奥巴马与佩林竟是"远房表亲"

Barack Obama and Sarah Palin are 10th cousins through a common ancestor, John Smith, a 17th century pastor, according to genealogists.

Ancestry.com 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 Ancestry.com 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".

一位族谱专家日前表示，贝拉克．奥巴马和莎拉．佩林是第10代表亲，他们的共同祖辈为17世纪的牧师约翰．史密斯。

Ancestry.com网站发现，这两位有可能在2012年美国总统大选中交锋的政界人士都和史密斯先生有血缘关系。史密斯是一位新教牧师，也是马塞诸塞州的早期定居者。

总部位于犹他州普罗沃的这家网站还发现，奥巴马还是保守派谈话类电台节目主持人拉什．林堡的第10代隔代表亲。拉什．林堡是奥巴马最辛辣的批评者之一。他们共同的祖辈里士满．特勒尔于17世纪中期移民美国，是弗吉尼亚州的早期定居者。

据称，佩林、参议院多数党领袖哈里．里德、以及保守派作家安．寇特的共同祖辈是一位名叫约翰．莱斯罗普的英国人。约翰因在国内担任一家非法独立教堂的牧师而流亡到美国。

奥巴马还是前任总统乔治．W．布什的第11代表亲，他们共同的祖辈是塞缪尔．欣克利。

Ancestry.com网站族谱专家阿纳斯塔西亚．泰勒说：“在不同政治派别中发现家族成员很正常。选举时期是研究候选人及其批评者家谱的良机，可以借机了解他们之间的血缘关系。”

2008年美国总统大选期间，奥巴马被曝与时任副总统迪克．切尼是远房表亲关系，胡格诺派是他们共同的祖辈。这一事件成为奥巴马参选演说中的笑点，一位发言人还揶揄说切尼先生是“家族的害群之马。”

Vocabulary:

once removed: 隔代表亲

laugh line: the point of a joke or humorous story（小笑话，笑点）

stump speech: a political campaign speech, esp. one made on a campaign tour（政治演说）

black sheep: a person who causes shame or embarrassment because of deviation from the accepted standards of his or her group（害群之马，败家子）