The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate Reviews

• The Case Against Barack Obama

  
  By A2MCC0XFURU2K2 on 2008-08-05
  [...]
  Since Obama himself is so obtuse about his background, beliefs, accomplishments (are there any?), etc., it is imperative that someone actually do the research to find out about the true Obama before handing him the highest office in the land. As a person who employs other people, I would want much more information than what is on Obama's thin public resume.
  
  This book does that research for you and comes up with the fact that Obama's resume IS thin. He decided after only 143 days in the US Senate that he was ready to step up and be President. He has the most liberal voting record in the US Senate. He attended a racist church for twenty years and then only quit the church when it became a political liability. He was a community organizer in Chicago whose main accomplishment was getting asbestos removed from a single apartment house and even then they didn't remove all of it. This is the experience you need to run the country?
  
  America is ready for a man or woman of any skin color, ethnicity, religion to be President but they must at least meet the minimum qualification of being "experienced" in executive management. Obama has never run anything in his life other than a campaign. We don't need another Jimmy Carter no matter what skin color he is.
  
  Buy the book and actually do some research before voting. [...]
  
  

• He's slick -- and he's dangerous

  
  By A3ER2PQYOZTI24 on 2008-08-05
  If you ever had any doubts about the glib deviousness and empty rhetoric of Barack Obama, elaborations on these meticulously researched and documented items in this book should convince you he's the most dangerous candidate ever to run for the presidency in the history of America:
  
  - How Obama won his first election (to the Illinois State Senate) by having his lawyers knock all his opponents -- including the black, female incumbent -- off the ballot on technicalities, so he could run unopposed.
  
  - How Obama voted to deny medical care to babies born alive after abortion -- a bill too extreme even for Nancy Pelosi (Freddoso has an exclusive interview with the nurse central to the case).
  
  - A story Obama would like to stay buried in Chicago: How he used his clout as a U.S. Senator to save the corrupt Cook County Political Machine when reformers of both parties tried to challenge the entrenched political bosses.
  
  - How Obama's wife Michele's salary nearly tripled in 2005 -- the same year he was sworn in to the U.S. Senate and began earmarking funds for her employer.
  
  - How Obama's friendship with the hate-spewing Reverend Jeremiah Wright was no accident -- but a carefully thought out personal and political decision.
  
  - Why Obama thought his association with '60s-era terror-bomber Bill Ayers wouldn't matter -- an exposé of the insular radical chic of Chicago's Hyde Park politics.
  
  - How state Senator Obama was paid more than $100,000 for legal work -- then helped his client's company get $320,000 in taxpayer grants.
  
  - How, at a time when he says he was short of work and short of cash, Obama obtained $112,000, plus campaign contributions, from someone he later made into a government grantee through his public office.
  
  - Inside Obama's 17-year relationship and irregular land deal with developer Tony Rezko, whose livelihood depended on sapping the taxpayer for subsidies.
  
  - "I've never done any favors for him," says Obama about Rezko. But he has -- lots of them, as Freddoso shows.
  
  - Why Rezko's conviction for corrupting public officials might become the Whitewater scandal of Obama's campaign.
  
  - How Obama speaks of the days when his family was making $240,000 per year as if he had been suffering poverty -- while, just last March, he voted to raise your taxes if you make over $32,500 per year.
  
  - The Chicago Machine politician who "made a U.S. senator" out of Obama by giving him plum committee assignments and high-profile legislation in its late stages (often removing the original sponsors), and helping him spread money around through earmarks and "targeted" grants.
  
  - How Obama avoided taking unpopular stands in the state Senate by voting "present" about 130 times -- or simply by absenting himself from tough votes altogether.
  
  - Obama's little-known vow to Planned Parenthood in July 2007 -- and why it would mean the end of every state, federal, and local regulation of abortion, and the end of all restrictions on government abortion funding.
  
  - A "new politics?" How, in less than four years as a U.S. senator, Obama has voted for some of the worst special-interest legislation to move through the chamber.
  
  - How Obama opposes school choice through vouchers or tax credits -- while sending his own children to an elite private school.
  
  - How Obama wants -- and has voted -- to abolish secret-ballot elections in the workplace when employees determine whether to unionize, allowing unions to intimidate and harass workers who don't support them.
  
  - Why Obama's foreign policy would take its cues from Jimmy Carter's.
  
  - "Post-partisan?" Why the respected National Journal named Obama the most liberal member of the United States Senate in 2007 -- beating out Barbara Boxer, Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton...and the previous title-holder, John Kerry.
  
  Beg, borrow or buy this book, absorb the shameful details on those points and you'll know all you need to know about this slick, glib fraud.
  
  And that will be that he and his bitter wife are the last people on earth you'd want occupying the White House.
  
  

• "Hope" & "Change." Just words.

  
  By AYG0HUB0OEHYU on 2008-08-04
  This book is a frightening expose of the socialist America-hating democratic nominee for President of the United States. Obama is so left-wing, you'd think he was from San Francisco. The throngs of people devoted to this savior of the earth have no idea who they are voting for. I look forward to the 1-star reviews from angry liberals now that their secular Jesus has been exposed. I would challenge them to prove one thing in the book untrue. We all know that won't happen.
  
  

• Obama Is Even SCARIER Than I Thought...Get the Facts Here!

  
  By A10872FHIJAKKD on 2008-08-05
  Like many Americans, I've seen the media bend over backwards to portray Barack Obama in a favorable light. On the Yahoo homepage, for example, I counted the number of Obama headlines during a one-month time and compared them to the number of McCain headlines. The difference was striking. Obama made news even when the news seemed to be "Obama Sneezes!" or "Obama Helps Little Old Lady Cross Street!" or "Obama Reacts to McCain's Reaction!"
  
