# One big happy family - Obama and Palin! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 13, 2010, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-big-happy-family-obama-and-palin/556990 "2010-10-13T13:15:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-big-happy-family-obama-and-palin/556990/1 "2010-10-13T13:15:29Z")
I guess this goes here…but it could go there, or over there too. _NEW YORK — President Barack Obama has family ties to none other than Sarah Palin, according to the genealogists at [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com), a discovery the family history site made when looking for connections between political foes._ > **[The San Diego Union-Tribune - San Diego, California & National News](https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/)** > > News about San Diego, California ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-big-happy-family-obama-and-palin/556990/2 "2010-10-13T14:03:48Z")
I wonder who is going to be more upset about the relationship? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-big-happy-family-obama-and-palin/556990/3 "2010-10-13T15:27:55Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I wonder who is going to be more upset about the relationship? Her supporters will be very angry she’s a Muslim. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-big-happy-family-obama-and-palin/556990/4 "2010-10-13T15:31:16Z")
I don’t think it would be very hard to link anyone to anyone, especially if they’ve had family in the same country for a few generations. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-big-happy-family-obama-and-palin/556990/5 "2010-10-13T16:13:29Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > I don’t think it would be very hard to link anyone to anyone, especially if they’ve had family in the same country for a few generations. Much less if several genealogists do research covering 8 or 9 or 11 generations. I think a lot of us would find a name we recognize, at least, if someone did that on our families. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-big-happy-family-obama-and-palin/556990/6 "2010-10-13T17:13:22Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > > [@silenus](#): > > > > I wonder who is going to be more upset about the relationship? > > Her supporters will be very angry she’s a Muslim. And that she was born in Kenya. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-big-happy-family-obama-and-palin/556990/7 "2010-10-13T17:58:04Z")
In Mrs. Palin’s case, it could make a difference. She’s very reluctant to speak badly of family. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-big-happy-family-obama-and-palin/556990/8 "2010-10-13T19:23:16Z")
This would have been great material for Tina Fey and SNL. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-big-happy-family-obama-and-palin/556990/9 "2010-10-13T19:29:46Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I wonder who is going to be more upset about the relationship? Of the two of them? He won’t give a good goddamn. Neither will she, so long as her not-a-single-dropness is not influenced. Of their supporters? His will use it as a way to mock her; some of hers will be upset at any suggestion she has any non-European ancestry. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-big-happy-family-obama-and-palin/556990/10 "2010-10-13T19:50:42Z")
It’s like that story that Céline Dion was related to Madonna through mutual Acadian ancestors; if you go back far enough NOT being related would be the anomaly. And if you believe [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com), we all go back to Adam in…4004 B.C. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-big-happy-family-obama-and-palin/556990/11 "2010-10-13T20:03:01Z")
> [@eunoia](#): > > It’s like that story that Céline Dion was related to Madonna through mutual Acadian ancestors; if you go back far enough NOT being related would be the anomaly. > > And if you believe [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com), we all go back to Adam in…4004 B.C. :rolleyes: Does [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) actually said that? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-big-happy-family-obama-and-palin/556990/12 "2010-10-13T20:07:39Z")
Well, if [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) depends in any way, shape, or form on user input, it could. I wouldn’t be surprised if many of its users actually would/did put that in if given a chance. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-big-happy-family-obama-and-palin/556990/13 "2010-10-13T20:54:39Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > [@silenus](#): > > > > I wonder who is going to be more upset about the relationship? > > Of the two of them? He won’t give a good goddamn. Neither will she, so long as her not-a-single-dropness is not influenced. > > Of their supporters? His will use it as a way to mock her; some of hers will be upset at any suggestion she has any non-European ancestry. I don’t know if she has any (recent) non-European ancestry, and I don’t think this proves she does - don’t forget that Obama’s mother is very European in ancestry, “white as the driven snow” if you want to get un-PC about it. I’d be willing to bet big money that the link is through Obama’s mother’s side. I don’t think Sarah Palin’s supporters can be expected to be upset that a very distant relative married a black man in the early 1960s (and not giving any black blood to Palin), but you never know with that bunch … :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-big-happy-family-obama-and-palin/556990/14 "2010-10-13T21:05:58Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > I’d be willing to bet big money that the link is through Obama’s mother’s side. That’s correct: > [@](#): > > A genealogist at the Utah-based [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com), Anastasia Tyler, said Obama and Palin are 10th cousins through a common ancestor named John Smith, a pastor and early settler in 17th-century Massachusetts. Obama is related to Smith through his mother, as is Palin, Tyler said.