Deconstructing Obama: The Life, Loves, and Letters of America's First Postmodern President
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Acknowledgments
This story could never have been told without the active help of many citizen journalists, technical advisers, media supporters, and miscellaneous friends of the truth. Forgive me in advance if I overlook anyone.
In the citizen journalist department, let me list my helpmates more or less in the order in which they came into my orbit: Peter Verzola of California, Mark Justin of Hawaii, Ryan Geiser of Nebraska, Jay Spencer of Massachusetts, “Ishmael” of North Carolina, Bruce Dunstan of Australia, Bruce Heiden of Ohio, Shawn Glasco of Colorado, Don Wilkie of Michigan, and Michael Patrick Leahy of Tennessee.
Those providing technical advice and/or literary forensic studies include Patrick Juola of Pennsylvania, Ed Gold of Florida, Andrew Longman of California, Chris Yavelow of North Carolina, and Debra Blackstone of California—my worthy webmaster.
Consistent media support came from a few solid sources, most notably WorldNetDaily publisher Joseph Farah, American Thinker publisher Thomas Lifson, talk-radio host Rusty Humphries, Sinclair Broadcasting VP Mark Hyman, and Swiss journalist Hanspeter Born. Thanks too to those local radio and Internet hosts who stayed with me throughout.
Among the more stalwart friends of the truth have been radio producer Rich Davis of Kansas, former congressman Chris Cannon of Utah, and especially Bob Fox of California.
Thanks to those of my friends and family who believed in what I was doing, none of whom put up with more than my wife, Joan. My esteemed agent, Alex Hoyt, hung tight as well, and Anthony Ziccardi of Simon & Schuster showed more than a little courage in approving the project.
Finally, a word of appreciation for the good folks at Threshold Editions and Simon & Schuster for their competence and congeniality, editor Kevin Smith most notably.
INDEX
Abbot, Charles C., 290–91
Abercrombie, Hal, 260
Abercrombie, Neil, 259–60
abortion, 120, 159, 169–70, 263
Abraham, Henry J., 179–80
Afghanistan, 228
African, The (Courlander), 114
African Americans, 51, 68–69, 114, 121–25, 172–78, 250, 269–76, 279, 294
affirmative action and, 173–76
Ali’s memoir and, 53–54
al-Mansour and, 25
and Chicago rally against Iraq War, 61
Clinton and, 19–21
Davis and, 96, 269–70, 272–73, 276, 284, 288
Detroit riots and, 125
Dreams and, 46, 54, 81, 90, 92, 95–96, 194–95
education of, 105–8, 121–23
Horton ad and, 136–37
media treatment of, 176–77
Newark riots and, 23–24
Obama–Ayers relationship and, 106, 292
Obama’s heritage and, 173–77, 240
Obama’s love life and, 184, 186, 189–90, 195, 202
Obama’s luck and, 72
Obama’s mentors and, 178, 180
Obama’s politics and, 221
Obama’s presidential campaign and, 10, 72
Obama’s speeches and, 226
racism and, 10, 37, 44, 54–59, 107–8, 112–13, 136–37, 148, 174–75, 210, 226, 287
Sutton and, 24
victimization of, 55–56
Waco incident and, 68
Afrocentrism, 107–8
After Alinsky (Knoepfle), 87–88
Alaska, 239–40
Ali, Muhammad, 59, 104
memoir of, 53–54
Alinsky, Saul, 87–88, 221
All Deliberate Speed (Ogletree), 179
“Allies of Palestinians see a friend in Obama” (Wallsten), 101–2
al-Mansour, Khalid:
Obama’s Harvard application and, 25, 38
Obama’s relationship with, 25–27, 38, 225
Sutton story and, 25–27
Alpert, Jane, 188
Alter, Jonathan, 177, 224, 242
American Indians, 290, 294
American Thinker, 22, 110–12, 129–30, 142, 192
Andersen, Christopher, 1–4, 212, 228–31
B. Obama’s love life and, 185, 189
Dreams and, 2–4, 72–74, 103, 116, 146, 229–31
on M. Obama’s education, 172
Ann Arbor, Mich., 108
Armstrong, Dan, 124
Asante, Molefi Kete, 107
