2012 Tuesday: ‘2016′ says we don’t know the president we elected in 2008
At a friend’s request, I went to the theater Sunday to see “2016: Obama’s America” (it’s true, I’m not the most political person I know). The movie, if you haven’t heard, is the work of Dinesh D’Souza, the Indian-born conservative commentator and college president whose 2010 book, “The Roots of Obama’s Rage,” argued the president’s world view was shaped heavily by his anti-colonialist Kenyan father.
I’m no movie critic, so I’ll spare you my thoughts on the cinematography (I’ll only note that D’Souza worked on the film with Hollywood veteran Gerald R. Molen, and it shows in the film’s production quality). The movie’s about our president’s past and what that means for our future, and I’ll focus on that.
D’Souza dispenses early on with any notions of birtherism, noting briefly, but pointedly, that Obama was born in Hawaii. Instead, he makes the far more interesting argument that what’s foreign is Obama’s ideology, shaped in absentia by a father he barely knew. His evidence for his claim is two-fold: Excerpts from Obama’s own autobiography, “Dreams From My Father” (the film liberally quotes from the audio version of the book, narrated by Obama himself), and footage from D’Souza’s travels to the places of Obama’s youth, Hawaii and Indonesia, as well as to Kenya. There are also phone conversations, videotaped on both ends, with sociologists such as Shelby Steele who try to explain what makes Obama tick.
What D’Souza turns up on his trips is often less than compelling: Brief doesn’t begin to describe what he gets from an interview with a retired Hawaii professor who knew Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham; a lengthier exchange with Obama’s half-brother, George, in Nairobi ultimately fails to land a blow on the president. But that’s not to say there’s no substance to the story.
Briefly, D’Souza’s narrative goes like this: The elder Obama was an anti-colonialist (this much is confirmed in interviews with a pair of his contemporaries; Obama Sr. of course died in a car wreck in 1982) whose antipathy toward Kenya’s British rulers was distinct from America’s earlier rebellion from the British in that it was also a rejection of the West and capitalism. Dunham (who died in 1995) fervently transferred these beliefs to a young Barack — and even sent him home to Hawaii from Indonesia when her second husband, Lolo Soetoro, took a job with a U.S. oil company and got a little too friendly with actual breathing capitalists. Back in Hawaii, her father arranged for young Barack to have a mentor named Frank Marshall Davis, a writer and card-carrying Communist who was on the FBI’s radar. From there, we hear of Obama’s adult associations with which we’re more familiar, including Bill Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
This is a vetting of Obama’s background that, D’Souza plausibly argues, was given short shrift in the 2008 campaign. For instance, D’Souza notes that Obama’s famous speech about race relations, to address the steady stream of Wright’s controversial statements (uncovered, let’s remember, while he was still contesting the Democratic primary against Hillary Clinton), was a deflection from the collectivist black liberation theology that laced Wright’s incendiary sermons. That, D’Souza claims, allowed Obama to keep his dealings with Marxists mostly out of the public eye on his way to the White House.
It is a vetting that is worthwhile for anyone interested in current U.S. politics, if only because it is so reliant on Obama’s own words. (Here, I must acknowledge I haven’t read “Dreams” and can’t say whether D’Souza is cherry-picking Obama’s quotes or taking them out of context; if he did, however, he has given his critics a huge tool to use in discrediting him.) As an immigrant from another former British colony who is the same age as Obama, D’Souza presents an intriguing figure with alternating sympathy for and critique of anti-colonialism.
That’s the first half of the movie. From there, D’Souza delves into purely political commentary and prognostication that most likely will resonate with you, or not, in close correlation with your own political leanings. I won’t spoil his conclusions, but I will say they err toward the most pessimistic, even conspiratorial end of the right side of the spectrum.
If there’s a tragic aspect of the film, it’s that the only people likely to see it are those who have already made up their minds against Barack Obama. It deserves as well an airing among his supporters and those precious few who are unsure about him, to point out where they think D’Souza is wrong and consider the ways he might be right.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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912 comments Add your comment
J. Palmer
August 14th, 2012
8:31 am
I will not be spending money to see this film, but I appreciate your measured analysis.
If the best the film can do is closely link Obama to radical socialists, I don’t think that is too damning–at least not at this point in American capitalism’s downward spiral.
The following article explains the fading stigma associated with the “socialist” label:
http://politicdiscourse.com/2012/07/31/you-dont-know-jack-about-capitalism/
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 14th, 2012
8:32 am
oh stands, and there a Muslim in congress – some guy from Minnesota.
