I just received this press release about a just-published book The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality written by a Harvard Ph.D and published by Simon & Schuster. This Sunday, it will be #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and currently is the #1 political non-fiction book on Amazon.com.
I am concerned that it is written by an ideologue, but given the media's uncritical genuflection before the Obama altar, this book might offer a needed balancing perspective.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
1 August 2008
CONTACT: Tim Bueler
media@timbueler.com
(310) 855-3460
NEW BOOK: THE OBAMA NATION: LEFTIST POLITICS AND THE CULT OF PERSONALITY
BY JEROME R. CORSI, PH.D.
In this thoroughly researched and documented book, THE OBAMA NATION: LEFTIST POLITICS AND THE CULT OF PERSONALITY (Threshold Editions; August 1st, 2008; $28.00), the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D., explains why the extreme leftism of an Obama presidency would leave the United States weakened, diminished, and divided, and why Obama must be defeated—and how he can be…
Barack Obama stepped onto the national political stage when the then-Illinois state senator addressed the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Soon after Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate, author Jerome Corsi began researching Obama’s personal and political background.
Scrupulously sourced with more than six hundred footnotes, THE OBAMA NATION is the result of that research. By tracing Obama's career and influences from his early years in Hawaii and Indonesia, the beginnings of his political career in Chicago, his voting record in the Illinois legislature, his religious training and his adoption of Christianity through to his recent involvement in Kenyan politics, his political advisors and fund-raising associates, and his meteoric campaign for president, Jerome Corsi shows that an Obama presidency, would, in his words, be "a repeat of the failed extremist politics that have characterized and plagued Democratic Party politics since the late 1960s." In this stunning and comprehensive new book, the reader will learn about:
Obama's extensive connections with Islam and radical politics, from his father's and stepfather's Islamic backgrounds, to his Communist and socialist mentors in Hawaii and Chicago, to his long-term and close associations with former Weather Underground heroes William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn—associations much closer than heretofore revealed by the press Barack and wife Michelle’s twenty-year-long religious affiliation with the black-liberation theology of former Trinity United Church of Christ Reverend Jeremiah Wright, whose sermons have always been steeped in a rage first expressed by Frantz Fanon, Stokely Carmichael, and Malcolm X, a rage that Corsi shows has deep meaning for Obama
Obama's continuing connections with Kenya, the homeland of his father, through his support for the candidacy of Raila Odinga, the radical socialist presidential contender who came to power amid Islamist violence and church burnings
Obama's involvement in the slum-landlord empire of the Chicago political fixer Tony Rezko, who helped to bankroll Obama’s initial campaigns and to purchase Barack and Michelle’s dream-home property
The background and techniques of the Obama campaign’s cult of personality, including the derivation of the words "hope" and "change"
Obama’s far-left domestic policy, his controversial votes on abortion, his history of opposition to the Second Amendment, his determination to raise capital-gains taxes, his impractical plan to achieve universal health care, and his radical plan to tax Americans to fund a global-poverty-reduction program
Obama's naïve, antiwar, antinuclear foreign policy, predicated on the reduction of the military, the eradication of nuclear weapons, and an overconfidence in the power of his personality, as if belief in change alone could somehow transform international politics, achieve nuclear-weapons disarmament, and withdrawal from Iraq without adverse consequences for us, for the Iraqis, or for Israel
Meticulously researched and documented, THE OBAMA NATION is the definitive source for information on why and how Barack Obama must be defeated—not by invective and general attacks, but by detailed arguments that are well researched and fact-based.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jerome R. Corsi received a Ph.D. from Harvard University in political science in 1972 and has written many books and articles, including the No. 1 New York Times bestseller Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry. His latest bestseller was The Late Great USA: The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada. He is a senior staff reporter for WorldNetDaily.com and the author of two books on contemporary Iran: Atomic Iran and Showdown with Nuclear Iran. In his 2005 book, Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil, which he coauthored with Craig R. Smith, Dr. Corsi predicted oil prices at over $100 a barrel.
THE OBAMA NATION
BY JEROME R. CORSI, PH.D.