Audacity of Hope, The (Obama), 3–4, 98, 128, 138, 148–49, 199, 208–23, 238, 293
acknowledgments section of, 213
authorship of, 144–45, 191, 215–16, 220, 243
on bin Laden, 46–47
comparisons between Dreams and, 144–45, 210–13, 216–19
critical reception of, 210–11, 222
epilogue of, 216–17
genesis of, 211–15
Obama’s love life and, 190–91
Obama’s religious beliefs and, 209–10
Obama’s speeches and, 214–16
on politics, 210–11, 219–23
prologue of, 216–17
royalties paid by, 74–75
2008 presidential campaign and, 149, 209–10
“Audacity to Hope” (Wright), 210
Auschwitz, 61–62
“Authorship Attribution” (Juola), 99
authorship attribution technology, 97–100, 130, 139–45, 151, 153
Axelrod, David, 220–21, 286–88
Audacity and, 213, 220, 223
background of, 220
and Chicago rally against Iraq War, 61
Obama–Ayers relationship and, 40
Obama’s life story and, 19, 287–88
Obama’s Nobel Prize and, 236
Obama’s politics and, 221, 223
Obama’s U.S. senatorial campaign and, 17, 286
Ayers, Bill, 23–24, 38–44, 115, 227–32, 234, 242–43, 287–88
anti-Semitism and, 65–66
Audacity and, 216–17
and Chicago rally against Iraq War, 63, 65
as community organizer, 57
Conrad and, 83–85
Dreams and, 2–4, 16, 47–52, 57, 70, 74, 76–80, 87–88, 90–92, 97–98, 100, 103, 105–6, 109, 113, 118–23, 127–30, 133–35, 138, 145–46, 152, 154–56, 188–89, 194–96, 203–5, 216, 229–31, 243, 287, 292, 294
on education, 105–9, 120–23, 217, 230, 292
foundation work of, 50–51, 107
Fugitive Days and, 4, 39–44, 48–49, 57–58, 66, 77–86, 88, 90, 92–93, 95, 98, 100, 104, 118, 124–25, 133–34, 139–40, 145–46, 152, 154–56, 186–88, 193–94, 196–98, 200, 204–6, 217, 228
Geiser’s research on, 118–20
on juvenile justice, 104
Khalidi’s relationship with, 102–3
and Kind and Just Parent, 79–80, 103–4, 118, 121, 124, 155, 189, 194, 218
Leary’s encounter with, 230–31
Longman on, 143–44
love life of, 186–88
“Narrative Push/Narrative Pull” and, 90–92
Obama’s African pilgrimage and, 200
Obama’s foreign policy and, 228, 232
Obama’s inauguration speech and, 161
Obama’s love life and, 186, 188–189
on Obama’s Nobel Prize, 232
Obama’s presidency and, 52, 228, 232
Obama’s relationship with, 2–3, 38–43, 46, 49–52, 57–59, 74, 82, 85–88, 102–6, 109, 117, 120, 123–25, 129, 133–34, 138, 176, 221, 225, 227–31, 243, 275, 280, 292
Obama’s state senatorial campaigns and, 50–51, 109
Oughton’s death and, 42–43
physical appearance of, 230
postmodernism and, 4, 76, 87–88, 93, 155, 243
on racial issues, 24, 57–59, 91, 105, 107–9, 122, 125, 133, 196, 243
reading of, 46, 57
Said’s relationship with, 83, 104
terrorism of, 2, 39–43, 83, 86, 103, 105, 117, 125, 152, 227–28
To Teach and, 74, 118, 120–22, 155, 166
Vietnam War and, 125, 206–7
&
nbsp; Weather Underground and, 2, 38–40, 43–44, 49–50, 65, 86, 188, 193, 292
Wright’s relationship with, 57, 293
writing skills and style of, 48–50, 78–85, 90–93, 97, 105–6, 120, 129, 131–33, 143–46, 155–56, 193–98, 203–7, 216–18, 228, 243
Balkin, Jack, 179
Barack and Michelle (Andersen), 1–4, 103, 185, 189, 228–29, 231
Barack Obama & Larry Sinclair (Sinclair), 285
Batton, Kevin, 245–47, 249
Baxter, Sarah, 150–52
Bell, Derrick, 174
Berg, Philip, 208–9
Beschloss, Michael, 32
Between Barack and a Hard Place (Wise), 58–59
Biden, Joe, 33, 72, 240
bin Laden, Osama, 46–47, 102
bin Talal, Prince Al–Waleed, 25–26
Black Muslims, 53–54, 57, 267
Black Orpheus, 278
Black Panthers, 57, 168
blogosphere, 89, 110, 131, 180, 205, 230, 255, 258, 267–68, 281, 283, 294
Cashill’s contribution to, 22
Detroit riots and, 125
Dreams and, 76, 127
Obama–Ayers relationship and, 41, 85
Obama–Said relationship and, 34
Obama’s love life and, 184
Sutton story and, 25, 27
Bloody Sunday, 18
Boerner, Phil, 196
Born, Hanspeter, 229–30
Botkin, Susan Blake, 255–60
