What's the connection between Dick Cheney and Barack Obama?

Phantasee · Post by **Phantasee** » 2007-10-17 12:46am

Cheney and Obama are distant cousins: Mrs. Cheney
Tue Oct 16, 2007 6:00pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There's no sign of a family reunion planned, but U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama are distant cousins.

So says the vice president's wife, Lynne Cheney, who said she discovered that her husband of 43 years is eighth cousins with the senator from Illinois.

The two men could hardly be more different. Cheney is an advocate for pursuing the war in Iraq to try to stabilize the country, while Obama wants to get U.S. troops out of Iraq.

Mrs. Cheney told MSNBC on Tuesday that it was "an amazing American story that one ancestor ... could be responsible down the family line for lives that have taken such different and varied paths."

The common ancestor was Mareen Devall, who the Chicago Sun-Times said was a 17th century immigrant from France.

Mrs. Cheney said she discovered the link through family research for her new book, "Blue Skies, No Fences," about growing up in Wyoming.

Phantasee · Post by **Phantasee** » 2007-10-17 12:48am

Sorry, my comment was:

A Frenchy?! How are they going to explain their relation to those surrender monkeys?

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2007-10-17 12:56am

If there were ever a family union, you definitely have to make sure Dick never gets a gun, and Barack never sits on the same table as Dick and Dick jolly well stay still with his fists at most clenched.

Or better yet, Barack never comes.

Ritterin Sophia · Post by **Ritterin Sophia** » 2007-10-17 02:58am

So Barrack's related to the devil... interesting.

General Trelane (Retired) · Post by **General Trelane (Retired)** » 2007-10-17 10:50am

Eighth cousins? That is so NOT news worthy. You have to go back nine generations before you reach a common ancestor. Perhaps the most notable point is that, although Obama is somewhat younger than Cheney, there weren't any generations removed in this 'relationship' (at least, I haven't heard mention of any--it's always stated simply as eighth cousins, not eighth cousins X removed).

Nathaniel · Post by **Nathaniel** » 2007-10-17 11:05am

General Trelane (Retired) wrote:Eighth cousins? That is so NOT news worthy. You have to go back nine generations before you reach a common ancestor. Perhaps the most notable point is that, although Obama is somewhat younger than Cheney, there weren't any generations removed in this 'relationship' (at least, I haven't heard mention of any--it's always stated simply as eighth cousins, not eighth cousins X removed).

There's nothing at all notable about them being in the same generation when they're so distantly related. I've got first cousins who have a 37 year age difference between them and a distant cousin who's like 2 times removed but who's the same age as I am.

General Trelane (Retired) · Post by **General Trelane (Retired)** » 2007-10-17 11:11am

Nathaniel wrote:
General Trelane (Retired) wrote:Eighth cousins? That is so NOT news worthy. You have to go back nine generations before you reach a common ancestor. Perhaps the most notable point is that, although Obama is somewhat younger than Cheney, there weren't any generations removed in this 'relationship' (at least, I haven't heard mention of any--it's always stated simply as eighth cousins, not eighth cousins X removed).
There's nothing at all notable about them being in the same generation when they're so distantly related. I've got first cousins who have a 37 year age difference between them and a distant cousin who's like 2 times removed but who's the same age as I am.

Exactly.

Nathaniel · Post by **Nathaniel** » 2007-10-17 11:33am

So what? Why is that notable? What the hell are you talking about?

General Trelane (Retired) · Post by **General Trelane (Retired)** » 2007-10-17 11:53am

Nathaniel wrote:So what? Why is that notable? What the hell are you talking about?

My point is two fold:

First, generations tend to very quite a bit. That there is only a 20-year age difference between Cheney (born 1941) and Obama (born 1961) is notable after a nine-generation divergence.

This is illustrated by your 'distant cousin who's like 2 times removed but who's the same age as [you are]'. You didn't mention how distant this cousin is, but there is a 2-generation gap between you yet you're the same age. Whereas Cheney and Obama are presumeably of the same relative generation (pending clarification, of course) and yet, after nine generations of ancestors, there's a mere 20-year difference in their ages.

Second, this relationship is really not news worthy. And neither is my observation about their ages. Which is my tongue-in-cheek way of illustrating the non-news worthiness.

Personally, the most distant cousins that I know are my third cousins and their parents (i.e. my second-cousins once removed). Beyond that, blood ties are very thin indeed. Eighth cousins? Interesting trivia, but that's about it.