Skeeeery stuff.
antinewt
August 14th, 2012
8:33 am
” If you have to bribe people to get your way, maybe your way ain’t the right way.”
Puhleese, what are you 8 years old?
kayaker 71
August 14th, 2012
8:35 am
Finn, 8:28,
And with all the good that all of these projects did…….a wind farm and solar arrays. That oughta do it. That oughta put a lot of America back to work. The electric car is a generation away from reality. How has the Chevy Volt done in sales, Finn? Creating battery manufacturing facilities for what? A misplaced dream of an electric vehicle? We are a nation dependent on fossil fuels for our survival. We have energy in the ground in this country that rivals many middle east oil suppliers. And we are building batteries for electric cars and funding defunct solar panel manufacturers like Solyndra. You have a strange outlook on what is good for this country, Finn.
antinewt
August 14th, 2012
8:39 am
“The idea that 52% of the population do not to pay taxes leaving 48% of those who are still working to pick up the slack. sooner or later the “Chickens will come home to roost” and the bill will have to be paid”
Social security, medicare, gasoline, sales, property, are not taxes??? Tell that to the hard working Americans struggling to raise a family.
Ayn Rant
August 14th, 2012
8:41 am
Some would say that Obama’s childhood experiences afforded him a mind-broadening, hands-on, education in the fundamentals of human life in all its foibles and glories. Some would say that his background and intelligence are the essential makings of a great national and world leader.
The notion that a person accepts and embraces every notion that he is exposed to, and is tainted by every person he comes in contact with, presumes that a privileged, parochial, spirit-numbing, mind-ossifying upbringing, like Mitt Romney’s, can create a wise and compassionate human being rather than a naive, robotic adult.
Although the silly film Kyle reviewed is a clumsy attempt to disparage Obama, thinking people could admire the depth and breadth of the young Obama’s exposure to conditions and ideas from which mature, intelligent perspectives can be shaped.
Obama’s books are more informative about his childhood experiences and influences than some clumsy bit of cinematography funded by an unnamed billionaire who chooses to spend capital on right-wing political propaganda rather than invest in job-creating American enterprise.
I’ll be viewing a Meryl Streep film tonight, not some pseudo-psychological political garbage!
antinewt
August 14th, 2012
8:43 am
Why should a guy making millions in capital gains pay less on it than is withheld from most workers’ pay checks?
stands for decibels
August 14th, 2012
8:45 am
this is seriously off topic, but since it’s been brought up by others–
You have a strange outlook on what is good for this country, Finn.
This from a guy who, two sentences back, declared “We are a nation dependent on fossil fuels for our survival.”
And I gotta ask–”dependent for how long?” And you should ask that too.
Assuming reliance to infinity on a finite resource, which becomes increasingly more expensive both to extract and to use, makes absolutely no sense. Thus, failing to try to capitalize on renewables–which our economic competitors are actively pursuing–would be tantamount to surrender at best (and treason, at worst), IMHO.
DannyX
August 14th, 2012
8:45 am
Kyle jumps the shark with this one.
bluecoat
August 14th, 2012
8:46 am
If Obama wanted to harm this country,how would he go about it?With a do nothing senate,an our way only house his hands are tied.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 14th, 2012
8:46 am
If anyone didn’t really know who Obama was during the 2008 campaign, they weren’t paying attention.
It was all-too easy to spot the unaccomplished seat warmer with no executive experience and little legislative experience who remains ill-suited to the task of being the leader of the last remaining (but dwindling) hope for freedom in this world.
What a wasted four years.
