If one is going to examine Jerome Corsi’s The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality, one probably ought to also read David Freddoso’s book on the Democratic nominee, The Case Against Barack Obama.
Freddoso is one of our own, and he thanks me in the acknowledgments. So take that into account as you read the review.
Of the two books, Corsi’s has garnered a lot more attention, and that’s unfortunate. Obama himself has talked about Corsi’s book, saying it “just kind of sprung full bore out of this guy’s head,” at a San Francisco fundraiser. Obama’s campaign put out a 41-page response, and they seem eager to point to it as an example of unfair and inaccurate “smears.”
Even if Freddoso had made as many errors as Corsi (he hasn’t), his book has an advantage: focus. Corsi’s book swerves from topic to topic, with criticisms of the candidate thrown together into an overloaded bouillabaisse. One chapter purportedly about “the Cult of Personality” covers the career of David Axelrod, Chris Matthews’s infamous “thrill going up my leg” comment, Obama using phrases from campaign speeches of Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, Michelle Obama’s anger, her Princeton thesis, and Obama’s smoking habit.
In contrast, Freddoso hones in on one aspect of the Obama message, the idea that Obama is a reformer, and obliterates it in the manner of a professional demolitions crew. When Obama tried to argue that he was actually a supporter of Second Amendment rights, gun owners wondered why he’d never spoken out against Chicago’s handgun ban. Freddoso applies the same “where was Obama, anyway?” logic to the city’s endemic corruption.
Where was Obama when a reform-minded liberal was challenging Cook County political boss John Stroger in 2006? Silent, until Stroger fell ill and his son ran in his place, winning Obama’s endorsement.
Where was he when Alderman Dorothy Tillman — who reportedly brandished a .38-caliber pistol during a ward redistricting session — faced a tough reelection fight in 2007? Endorsing her. (Finally, Obama is willing to stand up for a gun owner.)
Where was Obama when indictments were flying in patronage scandals surrounding Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley in 2005? Saying to a Chicago Sun-Times reporter that the scandals gave him “huge pause,” before calling back the reporter an hour later to explain that the city had never looked better. Obama ultimately endorsed Daley’s reelection.
This might be old news to the Chicago press, but it’s new to the rest of the country.
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