WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Oct. 20) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is canceling nearly all his campaign events Thursday and Friday to visit his suddenly gravely ill 85-year-old grandmother in Hawaii, a spokesman said.
Robert Gibbs told reporters aboard Obama's plane that Madelyn Payne Dunham, who helped raise Obama, was released from the hospital late last week. But he said her health had deteriorated "to the point where her situation is very serious."
Barack Obama's 85-year-old grandmother is seriously ill. The Democratic presidential nominee canceled campaign events Thursday and Friday so he can fly to Hawaii to be with her. Obama's grandparents, Stanley and Madelyn Payne Dunham, helped raise him. Here, he poses with them during the 1980s. Stanley Dunham died in 1992.
Events originally planned for Madison, Wis., and Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday will be replaced by one in Indianapolis before he makes the long flight to Hawaii. On Friday, Obama's wife, Michelle, will sub for Obama at rallies in Akron and Columbus, in Ohio, said campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki. Obama was expected to resume campaigning on Saturday, at an undecided location in the West, she said. "Sen. Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has always been one of the most important people in his life, along with his mother and his grandfather," Gibbs said. "Recently his grandmother has become ill and in the last few weeks her health has deteriorated to the point where her situation is very serious. It is for that reason that Sen. Obama has decided to change his schedule on Thursday and Friday so that he can see her and spend some time with her."
Citing the family's desire for privacy, Gibbs would not discuss the nature of Dunham's illness. It seemed likely that she was close to death, as Gibbs said that "everyone understands the decision that Sen. Obama is making." Dunham turns 86 on Sunday.
It could be a momentous one in his bid for the White House against Republican John McCain, with Election Day just two weeks away on Nov. 4.
In a campaign ad this year, Obama described his Dunham as the daughter of a Midwest oil company clerk who "taught me values straight from the Kansas heartland" — things like "accountability and self-reliance. Love of country. Working hard without making excuses. Treating your neighbor as you'd like to be treated."
She's also the "white grandmother" he referred to in a speech on race.
Obama recognized Dunham when he accepted the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention in Denver.
"She's the one who taught me about hard work. She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me. And although she can no longer travel, I know that she's watching tonight, and that tonight is her night as well," he said.
Obama last visited Hawaii in August for a week's vacation after he had clinched the nomination.
My doll's Tuesday----i thought it was still Monday...
After one night's struggling against the mosquitoes until 4 am, i felt suffocated and puffy when i woke up. jihyan came back with a total victory over her surprising visit to her boyfriend in gunshan , early this morning, because she had to come back for the afternoon class reluctantly. after a brief makeup,i headed for the bukak building for having lunch with sehua as she called me for lunch together.
i felt so lucky to have a friend like sehua until i found out later she was going out with her lover tonight, which broke my heart into pieces.i did not remember when i did the same to her but now i was feeling the friendship betrays so easily.
i have four classmates which meant if two missed class , the rest of us would have a very early back home. today only 3 of us attended the English drama class and i was taking a picture of my professor during the class secretly,
which was much fun than reading . fortunately no one was a ware of my little trick. i still could not remember all of my classmates' name , though we had been classmates for more than 1 month.
i think this woman was a strong minded as she was running a academy in Taegu and having a family to take care while taking the classes with us in Seoul a long way of several hour's train from Taegu which was her home to Seoul. all of my classmates admired me a lot for my living in the dormitory, which confused me a lot. because they thought i could have a lot of spare time to study, but it was not the case for me. i had more time to waste at dorm than they did on their way.
the early back dorm gave me a good mood, but sehua's leaving broke my heart into pieces. how could she treat me like this?
she came to me when she was in bad mood yesterday and now she was so happy to date with boyfriend and forgot all about her true friend in front of her! OK, a friend in need is a friend indeed. i am happy to help my friends in need while let them go when i am no use at all.
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