On his first Father’s Day in the White House, Barack Obama exalted the role of surrogate dads:

“We also honor those surrogate fathers who raise, mentor, or care for someone else’s child. Thousands of young children benefit from the influence of great men, and we salute their willingness to give and continue giving.”

Ann Dunham married Barack Obama’s father, the focus of his “autobiography.” Barack Senior abandoned the family before the child was two years old.  Dad was not exactly father of the year.  He is described as a “drunk and a bigot,” who was a cruel man, prone to drunken rages. (dailymail.co.uk). 

Time reporter Amanda Ripley says Ann filed for divorce from Barack Senior in 1964, citing “grievous mental suffering” as the grounds.  That may have been the standard grounds for divorce in those days.

But Barack Senior’s third wife, Ruth, claimed he beat her brutally in drunken rages.  Sharon Churcher describes Barack Senior as an abusive bigamist and womanizer.  Obama blames “racism” on both sides for the demise of his parents’ marriage.

Ann met Indonesian Lolo Soetoro and married him when Barry was about six years old.  Starting a new life with a new husband is one thing but dragging a young child to a Third World country is quite another.

Jakarta, Indonesia in the 1960’s was a harsh place for a child.  Not much of an infrastructure and staggering inflation which was creating shortages.  Indonesia was a violent place in the era following hostilities with the Dutch.  Not exactly the white picket fence kind of place.

Or perhaps he was lionizing his late maternal grandfather, a man he has described as having a “complete inability to discipline his appetites.” (The Audacity of Hope, Page 203).  Young Barry had the benefit of several surrogate dads, none as markedly debauched as “Frank”. 

Another one of Barry’s splendid adult role models was communist, poet, alcoholic, sexual deviant and fomenter of racial hatred, Frank Marshall Davis.  Cleverly disguised as “Frank” in Dreams, we learn that young Barry was treated to Davis’ counsel on numerous occasions.  Dear Grandpa Stanley, blessed with an inordinate amount of free time thanks to his wife’s hard work, enjoyed whiling away the hours with Davis, drinking and smoking pot. 

Davis was an open supporter of the Soviet Union and his influence on Obama is hard to overlook.  The poet also admitted to writing a pornographic novel under the pseudonym of Bob Greene in which the protagonist seduces a 13 year old girl.  Davis claimed he had changed names and identities but the novel was based on actual experiences.  To clarify the depth of Marshall’s perversion:  he actually believed sex with a 13 year old child would be in the child’s best interests.  He graciously spared her the sting of rejection and made certain her earliest sexual experiences would be with the maestro himself, according to Toby Harnden in the Telegraph.  Davis also proudly proclaimed himself bisexual, a voyeur and exhibitionist who wished he’d had two penises. 

In a lifetime of associations with plainly unsavory characters, poet and pornographer, Frank Marshall Davis ranks among the least savory of the lot. 

In yet another series of twists and loops, Frank Marshall, who claimed to be the victim of a lynching at age five, was born in Kansas, as were the Dunham’s.  It is not entirely clear whether Davis and Dunham knew each other in Kansas.  They all ended up in Hawaii.  Davis, an unabashed admirer of the Soviet Union, member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and fomenter of racial hatred, had worked as a columnist in Chicago, where he fancied himself someone of Great Importance.

Davis’s support of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party was so extreme that he was rejected by the NAACP in Chicago, not exactly a conservative organization, out of fears that his extremism would drive new members away.  In 1956, Davis had exercised his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination while being investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).  He chose to remain silent rather than acknowledge the excruciatingly obvious--that he was a communist. Davis’s support of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party was so extreme that he was rejected by the NAACP in Chicago, not exactly a conservative organization, out of fears that his extremism would drive new members away.  In 1956, Davis had exercised his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination while being investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).  He chose to remain silent rather than acknowledge the excruciatingly obvious--that he was a communist. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/2591139/Barack-Obamas-true-colours-The-making-of-the-man-who-would-be-US-president.html

Davis was an important mentor to Obama and they consorted until Barry left for college.  Davis shared his special version of how to improve race relations:  “never trust white people.” Davis died in 1987 but was eventually replaced by Reverend Jeremiah Wright. 

Obama’s earliest visits to dear Uncle Frank began when Barry was just a vulnerable young boy of ten.  Already confused and traumatized by his chaotic childhood, who better to step up to the role of Big Brother than a race bating, America hating, rabid sexual deviant and pornographer?