  The media absolutely LOVES Obama. Why? What happened to the independent media, the press being the fourth estate, the watchdog of the people? Somewhere along the way, the media became the lapdog of the liberal left. And that's why Obama is dubbed "the Messiah" by conservative talk-show hosts.
  
  Who is Obama? Where did he come from? What does he really believe? I've been wondering those questions and many more for months now. When I first encountered Obama and his women-swoon-during-his-speeches persona, I was intrigued. But when I started to hear reports that he had the most liberal voting record in Congress, that he was an inexperienced first-term Senator who hasn't accomplished anything of substance since taking office, and that his friends ranged from racists to terrorists...I began to wonder if I'd ever get the truth about Obama.
  
  The Case Against Barack Obama answers my questions and gives me the information I need to talk to people who have succumbed to his siren song of "change." Thanks to The Case Against Barack Obama, I now know that the kind of change he stands for is the kind the people of the Soviet Union and Communist China have been trying to throw off for decades. Obama is a radical left-wing socialist who wants the government to control our lives from cradle to grave.
  
  I suspected Obama wasn't what he claimed. But I had no idea he was this bad. Seriously, Barack Obama is THE most dangerous man in politics. If he is elected President, he will create change, all right -- he'll cause America to take a giant leap to the left. If you want to know what that will look like, ask your European friends, those people who stagger under tax burdens of 60%-70% of their income, who have to wait forever in long lines for health care, and who struggle to breathe free and live to their full potentials.
  
  Barack Obama scares me. Not because he's black. But because he's dishonest, radically leftist, and as divisive as any politician I've ever seen. He may preach "hope" and "change" and being a "unifier." But his actions do not match his words.
  
  The Case Against Barack Obama is an eye-opening book for those who may be on the fence, or who need solid facts to help educate friends who have been duped. Barack Obama makes Slick Willy look like a rank amateur. Read this book and see why.
  
  

• As an Obama Supporter, I was shocked

  
  By A2NIXEYJ57Q77 on 2008-08-04
  I haven't read anything this surprising and enlightening since I read How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business. As someone who was leaning toward supporting Obama, I was surprised at how much was left unexamined about him. Whether you support Obama or not, you should at least learn this about the candidate.
  
  For example, Obama's support of "open voting" in union votes would make it public knowledge how everyone votes in unionization decisions in firms. This leaves those who don't hold the "correct" opinion to be open to intimidation and coercion by other workers.
  
  Still, Freddoso makes too much of some areas of Obama's past. I felt his association with Rev. Write was just another example of political convenience for a man who represented the African American community of Chicago, while Freddoso believes this association tells us something deeper about Obama's character.
  
  However, no voter supporting Obama can claim to be informed without reading this book. Now Freddoso just needs to write something like this for McCain.
  
  
• A Sobering Look at the Man Who May Become President
  By A2BPFPVOWCTKDJ on 2008-08-05
  This is an intriguing book that shows a view of the Democratic Presidential candidate that no one wants to see. We have been so proud of our country for nominating a black American as the Democratic Presidential candidate, and we were so taken by this candidate's good looks and charming ways. I think we all had hopes that he was a politician free of the dirty dealings that seem to have become part of the American political process. As the months have passed since his nomination, and as we've listened to what he has to say and NOT the way he says it, doubts have surfaced for many of us.
  
  This book written by a Chicago resident who has seen at close hand how Mr. Obama gets things done politically, reveals the "real" Obama. If you believe that a person's actions in the past predict to some extent, his actions in the future, then our country, already in trouble, could be in for unimaginable difficulty, if this man is elected.
  
  This book isn't a hatchet job written by some guy with an axe to grind. It's an expose of a candidate with strong socialistic leanings, questionable political dealings, and frightening personal and political associations, as documented by someone who has experienced Mr. Obama more personally than most of us have.
  
  I think this book fills in a lot of blanks in the sparse information we have about Mr. Obama. I agree that much of what this book reveals is shocking and most of it disappointing, but we need to know who this man really is. As Americans, we have the right and responsibility, particularly at this crucial time in the evolution of our country, to know who we are or are not, voting for. This book will give you a lot to think about while you are making that decision.
  
  
  
  
• Sobering and Disheartening
  By A2DBUW69DVR1GP on 2008-08-06
  Too many reviews have dismissed this book as "propaganda" or a "smear" without any clear evidence to back up those labels. Rather than debate Freddoso's carefully constructed, well-researched contentions, these "reviewers" (almost all of whom, I assume, have never even read the book) resort to baseless mudslinging.
  
  In reality, I found this book incredibly well-documented and surprisingly objective. As Freddoso himself notes on many occasions, the book does not try to make any of the sensational claims bandied about by some. It does not attempt to "out" Obama as a closet-Muslim or claim that an Obama presidency would bring about the end of America. It merely attempts to dull the blinding sheen that the media has placed on Obama and his vapid message of "hope and change".
  
  Those who take the time to read this book with an open mind will be in for a revealing look at Obama's meteoric rise. Freddoso carefully documents Obama's close connections with the seediest elements of Chicago politics, the myriad occasions on which he passed up opportunities to denounce "politics as usual" as a state legislator, and his Clinton/Rove win-at-all-costs mentality.
  
  What results from this analysis is a picture of Obama that is much less sparkling than the one painted by his many admirers in the media. Beyond the lofty promises of "hope and change" lies the unremitting ambition of a "reform" candidate who has failed to reform or stand up for anything in his political career.
  
  
  
• This book had potential
  By A1OBPHRXHZF8P6 on 2008-08-10
  But the author made it more into the typical partisan case against myself and other liberals. And in doing so, took away a prime opportunity to aid the country in it's oh-so obvious hour of need.
  
