear who will be in attendance but one source said many A-listers and friends of the Obamas, including Oprah Winfrey and George Clooney, scored invites. Guests are being asked to have a COVID-19 test before attending the soiree at the seven-bedroom, nearly 7,000-foot mansion the Obamas purchased for $11.75 million in 2019.

Obama turns 60 on August 4th.

The former president has a history of celebrating large milestone birthdays. When he turned 50 in 2011, he hosted a coterie of guests at the White House to celebrate, including musicians Jay-Z and Stevie Wonder, actor Tom Hanks, comedian Chris Rock and basketball legends Charles Barkley and Grant Hill. The party — which featured performances in the East Room by the likes of Ledisi, Herbie Hancock and Wonder — was said to carry into the following day with guests eating barbecue and dancing.

Obama and Foggy's spokeswomen did not respond to a request for comment.

Tiredretiredlawyer wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 11:47 am He shares a birthday with Bugs Bunny. Bugs is older- July 27, 1940.

bob wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 2:30 pm

Tiredretiredlawyer wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 11:47 am He shares a birthday with Bugs Bunny. Bugs is older- July 27, 1940.

Obama was born on August 4. (After tangling with the birthers, I've committed it to memory.)

Tink wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 6:48 pm Remember when we didn't think things could crazier than the birthers? Well here we are.

northland10 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 29, 2021 1:20 pm I would love to watch Michelle Obama kicking Trump's ass. I would also like it if she beat him in an election.