Obama’s birth and, 258–59
Obama’s infancy and, 256, 258, 266
Obama’s mother and, 255–58, 260, 264, 266
Bottum, Joseph, 179
Bound Man, The (Steele), 55–56, 59
Bowling for Columbine, 136
Box, Maxine:
Obama’s infancy and, 256
Obama’s mother and, 256–58, 266
Bradley, Bill, 31–32
“Breaking the War Mentality” (Obama), 161–67
awkward metaphors in, 163–64
dangling participles in, 162–63
noun-verb agreement problems in, 162–65, 167
Brennan, John, 199
Bridge, The (Remnick), 3, 28, 126–27, 207, 255
Obama’s love life and, 184–85, 189–90
Bridges, Harry, 271–72
Brock, David, 26–27
Brokaw, Tom, 68, 76
Brooks, David, 149, 238
Brooks, Gwendolyn, 104
Brown, Bundini, 54
Brown, John, 43
Brown, Ron, 69
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 113
Buckley, Christopher, 149
Buckley, William F., 149
Burgos-Debray, Elisabeth, 234
Bush, George H. W., 31, 136–37
Bush, George W., 31–32, 62–64, 72, 182, 219, 285
comparisons between Obama and, 224, 232, 235–36
Dowd on, 89–90
Iraq War and, 60, 63–64
Butts, Cassandra, 51, 213
Cahill, Thomas, 193
Calco, Bob, 85
Calderone, Michael, 27, 41
Cambodia, 44, 93
Camus, Marcel, 278
Cannon, Chris, 130, 135, 138, 144, 147–48, 152–53
Cannon, Joseph Gurney, 147
Carmichael, Stokely, 123–24
Carter, Jimmy, 31, 235–36
Carville, James, 9–10
Cashill, Bill, 156
Cavett, Dick, 238
Chase, Chevy, 31
Cheney, Dick, 31, 63–64
“Chicago” (Sandburg), 205–6
Chicago, Ill., 51–52, 133, 166, 172, 230, 272–78
Audacity and, 212
Ayers’s life in, 39, 49, 51, 58, 74, 103–4, 108–9, 205, 232
Davis and, 96, 205, 270, 272–74, 276, 281, 293–94
Days of Rage in, 41, 66
Dreams and, 71, 74, 94–96, 195, 198, 205, 218
education in, 105–9
Obama–Said relationship and, 34, 36
Obama’s life in, 11, 38–41, 47, 49, 51, 56–58, 71, 74, 94–95, 104, 109, 114, 121, 169, 205, 218, 221, 225, 240, 274–75, 292–94
Obama’s love life and, 185–86, 202
Chicago, University of, 71, 73, 101, 175, 239
Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), 50–51, 107, 109
Chicagoans Against the War in Iraq, 60–65
Chi Square tests, 139–40
Christians, Christianity, 19, 25, 101, 114, 119, 134, 142, 204, 208–10, 219, 251, 293
Obama’s religious beliefs and, 11, 208, 210
Said and, 36
civil rights, 18–19, 71
Clapton, Eric, 12–13
Clifford, Clark, 31
Clinton, Bill, 31, 67–70, 97, 128, 292
comparisons between Obama and, 19–21
impeachment of, 142
Lewinsky affair and, 20, 40, 142
VRWC and, 67–68
Waco incident and, 68
Clinton, Chelsea, 142
Clinton, Hillary, 27, 31
Iraq War and, 60, 63
Obama’s politics and, 221
presidential campaign of, 142, 175, 209
VRWC and, 67
Clinton, Roger, 20
Clinton, Virginia, 20
Collins, Warwick, 280
Columbia University, 123–24, 131, 171, 175, 224, 239, 278–79, 293
and comparisons between Dreams and Odyssey, 196
Obama–Said relationship and, 34–35, 83
Obama’s essay writing and, 161–62, 165–68
student protests at, 42
Columbus, Christopher, 233
Communication Stream of Conspiracy
Commerce, 67–68, 70
communists, communism, 44–47, 59, 69, 105, 125, 131, 134, 260
Davis and, 45, 103, 221, 272–74, 279, 281, 288, 294
in Indonesia, 45, 207
Congress, U.S., 51
Clinton impeached by, 142
Dreams and, 74
VRWC and, 67
see also House of Representatives, U.S.; Senate, U.S.
Conrad, Joseph, 64
Dreams and, 82–85
writing style of, 83–85
Constitution, U.S., 148, 168, 170
Corsi, Jerome, 137, 254–55
Cosby, Bill, 184
Counselor (Sorensen), 116
Courlander, Harold, 114
Coyote, Peter, 38
Crown, 74, 211, 215
Cure at Troy, The (Heaney), 39
Davis, Frank Marshall, 96, 269–85
bisexuality of, 284–85
Dreams and, 51, 122–23, 273–75, 294
on education, 107, 122–23
Hawaii and, 13, 45, 107, 123, 221, 270–73, 276
love life of, 186
memoir of, 13, 56, 81, 122–23, 186, 205, 253–54, 269–70, 272, 276–78, 284