Yet Another Attack on Obama’s “Aunt Zeituni”

For the GOP, it's more proof that the president is, in fact, a Kenyan socialist.

By Jamilah King Sep 23, 2010

The media just can’t get enough of Zeituni Onyango, President Obama’s 58-year-old Kenyan aunt. Reporter Jonathan Elias of CBS affiliate WBZTV in Boston recently caught up with the woman for a no-holds-barred attack piece, alleging that for years she’s been "costing Massachusetts taxpayers thousands of dollars" while living undocumented in Boston and receiving public assistance, and that Obama refuses to help.

Onyango first made national headlines at the end of 2008’s presidential election after it was discovered that she was undocumented and had been receiving public assistance. She was ordered to leave the country in 2004, but a judge then granted her political asylum in 2010.

The interview doesn’t shy away from sensationalizing the GOP’s worst fears: that Onyango knew she had overstayed her Visa, relies on "heaven" (i.e. good ole’ American taxpayers!) to pay her bills, and was "granted asylum" after President Obama was inaugurated.

When asked about cutting in line ahead of those who have paid into the system she answered plainly, "I don’t mind. You can take that house. I will be on the street with the homeless."

"To me America’s dream became America’s worst nightmare," she said adamantly. "I have been treated like public enemy number one."

It seems like every time conservatives wants to attack President Obama’s credibility, they go to Onyango — disparagingly referring to as "Aunt Zeituni" — paint her as an undocumented welfare queen, and use it as evidence to prove that Obama’s turning a blind eye to immigration reform and really is a Kenyan socialist.

Despite Obama’s recent promises to fight for immigration reform, he’s not exactly a hero in the immigration reform movement. Though none of that seems to matter to folks bent on pushing their own political agendas.