The Times of London has discovered that Barack Obama's father's half-sister, the woman he calls "Auntie Zeituni" in Dreams from My Father, is living in public housing in Boston. A second relative, "Uncle Omar," described in the memoir as dropping out of touch with the Kenyan family after immigrating to the U.S., was apparently also living in Boston, where he was evicted from public housing for failing to pay $2,324.20 of his $500 monthly rent. Omar was the victim of a violent crime in 1994, held up at gunpoint while working at a Boston convenience store. Some Obama supporters will worry that revelations of the candidate's close connection to urban, immigrant poverty will turn off white swing voters. In actuality, the tale of Zeituni, who scrimped to donate $260 to her nephew's campaign, is quite touching. And while it's unclear what, if any continued relationship Obama has with his Boston relatives, this story serves as a reminder that Obama is truly, extraordinarily different from other recent American presidential candidates. He is in touch with aspects of the American experience that simply are not familiar to his opponent. --Dana Goldstein