WillisJames
August 14th, 2012
8:47 am
We are a people with our own opinions about various issues concerning America. We need to be aware that we are going to need eachother…one day. I am at all times aware that names such as Republician, Democrats or Liberals don’t mean anything to our lives as we all struggle in a country, with grave wealth that we fail to look behind and pull the other along. We have gotten that way by hearing and reading or seeing all of the negatives on anything we turn on. Who can better understand the way our world is really in but those of us who lives here and do nothing about it yet, either talk bad, be negative and go along with the “status quo” just to say we are involved in the process. I don’t know about any of you who have posted your comments but what I do know is, I am ashamed at how our elected leaders permit our state, our federal government to pull us all into the mess they got themselves in. We are paying way to much to live in this country because we have not fail to take the “bait” that is given to us. What car actually cost more than a house; and why do a house cost more because of how it is built; and then, why food, water, and all natural resources we have are being used to make our live even worse. When we speak about Healthcare, it is about high prices that President Obama have put us in, (no he has not), it is your insurance company that want you to pay more for less services and high co-pay. Do you think we need to have healthcare to help us to make our health better, cure any thing that may cause us our lives; each person can some but having none make’s us all pay for their services too. No matter what is said or done, we the tax payers pay for it and then we suffer at the hands who actually want us t pay more! We
already know that it is going to be about the “have(s) and “have not(s)” because some people think they are really better than the others…until they get down on their luck and then the shoe is quickly changed. I don’t tell know one how to vote or who to vote for. Already I see where Ryan and Romney is out to terminate how far we have come to going back and making those who want to be in the (have(s) group suffer even worse. When you know the middle class is destroyed, you begun to look at the next level of people and it is your turn to see how your vote actually did something negative instead of positive because you now have to pay for the mistake that is about to happen with Romney/Ryan ticket. However, you have to look for your self to see where you will be in the next 4 years if Romney/Ryan is elected because, not one of them can actually see where they are going in their own lives. I take serious my life and my future and I am not counting on either party because it all a game they play on all of us to see where we go in making them richer while we continue to suffer. I will end with this statement; go visit a hospital of your choice…..see the suffering of many, stricken with illness that will shake your sole and even cause you to tears. Watch and see the uglylessness when those who don’t have healthcare and die on the gurney because of the long, long wait to be seen. Then, put yourself or your family in that circumstances because no matter who we are, black, white, green, blue, of any race….people die because of lack of concerns for their being by others who can do something. So, even if President Obama do not serve a second term, will it make your life better? How long will it take the Romney and Ryan destroy what you think you have in place that will propel your future. With any new administration taking office….it take more than 4 years to put thing on track by then, we all will suffer because we go back, way back to restart over what we already have accomplished!
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 14th, 2012
8:48 am
kayaker, it’s called looking ahead. Planning for the future.
I know you Cons can’t see much past your own measly existence so I won’t expect you to understand.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 14th, 2012
8:49 am
“Some would say that Obama’s childhood experiences afforded him a mind-broadening, hands-on, education in the fundamentals of human life in all its foibles and glories. Some would say that his background and intelligence are the essential makings of a great national and world leader. ”
Yes, and others would say that the above are out of touch with reality, as he has shown zero signs of being a leader in any way, shape or form.
stands for decibels
August 14th, 2012
8:49 am
Dang. I checked Intrade.com, so far nobody’s selling shares in “2016: Obama’s America grosses more than 5% of Fahrenheit 911 by Dec. 31, 2012″.
JDW
August 14th, 2012
8:53 am
These guys aren’t watching silly hack films…they have smelled the coffee…
“Away from the cameras, and with all the usual assurances that people aren’t being quoted by name, there is an unmistakable consensus among Republican operatives in Washington: Romney has taken a risk with Ryan that has only a modest chance of going right — and a huge chance of going horribly wrong.
In more than three dozen interviews with Republican strategists and campaign operatives — old hands and rising next-generation conservatives alike — the most common reactions to Ryan ranged from gnawing apprehension to hair-on-fire anger that Romney has practically ceded the election.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79697.html#ixzz23WaAGljv
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 14th, 2012
8:53 am
as he has shown zero signs of being a leader in any way, shape or form
Written by someone who believes George W Bush was a great leader – never mind his complete failure at business, on again-off again military service (we only show up when it’s convenient for us), using his daddy to get him into college and out of trouble for most of his youth and young adult life.
Now that’s a dang LEADER!
Cherokee
August 14th, 2012
8:55 am
Kyle your analysis was reasonably measured – but this entire topic is old news. The wacko right wing have deluded themselves into thinking that if only Obama were properly vetted, Americans would wake up and toss the guy out.
Ain’t gonna happen. We’ve evaluated all the half truths and lies tossed at him, and a majority of us basically like the guy. Even if we don’t always agree with him.
jconservative
August 14th, 2012
8:57 am
I always thought that what made Obama tick was his 8 years in an exclusive christian school.
antinewt
August 14th, 2012
8:59 am
“What a wasted four years.”
Healthcare reform, auto bailout, student loan reform, credit card reform, Bin Laden dead, terrorists everywhere burnt to a crisp by drone missles, etc. Perhaps if you would take your fingers out of your ears while screaming lalalalalalalalal, you might notice a very capable leader leading.
ByteMe
August 14th, 2012
9:00 am
We’ve evaluated all the half truths and lies tossed at him, and a majority of us basically like the guy. Even if we don’t always agree with him.
