Is Barack Obama a socialist? A Muslim? Anti-American? Pro-Palestinian? Or just a man who is right sometimes and wrong most of the time? Bill O'Reilly opts for the second option in his new book, "Pinheads and Patriots."
Bill rigorously focuses on what President Obama does, not on who he is. He refuses to speculate about motivation, preferring instead the more solid ground of observing and frequently condemning his policies. The whole is never larger than the sum of its parts in O'Reilly's book. In fact, they're not really added up at all.
In a world fraught with invective, Bill focuses instead on programs, statistics and facts. Abjuring adjectives, he speaks only in nouns and verbs.
This style is refreshing in the world of national politics where any conservative is a "sellout" and any liberal a "socialist." He takes Obama's patriotic motivation for granted and proceeds to dissect his policies with precision and incisive commentary.
But, somehow, the mind still gropes with the central question about Barack Obama: Who is he? As one reads his book, you have to wonder whether Obama is mistaken or malign. Is he simplistic or socialist? An idiot or an ideologue?
As you study President Obama, you keep coming back to these basic questions. Did he really think that his stimulus spending would end the recession despite the failure of the George W. Bush stimulus of 2008 and the Japanese Lost Decade of similar economic policies? Or did he want to expand the public sector at all costs and seized this opportunity to do so?
Did he ever really believe he could lower health care costs through his legislation, or was he just saying that to socialize medicine in America?
Does he truly think he can win hearts and minds in the Islamic world, or is he just anti-Israel?
Is he overly concerned with the details of his version of our civil liberties, or is he not mindful of the jeopardy we face?
Because he inherently does not believe he can judge motivation, especially at a distance, O'Reilly presumes the best about the president's motivations and just criticizes his policies.
He questions Obama's judgment, but never his good faith. He lambasts the president's management style, but never his core beliefs.
But then he does not take the inevitable next step and call into sharper question the man's intellect and ability. After all, the alternative explanation — that he's dumb — lacks credibility. Barack Obama pulled off one of the major political miracles of our time. He swept into the presidency after only four years as a U.S. senator — two, really, since he campaigned the other two. He upended the major political machine in the Democratic Party to get the nomination and outmaneuvered the Republican attack armies to win in November. And he swept into office a record number of Democratic acolytes. Such achievements do not stem from stupidity.
And, until he was brought up short in the 2010 elections, he was well on his way to transforming our nation. He had dug us into so large a pit of debt that new taxes seemed inevitable. His health care program had taken over one-sixth of the economy, and his big spending had increased the public sector share of our economy from 35 percent to 45 percent in just two years.
The intellect behind these accomplishments must be staggering. But, if so, the mendacity must be, as well.
O'Reilly's critique of Obama is one of the sharpest and most well argued ever written. But, somehow, it still begs the basic question: Is Obama on our side after all?
Dick Morris and Eileen McGann are authors of the new book "2010: Take Back America — A Battle Plan." To find out more about Dick Morris and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2010 DICK MORRIS AND EILEEN MCGANN
DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM
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3 Comments | Post Comment
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Let me tell you something, as an African-American I'm not always proud of being an American. This is probably something you won't understand. The larger population, can at times, demean me, belittle me, and makes me feel unwelcome here. When I hear of my ancestors being beaten, raped, poisoned, or killed simply for being a darker hue I am challenged to find something to love about this country. That is most times what Black America grapples with on a daily basis. Would you like to know how many times I've been called that charming N word, how many times I've been ignored in a store, how many times I've been treated as less than a person, or would you like to know how many times I've been told I could just go back to Africa? I've never been to Africa by the way, that was at least 8 generations ago. I was born and bred in California. These are things that maybe the majority will never understand. I think that the majority doesn't even want to understand it.
Comment: #1
Posted by: Bethany Smothers
Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:24 PM
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Barak Obama should be ashamed of himself. The reason he should be ashamed of himself is not because someone he knows spoke out against the USA government. The reason is because he condemned the words of a man speaking the truth, that being his "former" pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
Mr. Obama had an opportunity to reinforce these words of truth and expose the USA government for the decades of atrocity, human rights violations, anti-democratic operations and refugee manufacturing it has participated in.
Here is a bit of what Rev. Write is referring to...
Fact: The USA is the only country to have used its nuclear arsenal in combat. The USA unleashed 2 atomic bombs on civilian populations in Hiroshima and Nagasaki of Japan.
Fact: The USA has used bio and chemical weapons on civilian populations and military targets in Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Panama, Iraq and others.
Fact: The USA demands that many countries in the world undergo inspections of their nuclear and bio-chemical weapons developments, but has voted against resolutions for its own extensive arsenal to be held to the same standard.
Fact: The USA has backed, trained and financed despot authoritarian dictatorships, apartheids, non-democracies and paramilitary organizations around the world throughout its existence. Of these, both Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are included.
Fact: The USA has backed, trained and financed efforts to overthrow democratically elected officials on many occasions and in many countries, including Syria, Greece, Cuba, Iran, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Chile, and Australia. This list is limited to successful endeavors.
Fact: The USA increased its funding to Saddam Hussein after the Iraqi military gassed Kurdish populations in the 1980's.
Fact: The USA represented the sole vote against United Nations resolutions over 60 times since 1978. The USA is one of only a few nations with veto power in the United Nations. Some of the resolutions that the USA has vetoed include:
-1978: Call for developed countries to increase the quantity and quality of development assistance to underdeveloped countries
-1980: Emphasizes that the development of nations and individuals is a human right.
-1981: Urges negotiations on prohibition of chemical and biological weapons
-1981: (On 7 different occasions) Condemns South Africa for attacks on neighboring states, condemns apartheid and attempts to strengthen sanctions
-1982: To promote international actions against apartheid
-1983: Affirms the right of every state to choose its economic and social system in accord with the will of its people, without outside interference in whatever form it takes
-1983: Resolutions against apartheid in South Africa (4 different occasions)
-1983: Declares that education, work, health care, proper nourishment, national development are human rights
-1984: On the elimination of racial discrimination
-1984: Prohibition of chemical and bacteriological weapons
-1984: Proposing economic assistance to the Palestinian people
-1986: To strengthen international security
-1987: Calls on Israel to abide by Geneva Conventions in its treatment of the Palestinians
-1987: Opposition to the development of new weapons of mass destruction
-2004: Production and processing of weapon-usable material should be under international control
-2006: Calls for an end to Israeli military incursions and attacks on Gaza
In each of these occasions, the USA was the sole vote against, with the exception of 2 of the 7 votes condemning apartheid, in which the USA was but 1 of 2 nations to vote against.
All of these facts are verifiable and irrefutable. All of these facts represent some of the reasons there exists a violent anti-American sentiment in much of the world.
That is much of what Rev. Write was trying to get across, and he is right.
Comment: #2
Posted by: Gregory Armitage
Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:38 PM
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Comment: #3
Posted by: meiou
Sat Nov 20, 2010 4:24 PM
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