  Ironically I also am concerned about the issues which Obama presidency poses to the nation. This is to say nothing of either the Constitution or the world. Lackluster debate exchanges and a dizzying array of policy flip-flops have gone selectively ignored and/or remain downplayed by the media.
  
  When we consider this still is the 24-hour information age, there is an apparent disconnect, or some very powerful media favoritism occurring.
  
  Everything which this guy does apparently comes across as the greatest thing ever invented. It's almost as if he's bought off the media just to write positive stories about him. The pay off has occurred in order to compensate for having little experience prior to running for President.
  
  How else to explain why critical scrutiny of this candidate habitually gets overlooked? Having more information sources for a society's public display does not always translate into that society having a better news media or a more aware public.
  
  Meanwhile, the media DOES make sure we do have glowing puff pieces about what kind of television shows he loves to watch or how much fun he is having on his latest vacation!
  
  
  
• Well Done
  By AJFG1TJSQZP6Q on 2008-08-06
  Freddoso has completed a thorough and well researched examination of some very enlightening episodes in the Candidate's history. Whether you agree or not, there is none of the sensationalism which often accompanies books about candidates during election cycles.
  Read it with an open mind, then make your own decision.
  
  
• Another viewpoint
  By A38IB4S52DQ7EI on 2008-08-06
  Being from Illinois, I have had an oportunity to watch this guy in his very early days in the state senate. I am happy that someone is actually going through his record and things he actually said and did in those early days and exposing him for the fraud he really is.
  
  Yes he is charismatic, gives nice speeches, and has an attractive family but I hope people will wake up to find out what he is really about. I doubt that MSNBC, the Today Show, GoodMorning America will have this author on their shows as it paints a different light on the media's beloved anti-Bush savior Barack.
  
  
• The Science of Evil Genes Supports The Author's Opinions
  By A1WKNCXUR7BG13 on 2008-08-06
  The late Senator Moynihan said that, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts". In this book, the author's opinions about Barack Obama are supported by hard facts. By contrast, Obama's surrogates in the press such as Chris Matthews and Andrea Mitchell have neither disputed nor denied those facts. Also, they have not produced any hard facts that support the black messiah. Their opinions are based on a cult of personality.
  
  In addition to hard facts provided by the author, an emerging scientific theory supports the author's opinions. On August 2 and 3, C-SPAN 2 (Book TV) covered a lecture by Barbara Oakley about her book titled "Evil Genes". The book is significant because it provides scientific evidence that could explain the arrogance, narcissism, and messianic pretensions of Barack Obama. In the book and lecture, Oakley discussed the signs of psychopathic behavior and borderline personality disorder, and applied them to historical figures such as Hitler, Chairman Mao, and Jeff Skilling of Enron. Her scientific analysis was compelling.
  
  Based on Oakley's analysis, a strong argument can be made that Obama is a psychopath. Her theory explains why so many voters are viscerally alarmed by Obama and provides scientific concepts that can be applied to explain his personal history. Obama may have inherited "evil genes" from his dysfunctional parents, a white, hippie mother, and a black, con-man father. Those genes may have been nurtured by the malignant ideas and rhetoric of Rev. Wright and Michelle Obama.
  
  Some may reject this analysis of Obama as outrageous or "racist". But read the book or the reviews of the book at Amazon.com. Learn the concepts. Weigh the evidence supporting this analysis. The stakes are high. Unless warned, there may be enough ignorant, but well-meaning voters who want "change", and are willing to embrace a cult of personality and risk electing as president a psychopath with a sonorous voice and a million dollar smile.
  
  
  
• Abraham Lincoln he is NOT
  By ATDE9JYCPI0L1 on 2008-09-22
  Before reading this book, I had no idea that Barack Obama had gone to such great lengths to challenge hundreds of signatures on the ballot petition of his Democratic Illinois State Legislative opponent---enough so that she was disqualified and did not run.
  
  The long and the short of that effort was that Illinois voters did not have a choice. I would not think that is the kind of change one ought to be proud of. A genuine one-candidate ballot, in a nominally Democratic nation.
  
  The same might be inferred from Barack Obama's run for the U.S. Senate, in which his Republican opponent was suddenly smeared on a grotesque personal level---with facts that were indeed available to Obama's staff---two weeks before the election. Until that point, the candidates were running neck and neck. After, however, the Republican withdrew from the race, and no one took his place. Obama ran unopposed, once again. For the U.S. Senate.
  
  In other words, Obama's political career has been more or less unvetted by the voters. He is, as he has said himself, a clean slate onto which idealists can project anything they like. And that is a huge problem.
  
  For Obama's slate is apparently not so clean as the general mainstream press would have Americans believe.
  
  Politics is very dirty indeed, but in Chicago Illinois, it is possibly dirtier and more corrupt than in any other U.S. locality. The Democratic machine rules. And Barack Obama is an ingrained part of Mayor Daley's corrupt, wasteful Democratic machine. Committed Chicagoan Democrats and Republicans alike have objected.
  
  David Freddoso's superb, calm, collected, well-documented reporting (he's an above-average Columbia Journalism school graduate) demonstrates just how up-to-his neck in Chicago machine politics Obama has been.
  
  Obama has voted for pork barrel farm subsidies to support ethanol, despite substantive scientific and environmental documentation demonstrating that ethanol production is a wasteful process responsible for driving food prices ever higher, while providing virtually no energy advantage.
  
  Obama campaigned aggressively in favor of public campaign finance----only until it became apparent he could raise more money privately, at which point he disavowed his previous political principal.
  
