Oct 20 2008
Barack Obama Takes Two Days Off to Visit Sick Grandmother
In a breaking news story, Senator Barack Obama’s grandmother is ill and he is taking a couple of days off:
Sen. Barack Obama will take off two days from his campaign this week, less than two weeks before Election Day, for an urgent visit to his ailing grandmother in Hawaii, the Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign announced tonight.
Madelyn Dunham, 86, has been ill for some time, but her condition in recent days has grown “very serious,” said campaign adviser Robert Gibbs. She was released from a Hawaii hospital late last week, he said, and Sen. Obama will fly there Thursday “so that he can see her and spend some time with her,” Mr. Gibbs said.
I admire Senator Obama for making this decision. His grandmother is obviously an important part of his life:
“Senator Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has always been one of the most important people in his life,” Gibbs said in a statement. “Along with his mother and his grandfather, she raised him in Hawaii from the time he was born until the moment he left for college. As he said at the Democratic Convention, she poured everything she had into him.
Obama’s mother died of ovarian cancer when she was 52.
I wish all the best for Senator Obama’s grandmother and his family and applaud his decision to be by her side.