And there’s a 30-point gap right now on “likeability” between Obama and Romney. Can you guess what people will vote for someone they don’t like?
kayaker 71
August 14th, 2012
9:02 am
There is nothing wrong with exploring alternatives to fossil fuels. Our fossil fuels cannot last forever and they are dirty and produce pollutants that harm us. I don’t have a beef with spending money to explore ways to get us out of this mess. While we are doing this, however, we have to use the resources that we have. Bozo has essentially shut down oil production in this country on government lands. He has restricted offshore drilling. Look at the Dakotas. More jobs than people to fill them. No Keystone pipeline, no drilling in ANWAR. Bozo seems to be obsessed with “green energy” at the expense of most everything else. And it ain’t working.
iRun
August 14th, 2012
9:02 am
I hate to tell you but I’ve never met ANY black African who wasn’t anti-colonialist. And I’ve been to: South Africa, Namibia, Mali, Angola, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, and Uganda.
I mean, come on, you’re the indigenous people of a land and that land gets appropriated by a bunch of folks from another part of the world and in the doing they completely marginalize you, taking the resources of your land for their profit and excluding you from the benefit.
Take a walk in a shantytown outside CapeTown, why don’t you?
Julia
August 14th, 2012
9:09 am
blah blah blah pallin around with terrorists community organizer socialist communist Muslim not an American blah blah blah
yawn.
Whirled Peas
August 14th, 2012
9:09 am
When Rhodesia was run by whites, it was the breadbasket of Africa. Whites built and ran the railroads, built the coal mines and established a broad and prosperous agricultural economy.
But blacks could not have a white successful country in Africa. They became Zimbabwe, killed the whites, ripped up the railroads, chopped down the fruit trees, trashed the coal mines and now can not feed even themselves, much less the rest of Africa. But no one dare state the facts, because that would be raaaaaaaaaacist.
yuzeyurbrane
August 14th, 2012
9:10 am
What bs.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 14th, 2012
9:10 am
“In more than three dozen interviews with Republican strategists and campaign operatives — old hands and rising next-generation conservatives alike — the most common reactions to Ryan ranged from gnawing apprehension to hair-on-fire anger that Romney has practically ceded the election.”
Given that it is these same inside-the-beltway Republicans that are responsible for destroying the brand and going off principle, it makes me all the more happy that Romney picked Paul Ryan. At least the Republicans are ready to have an adult conversation about what needs to be done to fix this country. Too bad Obama and Biden aren’t up to that particular challenge.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 14th, 2012
9:12 am
Bozo has essentially shut down oil production in this country on government lands
Drilling for oil is now at a level higher than it ever was under W. But you can’t see that, can you?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 14th, 2012
9:15 am
“And there’s a 30-point gap right now on “likeability” between Obama and Romney. Can you guess what people will vote for someone they don’t like?”
And THAT’S the problem with this nation. Voting for “like” instead of “competence”.
You wanted flash instead of qualification; sizzle without the steak.
Four years of abject failure with that voting policy.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 14th, 2012
9:17 am
And THAT’S the problem with this nation.
You can always leave…..
iRun
August 14th, 2012
9:18 am
Yeah, Whirled Peas…but the white colonists still marginalized the black Africans, forcing them into arid lands and denying them rights or even access to the things they built.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 14th, 2012
9:18 am
“Drilling for oil is now at a level higher than it ever was under W. But you can’t see that, can you?”
Missed the operative word in the earlier statement, didn’t you Finn?
GOVERNMENT land. Oil production is higher on PRIVATE land, but is virtually non-existent on government land. And considering that they have much of the land where oil might be drilled for, that relegates our overall production to less than it should be.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 14th, 2012
9:22 am
“You can always leave…..”
Great, well thought-out solution, Finn. Typical of the non-thinking left. Yeah, let’s settle for incompetence. Let’s vote for the exciting guy. Then let’s complain about the other side when these idiots fail.
Once again, you prove you’re not ready for a serious discussion about what this country needs to do.
Skip
August 14th, 2012
9:23 am
71, Obama shut down oil production. Next he says Dakota has more oil jobs than people? What gives?
md
August 14th, 2012
9:26 am
“I hear about how anti American Obama is, yet, it was Nixon who was a thug, it was Bush who took away the most basic American right and freedoms. He opened the door to holding American citizens in prison indefinitely without a trial. His USA Patriot Act is the very anathema to the Bill O Rights. ”
In case you missed it, this admin also is complicit as they extended the Patriot Act……and doubled down on Afghanistan. If you want to complain about something at least point the finger at all the participants…………..
