My head is seriously spinning.

Interesting.  I have heard much the same before, but do you have some sources for what you have gathered? I'd like to read about it more in depth.  

Barack Obama hardly came from hardship, we all know that, his own books tell the story. he was not impovrished, he was not poor and he was only raised by a single mother for a very short period of time. he also only went to public school for his first two years of school, everythng after 1st grade and kindergarden was private school.

His father came to the U.S. on a private scholarship.

Obama got into his prep-school also on a scholarship.  In fact his mother was on food stamps when he was a youth.

Now we're on to your candidate is more preppy then my candidate?

I totally agree with everything you have said.  I think it funny this whole BO the common man nonsense.  He is a child of privalige.  

But i must disagree with this part.

Michelle and Barack just finished paying their school loans.  My guess is they had well over 150,000 to 200,000 in school debt.  I can say from experience it is hard to pay that off until you are in your 40's.

david

native hawaiians, and focuses on language and culture retention.  The only way he got in there was money and influence.   Hence his elite status to get into that school, taking a spot that should have been for native hawaiian people.  

OK, I started this post, so I'd like to add a few things.  I misspelled Ann's second husbands name - it is Soetoro, and there are plenty of google hits regarding him.  Re: Obama Senior, he was sponsored by an English professor who helped him get a scholarship through her connections - not through the Kennedy connection that Barack recently claimed.  Obama Senior went back to Kenya and worked as a senior economics wonk to President Kenyatta, and then deteriorated.  Stanley Ann Dunham also brings up lots of hits.  In addition to Barack's grandmother being a bank officer, his grandfather had successful furniture stores in Seattle and Hawaii.  There is no evidence that Barack got a scholarship to Punahou, but please give the details if you know, as well any details regarding Harvard scholarships.

Here is what privilege is:  something (money, connections, power, luck, whatever) in life gives you ACCESS to the prep schools, Harvards, and presidential bids.  I don't have as much problem with people becoming successful through privilege as I do with the disingenuity of pretending that it is self-earned and deserved.    

And by the way, Barack's half-sister, Maya Soetero-Ng, ALSO attended Punahou and got her Ph.D at University of Hawaii.  I wonder if she got a scholarship....the more you look, the more clear it is that there is a huge privileged background, at least quite more than my background.