奧巴馬與佩林竟是"遠房表親"
Barack Obama and Sarah Palin are 10th cousins through a common ancestor, John Smith, a 17th century pastor, according to genealogists.
found that the two politicians, who could face each other in the 2012 race for the White House, are both related to Mr Smith, a Protestant pastor who was an early settler in Massachusetts.
The website, based in Provo, Utah, also discovered that Mr Obama was a 10th cousin once removed from Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk radio host and one of the president's most virulent critics. Their common ancestor is Richmond Terrell, a Virginia settler who arrived in America in the mid-17th century.
An Englishman called John Lathrop, exiled to the United States for becoming a minister of an illegal independent church, was cited as the common link between Mrs Palin, Senator Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, and Ann Coulter, a conservative author.
Mr Obama is apparently an 11th cousin of former president, George W. Bush, through common ancestor Samuel Hinckley.
"It is not unusual to find family members on different ends of the political spectrum," said Anastasia Tyler, an genealogist. "This election season is an ideal time to look into the family trees of our candidates and their critics to learn more about the ties that make them all part of this great country."
During the 2008 election campaign, it was revealed that Mr Obama was related to Dick Cheney, then the vice-president, through a distant Huguenot forbear. Their shared ancestry became a popular laugh line in Mr Obama's stump speech and a spokesman joked that Mr Cheney was "the black sheep of the family".
一位族譜專家日前表示，貝拉克•奧巴馬和莎拉•佩林是第10代表親，他們的共同祖輩爲17世紀的牧師約翰•史密斯。
網站發現，這兩位有可能在2012年美國總統大選中交鋒的政界人士都和史密斯先生有血緣關係。史密斯是一位新教牧師，也是馬塞諸塞州的早期定居者。
總部位於猶他州普羅沃的這家網站還發現，奧巴馬還是保守派談話類電臺節目主持人拉什•林堡的第10代隔代表親。拉什•林堡是奧巴馬最辛辣的批評者之一。他們共同的祖輩里士滿•特勒爾於17世紀中期移民美國，是弗吉尼亞州的早期定居者。
據稱，佩林、參議院多數黨領袖哈里•裏德、以及保守派作家安•寇特的共同祖輩是一位名叫約翰•萊斯羅普的英國人。約翰因在國內擔任一家非法獨立教堂的牧師而流亡到美國。
奧巴馬還是前任總統喬治•W•布什的第11代表親，他們共同的祖輩是塞繆爾•欣克利。
網站族譜專家阿納斯塔西亞•泰勒說：“在不同政治派別中發現家族成員很正常。選舉時期是研究候選人及其批評者家譜的良機，可以藉機瞭解他們之間的血緣關係。”
2008年美國總統大選期間，奧巴馬被曝與時任副總統迪克•切尼是遠房表親關係，胡格諾派是他們共同的祖輩。這一事件成爲奧巴馬參選演說中的笑點，一位發言人還揶揄說切尼先生是“家族的害羣之馬。”
Vocabulary:
once removed: 隔代表親
laugh line: the point of a joke or humorous story（小笑話，笑點）
stump speech: a political campaign speech, esp. one made on a campaign tour（政治演說）
black sheep: a person who causes shame or embarrassment because of deviation from the accepted standards of his or her group（害羣之馬，敗家子）
