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George Obama didn’t grow up with president, but gets contract for memoir

Stephen / EPA file
George Hussein Onyango Obama, youngest half-brother of Barack Obama sits in front of his home in a Kenyan slum in Nairobi in September 2008.
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A memoir by George Obama, the president's half brother and a resident of Huruma, Kenya, will be published by Simon & Schuster in January 2010. George Obama, 27, shares the same father with his famous, older half sibling, although George and Barack Obama — 20 years apart in age — did not grow up together and did not meet as children.

George is the youngest of the senior Obama's seven children and was born six months before his father died.

Little is known about George Obama. The book, tentatively titled "Homeland" and to be written with author-journalist Damien Lewis, will tell of George Obama's fall into crime and poverty as a teenager and his eventual embrace of community organizing — a passion shared by the president — and of advocacy for the poor, an identification so strong that he chooses to live among them.

"Even had George Obama not been our President's half brother, his story is moving and inspirational," David Rosenthal, Simon & Schuster publisher and executive vice president, said in a statement Sunday. "It is an object lesson in survival, selflessness and courage."

Financial terms were not disclosed, but an official with knowledge of the negotiations said the deal was worth six figures. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the contract, spoke on condition of anonymity.

Other Obama relatives are working on books, including a half sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng; and the brother of first lady Michelle Obama, Craig Robinson. Duke University Press is releasing the doctoral dissertation of the president's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, who died in 1995.

Barack Obama has written a pair of million-selling books, "The Audacity of Hope" and "Dreams from My Father," in which he describes George Obama as "a handsome, roundheaded boy with a wary gaze."

Good Grief. I hope Wease is reading this.

Slumdog Kenyanaire!

We all have interesting stories to tell from the garbageman to the white collar workers the only difference we all don't know someone famous to cash in. It tells you something about a society where many want to be celebs instead of doing meaningful work that doesn't get publicity. This is why we see the Octomom's,Monica Lewinskys and many of these reality shows because being famous has many more benefits than not.

If your controversial and the media gets a hold of your story you may have a book deal.
If your a hero like Sully who landed an airplane on the Hudson you may have a book deal.
If your a whistleblower you may have a book deal.
If your a reality show member you may have a book deal.

The only book deals not given are the average joe worker who doesn't have a voice because they are like mllions of average joes..

Who's buying the books???? If there wasn't a market for them, they wouldn't be an issue for you. There are plenty of average Joe's who are writing about themselves. They are called Blogs. You really have a serious fame complex Scout.

Not really BB,blogs don't make millions of dollars and I think the complex is more about people wanting to be famous than just be the average joe.This shouldn't be news to anyone it's even been reported on the news how star/celeb our society has become. Why don't the average joe's get interviews vs celebs talking about politcs? It's the Paris Hilton effect she has no talent but makes a career out of being famous.Why doesn't she settle for being a normal person that's what I am talking about.

It's why we have the Octomom's,the Lewinsky's of the world wanting to be famous. You don't think having 14 kids, no job and living off of state funds is a problem BB? Why didn't Lewinsky go after the other 1000's of guys instead of a married Clinton? Take the media out of fame and you wouldn't have stars. Bloggers I am sure their living off the high income they make and I'll be looking for their next big TV show starring Mr Blogger.

actually, not only do some make 'millions' of dollars, they even can dictate media coverage and such lofty things as presidential elections. Which usually cost 'billions'. For a good example of this, see what's going on in Iran right now w/Twitter and Facebook!~

I highly doubt twitter or facebook is paying anyone millions of dollars for putting messages on twitter/facebook or yahoo. These are social media networks anyone can post to,even people in Iran.

You are seriously underestimating the market Scout. We aren't talking about Twitter or Facebook. Twitter isn't a blog anyway. Most of the things on facebook aren't blogs either, more like social networking. There are hundreds of examples out there of someone, well known writers or just simple "Joes" who start a blog and it really turns out to be a vehicle for better things. Florio's PFT started out that way. Now NBC has bought into it. He was pulling in something like 27 million hits a month.

As Gus was saying, blogs are in every aspect of life. From computers, food, sports, sex and just about anything else you can imagine. Of course the majority of people aren't making money, but many use it as a stepping stone to better things. Almost any show on TV or Cable has people who were bloggers doing interviews. Your original point was that you were ticked that people get money for writing books. You overlooked a huge element of society that writes on a daily basis. If you want to begin to make some sort of impact in the world, maybe you should climb aboard. Maybe you and Emmitt could start a blog . Something like "The Syntax Butchers".

My main complaint is the things people do to become famous(either are a famous relative,do ridculous things like Octomom,Lewinsky etc) and then get books deal. It's not to just get book deals BB. Why does that seem to be a problem when people don't want to be ordinary citizens? Taking it to another level their are killers who go on shooting sprees so they can die with the media covering their story.Should we make people famous for the terrible things that are done? Should we make the Octomom's of the world famous and a cash cow with all the book deals,TV shows that she is on meanwhile average joe puts in his 40 hrs of work a week for 20-30 yrs and never will make the money Octomom will make? The media loves sensationalism, something different than the average joe is.You can't control the media althjough at times I think the govenment can.

The bottom line is either know a famous person, do something outrageous,become a hero or a villian and you to can be famous and get a book deal living happily ever after.Do many of these people like Octomom,Lewinsky plan their attack to beomce famous? I seriously think they do and what does that say about our society?

I guess I could start a blog like you said BB all you have to do is be controversial and you'll get attention. I could say Rush Limbaugh is gay, George Bush dresses like a woman, Paris Hilton wants to be a man and once I become famous I'll still say their is something wrong with a system that rewards sensationalism vs hard working average joe's.

Hey, If you can sell that then I would say you were a
'Scout' of the first order..That would be a 'journalist'. And you would deserve every penny.

I am very curious, Scout. Any chance I can hear some of your sax playing? Honestly, I would love to hear some squankin'... I'll provide links to some of my crap

You are such a bitch!