  Obama sponsored mostly bills that authored by other people, a fact that his Chicago machine connections and advisers successfully absconded for him.
  
  Even before reading this book, I had serious doubts about Obama. Now, though, the picture of an empty suit is complete.
  
  And please---do not shout "racist" unless you take the trouble to read the book yourself. The facts have little or nothing to do with the man's skin color.
  
  This book is neither conservative, nor liberal. It is a simple, declarative set of facts, extremely well documented. Those who argue Freddoso created a set of base smears have obviously not taken the trouble to read it. Rather, Freddoso goes to great lengths to invalidate baseless smears, e.g. that Obama was not born in the U.S.
  
  Alas, there are many more substantive problems with this candidate that wise voters will want to examine before pulling the lever on Nov. 4.
  
  There are plenty of facts, however, that clarify the point: About the only thing Obama has in common with Abraham Lincoln is that he moved to Illinois from elsewhere and sought office there.
  
  Obama's record is a vapid landscape of "present" votes, of avoiding controversy, of failing to back genuine educational, financial, political and other change, of failing to eradicate slums, and of failing the poor and working Americans whom Obama professes to support.
  
  Obama is just another wealthy elitist.
  
  Independent, Democratic and Republican American voters---everyone, in short---really cannot afford to cast ballots without reading this book.
  
  
• This is the real Obama
  By A14JANATCMRLDX on 2008-08-13
  I honestly did not want to read the book, given that it's clearly a hit book. HOWEVER, because Obama has completely refused to appear on any tough venues -- The O'Reilly Factor, for one, even though he promised O'Reilly that he'd come onto the show -- I am forced to read this book. In other words, since Obama is refusing to go onto any tough venues, I'm constantly thinking, "Just what is he hiding?" . . . and this book tells you exactly what he's hiding. Obama has even refused some Town Hall meetings with McCain!! Jeesh!
  
  This book does what the media *should* be doing, but isn't. It is a total expose' on what Obama has done, who he has associated with, and what he will do this nation if elected . . . . and it's absolutely terrifying!
  
  Listen, folks, it's quite simple: If Barack Obama did not have a secret agenda to hide, then he would go onto tough venues and answer tough questions. Because he's not, it's because he doesn't want to be exposed before November. Well, sorry, Obama, but this book exposes you for the true Marxist and anti-American you are!
  
  Get this book!!
  
  P.S. All the one-star evaluations are being who will never evaluate Obama or the man's character. Obama could literally murder these reviewers' families and they'd still stick up for the guy.
  
  
• The real story of Obama's background
  By A2B9Q710R2ATBT on 2008-08-09
  This book obviously will impress many people favorably and many others unfavorably, depending on their political positions. As we've seen already, those of a conservative bent will be impressed favorably, as you can see from the five-star reviews, and liberals will equally be inclined to give it a one-star rating, which we've already seen. In the interest of fair disclosure, I have to admit my own somewhat conservative point of view; however, I'm well to the left of the author, and when he gives examples of Obama's political positions that appall him, I have to admit that on at least three issues (abortion, gun control, and gay rights) I'm closer politically to Obama than to the author's point of view. But those are really not the main criteria to rate Barack Obama on.
  
  Still, the extreme conservative positions of the author do make it imperative to check out the facts brought out in this book, and when I saw the appalling conduct that the author claimed for Obama's first successful attempt at political office, I needed to check this out. I found that not only conservative sites, but sources like CNN, hardly a conservatives' darling, confirmed this story. It seems that one of Obama's political mentors, an African-American woman named Alice Palmer, was an Illinois state senator who decided to run for the Congress when a seat opened up because the incumbent got into a sex scandal, and endorsed Obama to succeed her in the State Senate. Palmer had not reckoned with the fact that Jesse Jackson's son wanted that same seat, and she obviously could not counter the famous name. When she tried to regain her old seat in the Illinois Senate, she found Obama unwilling to stand aside for her; and while he certainly had every right to run against her, the tactics he used to rule her (and two others!) off the ballot were strictly in line with typical Chicago machine tactics (I grew up in a machine-dominated New York, and I recognized them!) What he did to insure that he would have an uncontested race for the Illinois Senate was to make sure that nominating petitions were thrown out on the slightest technicality -- depriving Chicago voters a right to a fair choice in the election.
  
  Episode after episode demonstrates that Freddoso's main thesis, that Obama is a cross between a '60s radical and a Chicago machine politician, is confirmed. And there are copious footnotes that can be followed out to confirm them. (Some liberal reviers' claims that the footnotes are bogus certainly imply that they never even tried to confirm the stories; I have in only a couple of cases, and those give me confidence to trust this book!)
  
  It is amazing, in the light of my memory of 1968, where the Daley machine sent police after the radicals of the day and serious bloodshed ensued, to see a modern-day radical extremist like Barack Obama so thoroughly embracing the machine politics of the son of Richard J. Daley, the current mayor Richard M. Daley, but it is amply confirmed in this book.
  
