Documentary on Obama a Balancing Act

Townhall.com ^ | September 2, 2012 | Deebra J. Saunders

[Kaslin]

TAMPA, Fla. -- You could say that the film "2016: Obama's America" is the GOP equivalent of Michael Moore's "Roger and Me." The documentary is based on conservative firebrand Dinesh D'Souza's 2010 book, "The Roots of Obama's Rage." As the film's narrator, D'Souza argues that Barack Obama's philosophy is "anti-colonialist," a legacy passed on from his Kenyan father, who left Obama's family when he was 2 years old. I watched "2016" with the California delegation at the 2012 Republican National Convention on Monday when the confab was delayed because of Hurricane Isaac. And I was surprised to see former U.S. Comptroller David Walker hitting Obama for deficit spending. Walker, you see, takes pains to come across as a fiscal hawk who criticizes both parties for bad fiscal stewardship. So he was about the last person I expected to see in a movie that some Democrats dismiss as a smear job.

I saw Walker in the Tampa Bay Times Forum on Wednesday night; he also plans to spend time at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. "I am in '2016,' and I'm comfortable with what I said in '2016,'" Walker told me. "But when I originally agreed to be in that documentary, I was told it was going to be nonpartisan, nonideological and nonpersonal. Let's just say that I don't think it meets the criteria." Walker told me that he asked to be left out of the marketing of the movie. He said of D'Souza's labeling Obama as "anti-colonialist," "I don't know whether he is or not." Count me in on that, too.

D'Souza starts the film discussing the ways in which he and Obama are similar. They both are mixed-race, are Ivy League graduates who were born in 1961, matriculated in 1983 and married in 1992. But D'Souza is conservative, and Obama is liberal. Why? D'Souza travels the globe as he contends that Obama's father's anti-colonial politics were embraced by and passed on by Obama's mother.

Even if D'Souza could nail that argument -- and he didn't -- who cares? The documentary was a big hit with GOP delegates, however, for a reason. This year, the media have over-vetted Mitt Romney's personal life. Think of the many stories of the dog's being put in a crate on the Romney car roof in 1983, Romney's prep-school behavior and his actions as a leader in the Mormon church.

But in 2008, the media glossed over Obama's ties with former Weather Underground leader Bill Ayers, "God damn America" pastor Jeremiah Wright and an African-American mentor whom Obama simply calls Frank in his memoirs, "Dreams from My Father." It turns out Frank is Frank Marshall Davis, a well-known Communist. D'Souza calls Davis one of Obama's ideological "Founding Fathers."

Why wasn't Davis more of an issue during the 2008 campaign? Slate's David Weigel recently wrote, "Davis was an avowed Communist, and the media of 2008 didn't care."

"There's been a veil placed over him," producer Jerry Molen told me. Why did the Oscar-winning producer of "Rain Man" and "Schindler's List" make a movie that's critical of Obama? He told me he got angry over the lack of transparency in the administration's handling of the Affordable Care Act. And he's angry at what he sees as the media's failure to adequately vet Obama in 2008 or hold Obama to the same standards reserved for GOP hopefuls.

"I'm a bit disappointed in the mainstream media," Molen said. "They've fallen down on their job, or they have an agenda."

"2016" packages failed promises by the administration -- and that's why California delegates were so enthusiastic about the film. Delegate Jan Goldsmith, the San Diego city attorney, saw the film and was satisfied.

"I'm glad to see that this information is getting out," he told me. Other delegates saw the documentary as balancing the scales. Walker agrees. He told me that though he thinks the "anti-colonialist" emphasis was too personal, he appreciates that the film is not "a birther kind of thing." D'Souza does care about facts. "2016" flatly stipulates that Obama was born in a Hawaii hospital. Otherwise, Walker found the documentary to be "thought-provoking" and "educational. And quite frankly, we don't have enough of this."

[Steely Tom]

I’ve watched Dinesh D’Souza on YouTube. To call him a “firebrand” is ridiculous. He reminds me of my freshman-year physics TA.

Ann Coulter, or maybe Michelle Malkin, could be called “firebrands.” And in a good way, too.

Mark Levin is a “firebrand.”

[thefoundersrock]

That was the first thins I thought also. Dinesh D’Souza? A “firebrand!?”

But in lefty land, or just plain old LSM-ville words mean want they want them to mean...

