The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality

Author	Jerome Corsi
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Barack Obama, early life and career of Barack Obama, Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008
Publisher	Threshold Editions, an imprint of Simon & Schuster
Publication date	August 1 2008
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	384
ISBN	ISBN 1416598065 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character

The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality is a controversial book by Jerome Corsi critical of Barack Obama and his candidacy for President of the United States.^[1] The book argues against Barack Obama's candidacy for U.S. president by alleging his "extreme leftism", "extensive connections with Islam and radical politics", and "naïve...foreign policy", and past drug use and connections to corrupt backers, among other things.^[2] The book has been criticized as containing factual errors^{[1][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}, racially insensitive,^[10][11][8], and a political "attack book" consisting of smears, falsehoods, and innuendo.^{[12][13][14][15]}

Released on August 1, 2008, it was #4 in sales in nonfiction during the first week of its release^[16] and on August 13, The New York Times reported that the book had reached #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover non-fiction books ^[1], due in part to higher bulk sales.^[17][18] The book was published by Threshold Editions, a division of CBS-owned Simon & Schuster, whose chief editor is Republican party political strategist Mary Matalin.^[19] The title is deliberately assonant with "abomination".^[9]

During the 2004 United States presidential election, Corsi co-wrote Unfit for Command, a book associated with Swift Vets and POWs for Truth that was critical of Democratic candidate John Kerry.^[1][20][21] He is a regular contributor at conservative internet publication WorldNetDaily, and is associated with conspiracy theories such as the North American currency union^{[22][23][24][25][26]} and the 9/11 Truth Movement.^[27]

Content

In the book, Corsi recounts Barack Obama's upbringing and early political career in Chicago and argues that Obama is an "extreme leftis[t]" who should not be elected president. The book claims to document "Obama's extensive connections with Islam and radical politics", his "religious affiliation with ... black-liberation theology", and his associations with and connections to controversial pastor Jeremiah Wright, convicted fraudster Tony Rezko,^[9] and radical activists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, formerly of the Weather Underground.^[2] The book also argues that Obama supports "far-left domestic policy" and "naïve ... foreign policy predicated on the reduction of the military", and that he is therefore unsuitable to be the President of the United States.^[2]

In contrast to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama has not been vetted, not even by Democrats. Even today he is largely an unknown to all but a small handful of dogged political professionals and a concentrated core of political junkies who inhabit Internet blogs. Thus, in this book I have pursued Obama's extensive connections with Islam and with radical racial politics ... I also document Obama's emergence in Chicago politics through the Saul Alinsky school of radical community organizing. Alinsky used the battle cry of "Change" as a code word for a socialist redistribution of wealth. I have also examined Obama's involvement in the slum landlord empire of Chicago political fixer Tony Rezko ... [W]hat I seek to prevent by writing this book is an Obama presidency that would represent nothing more than a repeat of the failed extremist policies that have characterized and plagued Democratic Party presidential politics since the late 1960s.^[28]

Corsi has also said his purpose in writing the book was to "defeat" Obama in the 2008 United States presidential election.^[1]

Responses from presidential campaigns and other politicians

Obama campaign response

In response to the book, the Obama campaign issued a 40-page response entitled "Unfit for Publication" on the campaign website FightTheSmears.com, taking issue with assertions made in the book and alleging factual errors.^[29] The campaign also issued a press release, reading in part:

This book is nothing but a series of lies that were long ago discredited, written by an individual who was discredited after he wrote a similar book to help George Bush and Dick Cheney get re-elected four years ago... The reality is that there are many lie-filled books like this in the works cobbled together from the Internet to make money off of a presidential campaign... We will respond to these smears forcefully.^[1]

The Obama campaign called it "a new book of lies" and is planning thorough exposure of the book through "the Action Wire to push back against this year's vicious Republican attack book."^[8] In addition, the Democratic National Committee joined the "counteroffensive" telling its supporters in an email: "The media have shown that they aren't going to stop him. It's up to you to spread the truth, so here it is. Below you will find the facts about Corsi and his desperate fabrications."^[30]

Conservative commentators and others said the Obama campaign's response wasn't always accurate itself, and it gave the book more publicity,^[31] likely resulting in higher sales. Jim Geraghty, writing in National Review Online, criticized the Obama campaign response for bringing up but not refuting Corsi's critcism that Obama would have been aware of the famous, controversial past of Bill Ayers when Obama knew and worked with him.^[32]Radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt agreed.^[33] ABC News reporter Jake Tapper wrote in his blog that "not everything in the Obama campaign’s 40-page refutation of Corsi’s shoddy and dishonest book Obama Nation is fair" and that the Obama campaign was "refuting a few of Corsi’s smears by re-writing history".^[34]

McCain campaign response

When asked for a comment about the book, fellow presidential candidate John McCain said, "Gotta keep your sense of humor."^[35][36] Subsequently, "campaign spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan said McCain did not hear the question, and the campaign had no comment."^[35] In response, the Obama campaign said, "McCain has said he wants to run an honorable campaign, but his belief that these smears are funny makes people question whether he now approves of the same reprehensible politics used to smear his own character eight years ago."^[35] The McCain campaign later said he "had misheard the question" and said they do not plan to come to Obama's defense on every attack over which they have no control.^[37]