  
• The Man in the Mirror
  By AAW58LG72PG7I on 2008-08-11
  Those who come to David Freddoso's THE CASE AGAINST BARACK OBAMA either have already made up their minds about the political/economic issues related to their distrust of Barack Obama and merely seek confirmation of the same or they are truly undecided about whether to trust him as president. Freddoso's text is not meant to be a dispassionate even-handed account. He clearly shows his vitriol in every chapter. Freddoso's main thrusts fall into two overlapping categories. In the first, he appeals to the emotions of his readers as he dissects Obama the man rather than Obama the senator. Freddoso details Obama's two decade relation with the reverend Jeremiah Wright and bluntly asks us to judge Obama's perception of character as faulty. Ditto for his association with crooked real estater Tony Rezko. This part is less damning than that of the rest of his animus towards Obama. Most people are willing to cut Obama some slack here since the focus is more on Wright and Rezko than on Obama. However, in the second category, logic, Freddoso's case is far more compelling since he roots his claims mostly in areas that are irrefutable: the words of Obama himself and the deeds of Obama as he goes about his daily job as a US senator. And it is precisely here that Freddoso zeroes in on the reasons why John McCain has slowly crept into a polling dead heat with Obama at a time that Obama ought to have a truly monstrous lead. Freddoso describes Obama's economic policies of tax increases as the reason why America has legitimate concern over a candidate who is not shy about his vision of a tax-burdened America. Freddoso scores further points on Obama's relative lack of experience in every facet of public service, and this he warns is not the job for a man when that job demands a short learning curve. McCain, he notes, shines in both areas. Thus as the reader seeks clues about who is this man called Obama, that reader may well want to look inward for those answers in a`manner that fairly judges the competence and judgment of a man who seeks a job that demands both before election day. THE CASE AGAINST BARACK OBAMA is a book that demands the reader judge himself just as much as the subject of that book.
  
  
• The Case Against the Case Against Barack Obama: The Certainty that Reason Wins to Mere Rhetoric
  By A1F9PAAVNNC9FC on 2008-08-05
  David Freddoso aims to make a case against Barack Obama, Democratic Party nominee.
  
  The author's tone is that of someone certain of his beliefs. The first striking thing about the book I mention is that this tone lacks defense. It's unclear why the author came to believe as he does. In light of his tone of certainty, that'll be a strange drawback for an open-minded reader.
  
  A second striking thing about the book is that the whole purpose of the book and the author's having written it - to persuade readers "hey believe as I do" is not adequately defended.
  
  The method used is best described as a (preconceived) dethronement. The author's intent is not to push its target off the mound but to pull everything out from under its target.
  
  Freddoso appears as though he has researched some aspects of Obama and his life, and for very brief periods, the author seems to be attempting a non-fictional presentation of information about Barack Obama. However, those are all just appearances.
  
  What seems a shortcoming at first is soon realized to be a fatal flaw in the method, which many readers may intuitively sense in the first few pages.
  
  Of all the claims about Obama that Freddoso makes that any reasonable voter would or should or could reasonably take into account when voting, not one is defended with reason. In place of reason, the author has the age-old method of rhetoric down to a tee to the point that he at times seems comfortably "unself-conscious" (to be kind with terms) about using rhetoric his views being based on pseudo-reasoning.
  
  This author shows very well that he is gifted in the ability to use all means of persuasion other than reasoning, a.k.a. (rhetoric v. reasoning: e.g., Bob can scare (/force/fool/etc) you into believing something or he can show you WHY you should believe something"). Some examples of rhetoric are innuendo, scare tactics, straw man fallacy, red herring, begging the question, misplacing the burden of proof, . . . . and so on.
  
  To this author and the entire content of his book I say:
  
  "If this book has any chance of influencing readers to believe as you do, you had better hope your readers' reasoning abilities are compromised (viz., by the same kind of rhetoric in this book). For readers who govern their thoughts and beliefs by threads of reasoning, the book will not have the intended effect."
  
  To a reader, I say:
  
  Read my comments but read others' as well. Hopefully, you will get the picture you need. If you read the book, consider it a challenge to find anywhere in this book a single argument for believing the main thesis of the book. If you do, then post it as a comment here or email a brief description of it to argumentandrhetoric-at-gmail-dot-com (and say whether it can or cannot be published in a blog or book).
  
  I found only rhetoric (highly-crafted, pre-conceived rhetoric from someone who is clearly a veteran of this horrid method of pseudo-argument, yes) but no actual defense of the supposed case against Barack Obama.
  
  The book is bound to have little effect on people who think using reason.
  
  On some readers, it has the reverse effect intended. For instance, my wife and I had hesitations about Obama, which was the main reason for buying and reading Freddoso's book. We lost those hesitations recently, this "Case against Barack Obama" being an important part of losing them.
  
  (And to anyone who already read Freddoso's book and found it to be convincing - you should go back and read: "How to Read a Book (A Touchstone Book) That book is less than $5 used and will do such sloppy readers an invaluable service.
  
  
• Unbelievable!
  By A2V4Z7FN06IILX on 2008-08-06
  If the author couldn't even bother to do a simple factcheck from the news articles of the day, why should anyone take these "swift boat" smears seriously? Check the reviews at Media Matters before you pay a dime for this book. "The introduction and first few pages of The Case Against Barack Obama, however, are marked by false and misleading assertions about Obama, accompanied by dubious citations." Can we campaign on the Issues, please?
  
  
  
• An Excellent Book: With a Clear and Simple Thesis
  By A2XCUJDEI85O87 on 2008-08-17
  This book explores and analyzes a simple premise (quoting from the first lines of the book): "[Barack] Obama is a mere man, worse than that... he is a politician."
  
  The interesting thing about this whole election is that we can see clearly that anybody can be President. The long campaign and the intense media scrutiny which seems to operate like a form of x-ray, ultrasound, MRI, NMRI, tells us clearly that our candidates are no better than ourselves. If we are not happy with that then we have no one to blame but ourselves.
  
  There are five substantive conclusions about Barack Obama in this book:
  
  1. Barack Obama is nobody special,
  2. Barack Obama has not made use of his opportunities,
  3. Barack Obama has never reformed anything,
  4. Barack Obama has never done anything but spend or give away other
  people's money, and
  5. Barack Obama never accomplished anything for his constituents.
  