[Steely Tom]

But in lefty land, or just plain old LSM-ville words mean want they want them to mean...

Well, to be fair, TownHall is a conservative website (it was calved from National Review back when WFB was in the saddle).

Debra Saunders (or is it Deebra?) is, I believe, a conservative.

[heye2monn]

She’s a conservative by San Francisco standards. Not too bad, but gets a little squishy now and then.

[SERKIT]

I just saw “2016” yesterday afternoon. It was very well done. The commentary on FMD was very tame compared to what could be said about him - and his own writings - about his sexual perversions. The film also treated Ayers and Rezko fairly lightly. They could have brought in more on Emanual, too. All in all, the “hit piece” was simply a nudge from a Hopium-induced slumber, not a slam. PLEASE SEE IT!

[lentulusgracchus]

I’ve watched Dinesh D’Souza on YouTube. To call him a “firebrand” is ridiculous. He reminds me of my freshman-year physics TA

I'm with you. Calling D'Souza "firebrand" is flatly ridiculous. If he were any more room-temperature, my foot would fall asleep.

At Dartmouth, where D'Souza took over the editing of the illustrious Dartmouth Review from its founders, classmate and Review staffer Laura Ingraham was the "firebrand" -- she drove the libtard faculty nuts, especially one self-righteous black musical-history instructor, who actually came to her dorm room and pounded furiously on the door, bellowing semicoherently for Laura and scaring Laura's roomie to death. Laura made the guy mental -- good for her! But that wasn't D'Souza's bag at all.

[Steely Tom]

[Laura] ... drove the libtard faculty nuts, especially one self-righteous black musical-history instructor, who actually came to her dorm room and pounded furiously on the door, bellowing semicoherently for Laura and scaring Laura's roomie to death. Laura made the guy mental...

I remember that incident, although I didn't realize it was Laura Ingraham who was the spark behind it (it was 25 years ago or so, correct?).

I think the guy already had "issues" IIRC. He was induced to teach elsewhere, also IIRC.

[savagesusie]

“He reminds me of my freshman-year physics TA.” Ha-—Perfect!

D’Souza can be called many things-—but “firebrand” is not one of them.

The MSM always tries to shape the “feelings” in their narrative with irrational analysis......it is what Marxists do-—twist the meaning of words, so nothing will be intelligible to the masses anymore. They won’t be able to “think” when the language is so twisted. (It is why they “think” Hitler is on the Right—when socialists were Leftists with a capital L). Association is everything! People will automatically think Christians are “evil” because they are on the “Right”. Ha! (Actually, just the ignorant masses do—but that is how the Marxists lead—control the “proper” feelings.).

They will “feel” the right warm and fuzzies-—or revulsion with the BF Skinner word association which they established in the corrupt school system decades ago.

They aim to get the right “feelings” since the useful idiots can’t actually “think” and they do this all with language. Control the words and you control the thoughts of the masses. Germans figured that out over a century ago. it is what led to Lenin’s Pavlovian control and Stalin’s and Goebbels’. Intellect is destroyed when words keep meaning something entirely different-—like liberal. You can’t communicate with each other and the masses can’t understand the dialogue. So they vote on “feelings” and the Marxists have a Jackboot on that switch because they own Hollywood and the media.

[patriot08]

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If America only knew....

The best Obama exposure site on the net:
(by our own FReeper, Beckwith)

The Obama File
http://theobamafile.com/

The United States Library of Congress has selected
TheObamaFile.com for inclusion in its historic collection
of Internet materials
http://theobamafile.com/LibraryOfCongress.html

Just a few of the pages:

http://www.theobamafile.com/index_next_politics.html

http://www.theobamafile.com/index_next_personal.html

http://www.theobamafile.com/BarackObama.htm

http://www.theobamafile.com/_family/FamilyPage.htm

http://www.theobamafile.com/ObamaEducation.htm

http://www.theobamafile.com/ObamaPsychology.htm

http://www.theobamafile.com/ObamaReligion.htm

http://www.theobamafile.com/ObamaWife.htm

http://www.theobamafile.com/_associates/ObamaAssociates.htm

http://www.theobamafile.com/ObamaIconography.htm

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[ThunderSleeps]

Yes everyone please see it! I guarantee you it will be the scariest movie you’ve ever seen. Not jump out of your seat scary. More like sink into your seat realizing how {expletive} we are if he gets another term.