Obama Related to Bush/Cheney

Well, I’ll be a monkey’s cousin:

In an interview on MSNBC Tuesday afternoon, Mrs. Cheney said that in the course of researching her husband’s genealogy for her new book, “Blue Skies, No Fences,” she discovered that the two public figures share an ancestor eight generations ago.

“Think about this,” Mrs. Cheney said. “This is such an amazing American story that one ancestor, a man that came to Maryland, could be responsible down the family line for lives that have taken such different and varied paths as Dick’s and Barack Obama’s.”

But is blood thicker than the partisan waters of Washington? Apparently not.

Even though Obama is related to her husband, Mrs. Cheney said she is not supporting the Illinois Democrat’s White House bid.

Reacting to the news, Obama’s campaign spokesman Bill Burton told CNN’s Dana Bash with tongue in cheek, “Obviously, Dick Cheney is sort of the black sheep of the family.”

But Obama’s family ties to the Bush administration don’t stop with Cheney. According to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times last September, Obama is also an 11th cousin of the president himself. The two share a 17th century Massachusetts relative.

I am related to three people that came over on the Mayflower, including the one that fell off in transit and had to be rescued. So, I am probably related to all these a-holes too.

Author: BooMan

Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.