  In many ways, this book is better written than the complementary Corsi book. Based on developing events, it is also clear that news and talk commentators are building their case against Obama based in large part on the content of Freddoso's reporting in this book. It also appears the commentators are willing to rely on what Freddoso has reported. At the same time, they are staying away from the present raft of electrical storms arising from almost any references to the Corsi book. In time, however, these two books will be seen as additive and interacting.
  
  READING STRATEGY
  
  Based on the big picture situation, readers should have a copy of both Freddoso's book and Corsi's book on hand to refer to each day as events evolve toward election day. Because each chapter in Freddoso's book stands alone, it makes most sense to read Freddoso on a selective, chapter by chapter basis -- i.e. by skipping around according to either the daily election events, or based on a ranking of the chapters, according to the reader's priorities. The same approach will not work for the Corsi book, which has to be read cover to cover and then carefully reflected on in light of happening events.
  
  ORGANIZATION
  
  The book is organized into 11 chapters. It is about 69,000 words, averaging about 6300 words per chapter.
  
  The book is easy to read and well written. The quintessential chapters are Chapter 4, The Obamessiah, and Chapter 10, Abortion: Barack Obama's America. Once you comprehend these two chapters, you have the thrust of the book and all the rest is secondary unless elevated by news events.
  
  
  THE OBAMESSIAH
  
  This chapter raises the interesting question of how there is so much support for Obama which has nothing to do with matters of substance or real issues. The chapter considers in detail a long list of the more rabid statements made by Obama supporters.
  
  The point that the chapter makes is that a large amount of Obama's support is from voters who are not thinking critically about the election, but are enveloped in the "cult of personality" identified and analyzed separately by Jerome Corsi.
  
  Mr. Freddoso does not dramatize the cult of personality, but he sees it as a more or less comical situation. He sites many quotes from Obama supporters that are laughably close to the language usually reserved for Muhammad, Christ and other religious icons. I have to admit that I found the chapter outrageously funny. It is really hard to believe that thinking human beings could invest so much in a simple politician.
  
  On the more serious side, the chapter also highlights the hate speech and personal threats that Obama supporters heap on anyone who is seen to be critical of Obama. The chapter gives numerous examples of the kinds of ugly name-calling and personal assaults that are common, even on this website (Amazon), for the reviews and comments of persons who are not supportive of Obama for some reason or another.
  
  Chapter 4 is a pivotal chapter in the book because it raises the issue of the cult of personality. Since I have taken positions adverse to Obama, I have first-hand experience with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. The abuse that Obama supporters heap on their opponents is truly a phenomenon not seen in recent years of American politics. A reasonable person is left to wonder -- where does such hatred and anger come from? Far from being a candidacy of "hope," it appears the Obama candidacy is fast becoming the candidacy of "hate." This chapter raises, but does not answer the question. However, the chapter seems prescient in the revelation of the seeds of hate that are now flowering into a bitter, reactive and increasingly unattractive campaign.
  
  SADDLEBACK AND THE ABORTION ISSUE
  
  After the Saddleback interviews, it was shocking to find Obama actually and simply lied on national television to his religious fundamentalist audience when he said he had no position on the viability and human rights of an unborn child.
  
  Chapter 10 of this book makes it unequivocally clear that Obama believes that viability is not established until the woman decides -- all the way up to the last instant of a full-term live birth. It is clearly a radical and extreme opinion that allows for partial-birth abortion right up to the last moment before complete birth. A breech-induced abortion would be possible up to the moment the child's head leaves the birth canal and the baby draws a first breath -- incredible really.
  
  In light of the original Roe v. Wade opinion, this position goes well beyond the first trimester. There is no debate, based on the reports in Chapter 10, as to what Obama's constitutional interpretation is. He makes a clear statement in the Illinois Legislature that he believes the woman's right to choose ALWAYS supersedes the equal protection clause of the Constitution. This in effect cedes the question of a baby's rights to the mother at all times.
  
  Chapter 10 is the essential basis for all the current TV coverage and opinion against Obama's weak performance on the abortion issue at the Saddleback conference. Freddoso clearly does a good job of impartially describing and explaining this whole situation.
  
  Reflection on this situation suggests rather strongly that Jerome Corsi is correct when he labels Obama as a Marxist and a practitioner of the art of Machiavellianism.
  
  RADICAL CONDESCENSION
  
  In Chapter 7, Freddoso summarizes the recent radical connections of Barack Obama. This chapter does not do what Corsi does very well by developing Obama's early intellectual interests and associations. The one exception is a section that tells of the influence on Obama of the noted Communist Frank Parker Davis during Obama's formative years in Hawaii.
  
  The overall focus of the chapter is generally a run-of-the-mill account of the connection to Bill Ayers, as well as a token references to Bernadette Dohrn, Alice Palmer and Jerry Kellman (a student to Saul Alinsky).
  
  The most useful and most interesting feature of the chapter is the time and care taken by Freddoso to develop the remarkable parallels between Obama's campaign statements and the teachings of Saul Alinsky, as recorded in his radical guidebook: Rules for Radicals.
  
  Most people are aware of Obama's comment about the working class in Pennsylvania, "clinging to their guns and religion," etc. What is really surprising is that virtually all of what Obama said that night is a paraphrasing of a passage in Rules of Radicals, which Alinsky published in 1971. It is truly incredible how in 2008 (a full 37 years after Alinsky published Rules for Radicals), Obama, a serious Presidential candidate running on a platform of post-racial unity, has nothing better to say about working class Pennsylvanians than to repeat a hackneyed stereotype recoded by a failed Communist "organizer."
  
  We only have to read Rules for Radicals to see that the statements of Obama come from an organizing formula of "radical condescension." Alinsky advocated that "class hatred," which had worked so well in Europe in fomenting Communist uprisings in societies with more distinctive class differences, be replaced with an Americanized formula for creating class dissatisfaction.
  