@@
August 14th, 2012
9:31 am
The film didn’t mention his unresolved Oedipus Complex?
schnirt
ragnar danneskjold
August 14th, 2012
9:32 am
Too bad the film was not made four years ago, could have saved us a couple of years of pain with a timely vetting. I have not seen the movie, but our host’s review of the story suggests that D’Souza’s portrait is consistent with the economic results, and with the world-wide apology tours. I am not so pessimistic as D’Souza, now that Ryan is out there.
They BOTH suck
August 14th, 2012
9:36 am
Kyle
I might catch it when it comes to RedBox.
But thanks for basically saying that here is much commentary and conjecture in the movie and not just substantiated information.
md
August 14th, 2012
9:37 am
“Social security, medicare, gasoline, sales, property, are not taxes??? Tell that to the hard working Americans struggling to raise a family.”
Yes they are…..and EVERYBODY pays them too………including that 48% that also pays income taxes.
RW-(the original)
August 14th, 2012
9:37 am
Will the DVD be for sale before Election Day?
Interesting question and the answer is yes. A film like this has to have been released in theaters for 90 days prior to a DVD release so that’s why it opened on a screen in Houstion July 13th.
Just saying..
August 14th, 2012
9:42 am
Actually, more verifiable contemporary political information in The Candidate…
iggy
August 14th, 2012
9:44 am
“Yeah, Whirled Peas…but the white colonists still marginalized the black Africans, forcing them into arid lands and denying them rights or even access to the things they built.”
Let them starve.
md
August 14th, 2012
9:47 am
“Healthcare reform, auto bailout, student loan reform, credit card reform…”
HC – as the middle man is the current cause of the higher rates, designing a system with them prominently in the middle will only compound the problem.
Auto bailout – yes, picking winners and losers based on union affiliations. Notice the housing industry (and many other industries) wasn’t deemed “special” and neither were the bondholders. ironically, many of those bondholders were retired auto workers……..
Student loan……skimming the kiddies when the rates for the kiddies are between 3.5 and 7% while the fed fund rate is 0-.25%……..
Credit Card Bill – this one is one that shows the underlying intent of this administration. Instead of writing legislation targeted to stop over charging those that may have had an erroneous charge the bill instead socializes the losses for those that were not making their payments. In case one hasn’t noticed, everybody’s rates went up…….again, when the fed rate to borrow is .25%. When the CC companies actually put out a statement that they are raising rates to compensate for the bill, folks should sit up and take notice. The bill did nothing but transfer the burden from the irresponsible to the responsible………….
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 14th, 2012
9:48 am
Tiberius, leaving may be the only alternative for you folks who just can’t deal with the country as it changes from being less white.
If you can’t learn to deal wit the fact that the majority of people in this country aren’t just like you then, well, ya know…
Many of us can deal with it and even welcome it!
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 14th, 2012
9:50 am
In case one hasn’t noticed, everybody’s rates went up…….again, when the fed rate to borrow is .25%.
Cons wanting subsidies again. Gimme gimme gimme something. Gimme a break – tax break, loan break – don’t matter – just gimme a subsidy.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 14th, 2012
9:50 am
Student loan……skimming the kiddies when the rates for the kiddies are between 3.5 and 7% while the fed fund rate is 0-.25%
Cons wanting subsidies again. Gimme gimme gimme something. Gimme a break – tax break, loan break – don’t matter – just gimme a subsidy.
southpaw
August 14th, 2012
9:52 am
Thanks, RW @9:37
JF McNamara
August 14th, 2012
9:54 am
He’s been one of the most scrutinized people on Earth for nearly four years. I think he’s been vetted.
CDC
August 14th, 2012
9:54 am
You conservatives are obsessed with creating a Barack Obama that does not exist. It makes you look little, pathetic and above all desperate. And it does beg the question… exactly what has Barack Obama done that you people hate? Besides having the audacity to run for the highest office in the land and win…
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 14th, 2012
9:56 am
“Tiberius, leaving may be the only alternative for you folks who just can’t deal with the country as it changes from being intelligent to stupid.”
Fixed your line, Finn. No thanks needed.
“If you can’t learn to deal wit the fact that the majority of people in this country aren’t just like you then, well, ya know…”
I’m resigned to the fact that the majority of the people in this country aren’t as intelligent or as self-sufficient as I am, Finn. Doesn’t mean I can’t hope for that situation to change, even with the liberal drive to dumb everybody down even further.