Comments on: D’Souza Unconvincing

By: Postcoloniality and Theology: Barack Obama, Brian McLaren and Forbes Magazine | Political Jesus: Journeys in Non-Resistant Love

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 21:21:41 +0000

[...] professor in the White House carrying on his father’s legacy not only makes Obama The Other, as conservative online magazine First Things pointed out, it also maintains the [...]

By: Reason Writers Around Town: Shikha Dalmia on D'Souza's Diatribe Against Obama - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 21:05:22 +0000

[...] so far D’Souza’s Forbes piece has inspired the same reception—a collective “huh?”—from allies and opponents [...]

By: D’Souza to Obama with Malice - Shikha Dalmia - Uncommon Sense - Forbes

D’Souza to Obama with Malice - Shikha Dalmia - Uncommon Sense - Forbes — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 18:39:12 +0000

[...] D’Souza’s Forbes piece has inspired the same reception — a collective “huh?” – from allies and opponents alike. The one exception is Newt Gingrich who has dubbed this the “most profound [...]

By: D’Souza to Obama with Malice - Shikha Dalmia - Uncommon Sense - Forbes

D’Souza to Obama with Malice - Shikha Dalmia - Uncommon Sense - Forbes — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 18:09:41 +0000

By: dave c

dave c — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:44:49 +0000

“Johnny does it too” is a lousy form of refutation, goodness knows. But having been treated to reams and reams of newsprint and videoroll “I’m doing this for you Daddy” psychobabble from the Left about the Bushes (41 and 43) with nary a peep of protest about its propriety or rationality, I find the “this is way out of bounds” outrage more than a bit much. D’Souza is probably off base here — I certainly think so. But an appeal to “racism/xenophobia”? From a guy named “Dinesh D’Souza”? Have you no sense of irony sir?

By: King

King — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 19:58:31 +0000

Obama’s memoirs practically beg us to do political psychoanalysis from a distance. D’Sousa’s brand of interpretation is therefore not surprising. What surprises, however, is that Forbes would allow amateur pscyho-politico-identity construction (of the type Dreams from My Father employed) to form the basis of a cover feature.

D’Sousa is a sharp fellow and good polemicist. But his musing-out-loud does not serve the anti-Obama cause, of which I consider myself a charter member. Clever formulations, independent of their truth, sell. See: we’re talking about it.

Back to the grind. Defeat of the forces Obama represents will not be achieved in a mere flash of insight that will deliver us from the hard work we must do. The opposition is all too familiar.

Allons travailler.

By: Charlie Collier

Charlie Collier — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 19:12:12 +0000

“It is stultifying, therefore, to play the ‘he’s anti-American’ game. Instead, we need to be debating about the kind of American identity that will most likely sustain the common good.”

Hear, hear.

By: AZDean

AZDean — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:44:23 +0000

“Occam’s razor. Nothing Obama has done cannot be explained as the result of the decisions of a doctrinaire post-modern academic liberal constrained by the necessity to make pragmatic compromises from time to time.” — Barry Arrington

I don’t doubt that Occam’s razor as expressed in this quote is valid. I even suspect that D’Souza would largely agree with it.

The problem is, it just isn’t an entirely satisfying explanation. And not just because I want to psychoanalyze Obama. We all know that there is something different about Obama. He just doesn’t fit into the clean ideological boxes that we are used to. There are subtle indications that something drives Obama beyond the simplistic analysis that Occam’s razor would lead us to.

But what?

I do question D’Souza’s analysis. The conclusions he jumps to are a bit too far out there for me. But then again, I think he may be on to something. And I appreciate his personal perspective of having grown up with relatives who had similar anti-colonialist beliefs.

If Obama Sr.’s dreams, that were heavily influenced by anti-colonialism, had no influence on Obama, then why did he title the book the way he did? Why should we put on blinders and ignore this aspect of Obama’s life?

Wouldn’t it be good if we could more fully understand what drives Obama? To me this is an important topic, and will even help dispel some of the more “racist/xenophobic narratives”, once we all can make better sense of him.

By: Fred

Fred — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:31:14 +0000

Vincent, I can’t speak for Judy, but while I certainly wouldn’t deny that birtherism and xenophobia are realities, I think their extent is greatly exaggerated. Birthers are a fringe probably no larger than and certainly no more of a threat to the republic than 911 truthers. Xenophobia is a more complex question, but I think you run into a definitional problem there. Some in the media and on the political left consider opposition to illegal immigration, being in favor of the Arizona immigration law, and opposition to the Ground Zero mosque to be expressions of xenophobia. While that is probably true of some fringe elements, I believe the vast majority of people with those positions hold them for reasons other than xenophobia. Whether those are good reasons or right reasons is open to debate, but in any case, they are not expressions of bigotry.

By: Vincent

Vincent — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:50:43 +0000

Judy,

I would actually classify my argument as falling into both categories. I didn’t bother to recapitulate Reno’s analysis because he pretty much said what I would say in terms of the specifics of D’Souza’s piece. I’m having trouble understanding your point though. Do you deny that D’Souza’s argument has serious implications in the current polarized climate where xenophobia and birtherism are realities, or are you denying that xenophobia and birtherism are realities in our culture?