  Listen to this from Rules for Radicals:
  
  "Seeking some meaning in life, they turn to an extreme chauvinism and become defenders of the 'American faith'... Insecure in this fast-changing world, they cling to illusory fixed points....The 'silent majority,' now, are hurt, bitter, suspicious, feeling rejected and at bay...."
  
  What kind of man speaks about millions of people based on a 37-year-old stereotype that is not true, was never true and never will be true. It shows an incredible lack of life experience and a pea wit.
  
  Worth noting is that, in this chapter, Freddoso makes an odd, out-of-the-blue declaration that Obama is not a Communist. On the basis of a separate substantive analysis, I disagree strongly -- Obama is in substance and process a Communist by construction. It only makes sense that Freddoso simply felt a need to back off the impression he was creating in the text, to avoid later criticism for picking a fight he clearly wants to avoid. He had just gotten done after all, explaining the deep and significant connections between Obama and a list of committed Communists: Bill Ayers, Bernadette Dohrn, Frank Parker Davis, Saul Alinsky and Jerry Kellman.
  
  RELATION TO CORSI BOOK
  
  This book is not as complete and not as hair-raising as the Corsi book. If you have already read and studied the Corsi book (as distinguished from not reading it and SPAMMING it), the chapters of this book are a light rehash of many issues for you. This seems to explain why the SPAM machine has not overrun the Freddoso reviews... YET.
  
  If you have not yet read Corsi, then read this book first. It gives a good context for the on-going examination of Obama. The approach will save you some angst when you slog through the dense and sometimes cryptic writing of Dr. Corsi.
  
  FURTHER ISSUES
  
  Aside from the crucial chapters above rest of the book Chronicles Obama's continuous radical associations and it deals in detail with the claims that Obama has never accomplished anything really significant. IT also shows ow Obama has been elected and how he has paid his way to the nomination. It does discuss a few of Obama's earmarks, but it only focuses on a few instance while it overlooks most of the nearly $750 million in earmarks requested by Obama in his very short Senate career.
  
  Another thing missing from this book as well as the Corsi book is a realistic profile of the purely Marxist/Communist economic agenda of the Obama Campaign. As each day goes by new economic news generates nothing from the Obama campaign but a renewed call for more taxes, more regulation and enhanced Government powers --explicitly in the hands of Obama. When faced with economic questions the candidate comes across as Big Mama Obama -- personally in charge of everything in the economy. That is not Presidential -- but it is stupid and frightening.
  
  OVERALL EVALUATION
  
  I rate this book a five because I have studied it adequately and believe the two key chapters win the needed accolades to justify the rank. This book is better than, the Corsi book. However, it will never be as controversial because the author's claims are not as vividly and confidently psychoanalytical and introspective.
  
  Speaking of the author, Mr. David Freddoso is a staff reporter for National Review Online. We all know National Review is the Bill Buckley Magazine and we know it is a fair (but unapologetically conservative) bi-weekly magazine edited by Rich Lowry, who often appears on MSNBC -- so he is at least passable to the Obama leftist lèche-bottes on the sagging channel craven for ratings and a stock price bounce for Immelt's loser at GE -- which to its credit has put Mathews and Olberman in their places. I still don't know why they just don't outright fire the both of them. It is impossible to believe anyone watches the sickeningly biased programs. Only Bill Maher surpasses Olberman for the inane and ignorant.
  
  
  
• 1 star raters obviously didn't read the book.
  By A129Y36I4TBJEW on 2008-08-08
  It's perfectly understandable why Obama supporters would loathe this book.
  On the other hand for those of you still wondering who is this guy that dropped out of nowhere and became the media darling and hero among the Hollywood elite this book is for you.
  Freddoso did his homework. He extensively covers how Obama positions himself based on his own self-serving means. Also covered are his over zealot supporters that if in any other setting, say religion, would be labeled by the media as dangerously singled minded.
  What you'll get from this book is a portrait of a person who is inflexibly attached to socialist theory.
  That can't be disputed with his announcement of his windfall profit
  idea. I guess he wants the final decision on what a sudden gain or advantage is.
  
  
  
• I would burn this book, but it would hurt the environment
  By A2B6VITSIX3HJ8 on 2008-08-20
  This book is a pack of lies. Let me tell you about David Freddoso, the author. First, he eats meat. Second he drives an SUV. Third, he is being paid by Exxon to write this book. Fourth, he voted for George Bush and Bush lied and people died. Fifth, he is a Republican, so by definition he is not as smart as us Democrats, is probably a racist, and is married to his sister. Sixth, he did not attend an Ivy League school. Now, let's drill down into this book (I know, we can't drill our way to energy independence, but follow me here). Freddoso lies all throughout this book. Barack is the most experienced person running for President as he was not only a community organizer but also a state senator in Illinois. He has the most knowledge of international affairs because he lived overseas. He is going to "heal the world," "fix the economy," and provide inexpensive healthcare to everyone in the US. And he is going to do this without raising taxes, except on rich people who don't deserve to have money anyway. He is going to bring harmony to politics and do away with partisanship. He is going to increase the minimum wage to $100 an hour so that the workers in the US can earn a decent living, repair all the roads in the country, teach all the children how to read, give good jobs to all the people who want to work but are denied jobs by Big Corporations, and release all the prisoners who promise never to do anything bad again. But even better, he is going to punish all the conservatives in the country by forcing them to actually go to high school and then ban marriage among siblings, which will stop Republicans from breeding. Finally, a word about John McCain. After reading this book, I was shocked that Freddoso did not tell the truth about Grandpa McCain. And what is this truth? First McCain never served in the armed forces of the US. Really. I read this in Moveon.org. McCain was actually playing golf in Arizona during the Vietnam War with Charles Keating and the other rich Republican crooks. He never served!!! Why won't the corporate media tell the truth about McCain? Why, because the US media is bought and paid for by Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Food, and Big Military and most newspapers are owned by Murdoch. If you want the truth you have to read Daily Kos and Moveon.org. Second, McCain is actually too old to be President. Really!! The 25th Amendment to the Constitution of the US says and I quote: "No natural born citizen may be elected President of the United States once they are older than 80 years old." And McCain is older than 80 years old!! Why won't the press cover this issue? Third, McCain's wife is actually a Barbie Doll. She was created in a Chinese sweat shop using underage child labor. And, she wears fur from animals killed drinking the bad beer that her company sells. I could go on and on, but please don't read this book. Please. And vote for Barack Obama in November. Thank you.
  
