Grandson as President? Eh, No Big Deal

'It's just a job,' says Obama's Kenyan grandmother
By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 6, 2008 2:20 PM CDT
Grandson as President? Eh, No Big Deal
This file photo from Aug. 2, 2004 shows the cover of the book "Dreams From My Father."   (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

Her grandson could be the next president of the United States, but don't think Kenya's "Mama Sarah" is about to let it go to her head or Barack Obama's. “It’s just a job, a government job," she tells the Guardian. "I am not going to make a big deal out of it or pretend that it's anything really great.” She remains proud, however, of his rise from humble origins, as the newspaper notes in a profile.

Sarah Hussein Obama, 86, now the toast of the international press with her simple lifestyle, sees similarities in Obama—technically her step-grandson—and his father, including a drive to succeed through education. And something else, which she noticed upon first meeting him in 1987. "Barack's voice was exactly like his father's. It made me think that his father had come back from the dead." (More Barack Obama stories.)

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