THRESHOLD EDITIONS
AUGUST 1ST, 2008
ISBN: 1-4165-9806-5; $28.00
Threshold Editions is an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
The title really perked my ears up until I saw the author's name below it. This is the same Dr. Corsi that predicts a coming 'North American Union' -- a new superstate designed to compete with other international state systems (EU + ASEAN specifically). The United States, Canada and Mexico will be thrown into the asheap of history. I think this conspiracy is complete bunk.
ReplyDeleteMaybe his new book is the real deal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxzs46Nxohk
It looks outstanding! Here's the Amazon link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Obama-Nation-Jerome-R-Corsi/dp/1416598065/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217609331&sr=8-2
Sorry about the typo -- ash heap
ReplyDeleteMarty, I remember your "Why I Can't Vote For Bush, Kerry, or Nader" article from a while back. I have cited it numerous times when explaining to others just why a liberal presidency (like that of Obama) would be bad for us.
ReplyDeletePerhaps a new twist, like "Why I Can't Vote for McCain, Obama, Hillary, or Nader" would be in order.
I found the following video a few days ago. Might be worth a look:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0GeVdrPxSw
Regarding the book: at this point, how much of this kind of stuff is just preaching to the choir, I wonder? The election process has been going on for so long that I can't imagine there are still people out there that haven't chosen a side.
Take a look at the reviews that have been left so far at Amazon regarding the book and the comments attached to them. Considering the book's release date is listed as today, I can't imagine that most of these people commenting have read the book. They're just defending their sides.
And if people have already chosen their sides, what room is there left for debate on who would be the best choice to lead this country? What is the real purpose of the book at this point?
Corsi coauthored Unfit for Command? Am I the only one who sees a huge red flag in regard to this gentleman's motives and credibility?
ReplyDeletePlease use the link below to navigate to an enlightening article about Corsi and his latest book. Evidently, it's just as biased and unreliable as Unfit for Command.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/
2008/POLITICS/08/14/corsi.book/
I just read the CNN piece and one in the New York Times and both mainly attack the author, but not any of the book's contentions. It's ironic that they accuse the author of bias yet its review is so incredibly biased.
ReplyDeleteTheir criticisms of his research are truly just nitpicking--wrong dates and such. Even liberals have not argued that the the book has failed to support the book's core contention: that Obama is a hard Leftist who has been hiding that in his campaign.
Your point's well-taken, Marty. Nevertheless, Corsi--whose stated agenda in writing the book was to "keep Obama from being elected"--has already proven himself both a clever revisionist historian and ruthless character assassin. Is it any wonder that most of the early articles about his new book emphasize his marginal credibility?
ReplyDeleteYou're quite right that no one has yet written a truly objective analysis of the book (perhaps you'll be the first); however, the proven inaccuracies contained in the author's previous books, statements, etc. need to be a part of the context in which we consider his latest work. I'm only suggesting that we be very cautious about accepting any of Corsi's statements at face value.
Of course, as Corsi acknowledges, he believes Obama shouldn't be elected. That isn't much basis for dismissing him. CNN, the NY Times, etc, with equal fervor, want to see Obama elected.
ReplyDeleteAnd with regard to his factual accuracy, I am not in a position to fact-check books, but I would predict that if liberal books were subjected to the degree of fact-checking that Corsi's are, they'd be at least equally flawed.
The core issue here is not assiduously checking every one of the thousands of assertions. The issue is: has he made a dispositive overall case that Obama is a far more extreme leftist than he and the media have portrayed him to be.
I'm not suggesting we "dismiss" Corsi's assertions because of his stated opposition to Obama--only that we take them with a grain of salt, considering his abysmal attempt to, for example, "portray" the military record of a former liberal candidate.
ReplyDeleteAs for the "degree of fact-checking" that "liberal" books are subject to in comparison with "conservative" ones (like Corsi's), it would prove a fascinating research topic. Until such research is completed, however, I would be wary about too much speculation in this area.
Granted that checking every single assertion in Corsi's book is not the point; still, any "dispositive overall case" demands a high level of factual accuracy--and, as I still contend, a reasonable level of author credibility.
I agree with the previous comment--a wise, moderate position.
ReplyDelete