  
• Obama is utterly frightening!!
  By A24J5GTYFBA8CV on 2008-08-12
  This book tells it like it is! I certainly hope that it gets the message out to voters about an individual who is totally unqualified to be the commander-in-chief of the military and certainly unqualified to lead this great nation.
  
  He is just another wild-eyed liberal who wants to redistribute the wealth and make special concessions to special groups just like the failed "Great
  Society" of LBJ. Once the word gets out (and this book is a big help) Obama will be defeated just like John Kerry was in 2004.
  
  As a retired Army Colonel I shudder to think that a "communist" could get in the White House. That's exactly what Obama is. If he does get in it will take 30 years to clean up the mess that he will leave. His message changes like chafe in the wind. How could anyone who loves America vote for this man?
  
  
• Good Commentary on Obama's Politics
  By A3SHZ1O8KH761M on 2008-08-10
  This is an excellent study of what we can expect out of Senator Obama should he become President. The author has done a good job of proving what most level headed Americans suspect - Obama is an inexperienced Chicago politician. He may talk change, but we would get the same thing if any number of liberal politicians were elected. As a compliment, try Jerome Corsi's new book (same subject) also. It does a much better job of covering Obama's background, ancestors, childhood, etc.
  
  
• Unmasking the masked man behind the curtain
  By A2RG38GUYV1DWE on 2008-08-12
  Sen Obama appears to us as the Wizard of Oz -- a man behind the curtain with a stellar and powerful outward appearance. But open the curtain and you see another typical politician who is adroitly pulling the wires of American unease with current economic and internationl trends. But the question for us voters is -- do we trust that Obama can actually offer practical real solutions or is it all just for show? His past far left record, dubious associations and minimal useful accomplishments raise serious doubts and perhaps should make us concerned about his potential election. This book is a little over agressive and fear-mongering, but it is largely an attempt to pull the curtain back and ask the questions the mainstream media hasn't. "Who dares to question to the great and terrible Oz?" Maybe we all should.
  
  
• A book for all Young People
  By A3EUJU6F10ZJZB on 2008-08-08
  The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate
  
  I bought 2...one for me and one for my son's dorm. It is a great eye opening book. Everyone who is even thinking of voting for this man for President really needs to read this to be educated on Obama. Very scary.
  
  
• Great opinion piece
  By A21G8MGO0Q5RS4 on 2008-08-05
  The author in this book does not do anything new when it comes to bashing Obama and the left. I wish he had more than just his opinion to tell us, but the book is a good read if you're a McCain fan like myself. Although it's difficult to come up with anything substantial when expressing an opinion, I understand that time is running out for getting a better than "opinion" book out before it's too late. I'm just a little put out that we Republicans can't force some decent nonarguementive facts out there against Obama and his crowd. This book does a decent job of pointing out the faults of the media in this election.
  
  
• We need to see through the media cover up
  By A35RH8IZDCF215 on 2008-08-08
  I am glad that the author here decided to inform us about the true nature of obama and about forming of his popularity. I heard him on the Medved show and he can defend his book...not that he needs to. The facts speak for themselves.
  
  
• MORE DANGEROUS THAN ANY THREAT WE FACE TODAY!
  By A1138IS9WU1XU6 on 2008-08-12
  Don't read this book if you have trouble sleeping at night!
  
  You'll find that all that glitters isn't gold! Obama is talking
  and lot and saying very little, but behind all the HOPE and CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN and WE ARE THE ONES WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR is one of the
  biggest SOCIALIST to come along in a long time.
  
  READ and be forewarned!
  
  
• Excellent work
  By A3PZNKBF0E11QI on 2008-08-11
  Outstanding expose of the ultimate political opportunist. Here is a man who makes Jimmy Carter look downright conservative. From his ultra-liberal views to his multitude of shady associates, this book gives a glimpse of the man behind the messiah mask.
  
  
• You need to read it. Why?
  By AUW7QLZN5SHR on 2008-08-10
  You need to read it because you will get Obama history that you won't see on mainstream media, who are favoring the man. They may be sorry if they get what they want.
  
  We are in dangerous times; we need experience at the helm. I'm not a fan of Ms. Clinton, but she would have been a safer choice for the nomination.
  
  
  
  
• This is THE book Obama doesn't want you to read
  By A1NB6HJEBA1MMF on 2008-08-18
  Freddoso is a professional journalist who documents and sources Obama's record. If the public finds out what is in this book, the man doesn't have a prayer of being elected. Do not listen to people who have not read this book and are shooting it down because they're partisans. Get it and read it.
  
  

• The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality
• Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, the Do-Nothing Congress, Companies That Help Iran, and Washington Lobbyists for Foreign Governments Are Scamming Us ... and What to Do About It
• Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned the Political Establishment Upside Down
• America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It
• Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning