I have a slight follow-up on “Ringerism“.
I contacted Margot Mifflin, the woman who attended Occidental College with Barack Obama in the early 1980s and who has published a series of photos at The New Yorker of Obama during this era. One of those photos shows Obama with a ring on the finger traditionally used to denote marriage.
Mifflin responded through email, “[Obama] was definitely not married – I don’t know about the ring.” I followed up and asked whether she remembered Obama ever wearing such a ring or if there was ever any discussion surrounding it. She said no. I pressed and asked how she was able to determine that Obama was not married. Had there been a discussion about him not being married. She didn’t respond.
I’d like to make a couple of notes here. Jerome Corsi at WND has done the most work on this. But he basically immediately marginalized the entire question by speculating that Obama wore a ring because he was married to a man. That doesn’t seem like the best starting spot for such a question, especially given the history of the Birther movement.
Second, I know that if I were going through old photos of my parents and saw one of them wearing a wedding ring before my parents had ever met, I’d certainly ask the obvious question. If the Obama girls saw the picture, one would expect them to ask, as any curious child would, “Daddy, were you married or something before you met Mommy?”
Maybe there are other legitimate explanations here. Perhaps it is more common that I thought to wear a ring on that finger without being married. Perhaps that was something people did back in the 1980s.
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I wouldn’t have known whether someone I went to college with was married or not, if he didn’t tell people. Maybe Margot saw him with other women and just assumed he wasn’t married. I don’t think Obama was married to a man. If he was married to anyone, it was a white woman, and he doesn’t want black female voters finding out about it.
Men didn’t marry men in the 1980′s. Not even in Cali. Corsi wants attention more than the truth, methinks. Which is sad but reasonable, because the truth isn’t going to change any minds, and at least attention writes checks that cash.
Lara’s right, any Obama secret marriage would have been to a white woman. Once Obama settled down and decided that he wanted to be both black and future President he knew that he’d have to marry an authentically black woman. That must have been a very sad day for him, knowing that he’d have to give up white women.
Black men married to white women don’t make it in politics – see Harold Ford, Jr.
Obama has all but outed himself as a gay man, a “down-low brother” if you will. From Larry Sinclair to Reggie Love to Kai Penn, the list of his male lovers grows ever onward. Now, we are simply left to speculate who could be the real father of Michelle Obama’s daughters. I do not pretend to have any particular insight into this question, but for some reason the first name that comes to mind is Dr. Shaquille O’Neal. Coincidence??
I think I’ve heard it said that guys wearing wedding rings get flirted with more, regardless of whether they’re married.
In one Seinfeld episode, George wore a wedding ring to land more tail. It seems I’ve also seen some guys wear rings in LTR’s, while definitely not married to her.
“Perhaps that was something people did back in the 1980s.” Only if they were married.
That Obama/wedding ring picture is fascinating. There’s definitely more to the story.
1) is that a wedding ring?
2) what was the “style” or custom for Hawaiians back then?
It could have been worn ironically, also. I remember wearing a ring on that finger until people mentioned to me that you’re only supposed to wear a wedding ring there. But I was 12.
I do not pretend to have any particular insight into this question, but for some reason the first name that comes to mind is Dr. Shaquille O’Neal. Coincidence??
LOL, are you implying that Sasha and Malia are actually Shaquille’s kids?
A union between Shaq and Michelle would have yielded much bigger, darker and uglier kids than that since Michelle is a big boned black lady herself. Sasha and Malia are very light skinned, with good hair. They clearly have a lot of white in them.
My guess would be that at age 19 or so, Obama didn’t know the custom about what a ring on the left hand ring finger meant. Wearing a wedding ring wasn’t universal among married men at the time. Moreover, young males don’t pick up on social cues all that fast. I doubt if it was completely clear in my own mind until I was out of college and in the work force.
Now that I think about it, I can vaguely recall putting my new college ring when I was a senior on my ring finger because the ring finger is where you wear a ring, right?
Steve, regarding the “ring finger”, I thought the same thing years ago!
It’s surprising that Obama is wearing the “wedding” ring on his left hand if he didn’t intentionally choose that finger to show he was married. He’s a natural lefty — he’s reaching for the book in the “Ringers” photo with his left hand — and so you’d think that he’d instinctively put a ring on his non-dominant hand where it’s not getting in the way. I’m a lefty and my wedding ring goes on my right hand for that reason.