Other responses

In response to the book's publication, Senator John Kerry, the subject of a previous book by Corsi during his 2004 campaign for presidency, launched the website "Truth Fights Back". The site aims to combat Corsi's claims and "tracks, debunks, and counters the smears of the right wing against Democrats."^[38]

Reception and critical review

The book was ranked #4 in sales in nonfiction during the first week of its release,^[39] and subsequently rose to #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover non-fiction books within two weeks.^[1] However, The New York Times notes that the some bookstores report that sales of the book are being pushed by a large volume of bulk sales,^[18][1] leading some to allege that the sales figures were intentionally artificially inflated.^[40]

Corsi's book has been criticized for its factual inaccuracies by news organizations such as The New York Times,^[1] the Los Angeles Times,^[3] the Associated Press,^[4] Time (magazine),^[41] Newsweek,^[42] The Daily Telegraph,^[5] Editor & Publisher,^[6] The Guardian,^[7] CNN,^[8] The Independent,^[9] and The Boston Globe.^[38] According to The New York Times, "several of the book's accusations, in fact, are unsubstantiated, misleading or inaccurate."^[1] Peter Wehner of Commentary wrote: "conservatives should not hitch their hopes to" Corsi's book because "it seems to be riddled with factual errors — some relatively minor (like asserting that Obama does not mention the birth of his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, in Dreams from My Father; Obama does mention her), and some significant (suggesting that Obama favors withdrawing troops from Afghanistan; he wants to do the opposite)."^[43]

The Washington Post called it a "innuendo-filled, mistake-riddled biography" in its online election diary The Trail.^[37] Kate Linthicum of the Los Angeles Times wrote "being No. 1 [on the best seller list] doesn't necessarily mean being accurate" in regard to Corsi's claims about Obama's religious faith.^[3] The Politico reported that Corsi's book "left a trail of wild theories, vitriol and dogma that have called into question his credibility."^[44] The British newspaper The Independent called Corsi's book "a hatchet job on Obama".^[9]

The book also contains what the The Washington Post describes as "potentially offensive passages" about Barack Obama's personal and family life, such as one stating that Obama is less identified with his American roots than his "African blood".^[11] Corsi also writes: "Obama's mother chose another Third World prospect for her second husband, a second man of color, to be her mate.", noted by CNN as "lines some might consider racially insensitive."^[8] The LA Times also pointed to a line by Corsi claiming "Obama wants to will all the white blood out of himself so he can become pure black," citing "bigoted comments."^[45] The Chicago Sun-Times called it "an abomination," and said the book "exploits racial fears [and] hate in [an] effort to scare white America."^[10] Corsi has drawn criticism for scheduling an appearance to promote the book on the The Political Cesspool, a "pro-White" radio talk show described as "white nationalist" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.^[46][47] He previously appeared on the show on July 20th.^[48]

Examples of specific inaccuracies

The New York Times noted the book's assertion that Obama attended an incendiary sermon by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright in Chicago early on the morning of July 22, 2007, a date when Obama was in fact giving a mid-afternoon speech in Florida.^[1] Asked about the discrepancy, Corsi told the Times, "There is a dispute about the date [...] We can nitpick the date to death."^[1] Corsi added that his "fundamental point" was that Obama had a close association with someone promoting black liberation theology. The Times further noted that while Obama is a Christian, the book contains statements arguing that he has "extensive connections to Islam".^[1]

The New York Times article also described Corsi's assertion that Obama had "yet to answer" whether he "stopped using marijuana and cocaine completely in college, or whether his drug usage extended to his law school days or beyond."^[1] At another point Corsi wrote, "How about in the U.S. Senate?" However, the Times quoted Obama writing in his memoir that he had "stopped getting high" when he moved to New York City in the early 1980s. It also quoted The State Journal-Register of Springfield, Illinois, which reported Obama's response to a question about his drug use: "I haven't done anything since I was 20 years old." Obama turned 20 in 1981. Corsi told the Times that "self-reporting, by people who have used drugs, as to when they stopped is inherently unreliable."^[1] In the book, Corsi says that Obama may still be using drugs today, but does not provide evidence for this claim.^[49]

When discussing the house Barack and Michelle Obama bought in 2005, Corsi cites a February 1, 2008 Salon.com article for the claim that Chicago businessman Tony Rezko (since convicted of fraud) "found the house for Obama."^[50][51] In a 2007 interview with the staff of the Chicago Sun-Times, Barack Obama asserted that it was his wife who found the house.^[52]

See also

• The Case Against Barack Obama, a 2008 book by David Freddoso
• Smear campaign
• Swiftboating

References

• Corsi, Jerome (2008). The Obama Nation. Threshold Editions. ISBN 1416598065.
• Obama, Barack (1995). Dreams from My Father. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 1400082773.

Citations

External links

• The Obama Nation at Simon & Schuster
• Unfit For Publication: An Investigative Report On The Lies In Jerome Corsi's "Obama Nation" – Obama for America official response
  • Unfit for Publication from Obama for America
• "Corsi's The Obama Nation" topic at Media Matters for America
• Truth Fights Back, John Kerry's response
• Obama's Challenge: America's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency, new book by Robert Kuttner
• Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama's Plan to Renew America's Promise, forthcoming third book by Barack Obama
• The first chapter of The Obama Nation, provided by The New York Times
• Excerpts of The Obama Nation, provided by the publisher