Obama Is Not Only a Woman, He's My Cousin

Well. Kathleen Parker today defends her previous column about Barack Obama being our first female president but sees her critics' point that it's not easy for black man to get angry in public (he'll be seen as Angry Black Man). She then offers this twist: She doesn't see him "exclusively as a black man" because "he is my cousin. I had intended to save this nugget for a future column, but now seems as good a time as any to brag."

She elaborates in the Washington Post: "Apparently, we are descended of brothers whose parents ... emigrated from Germany to the colonies about 1733. According to the family grid, Obama and I seem to be eighth cousins once removed." And so, "speaking as a cousin, and a not-so-sensitive columnist-citizen, I'm pulling for him to do better."