Review of The Case Against Barack Obama

Here I examine some of the details of Freddoso's case against Barack Obama. I credit Freddoso with exhaustive research. He's read both of Obama's books, Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope, and quotes from them extensively. He's also studied transcripts of many of Obama's speeches, and knows his voting records in the Illinois Senate and U.S. Senate inside out. And if Obama has a relationship, no matter how tenuous, with anyone "dirty", Freddoso tells us about it.

In short, it is a fairly credible piece of work. When Freddoso presents evidence, it is for the most part factual. This puts him way above Jerome Corsi, whose writing manages to indict only its author. But Freddoso's case is unconvincing for two reasons. One is that he doesn't always get his facts right. For example, he's wrong in stating that Obama has never spoken with General Petraeus. (To be fair, this may be due to his failure to check out an Associated Press story that said the same thing.) The other reason is the frequency with which he relies on innuendo to plant seeds of doubt about the candidate, often omitting possible exculpatory information. (Also, it's hard to show that any one individual is a dangerous radical and at the same time just another career-climbing politician.)

That's the one thing Freddoso convinced me of. Trouble is, I knew it already. In the table below I think I demonstrate why Freddoso fails at making his case.

Time	Charge	Specifications	Notes
CHAPTER 1
2 Jan 96	Corrupt Chicago politics	On behalf of Obama, Ronald Davis and his team disqualify enough signatures on incumbent state senator Alice Palmer's petition to keep her off the ballot. Davis's team also removes three other candidates.	DF glosses over whether the disputed signatures were invalid.
2006	Silent on Stroger patronage	Despite plenty of evidence of Cook County Commissioner John Stroger's corruption, Obama did not endorse the challenger. Stroger was black. Obama's white friend Forrest Claypool runs against Stroger's son Todd in the November election. Obama does not endorse Claypool; he even signs a letter endorsing Stroger.
Jan 2007	Daley endorsement	Obama endorses Richard M. Daley. Reportedly, David Axelrod, "Daley's man", has been Obama's chief political strategist since 2004.
Mar 2008	Corrupt Chicago politics	Circuit Court Judge Julia Nowicki delivers a "scathing" report on the practices of Stroger and his son Todd.
CHAPTER 2
Jan 2003	Obama's ambition	Obama tells his mentor, Illinois State Senate President Emil Jones, that he could make Obama a U.S. Senator.
2005	State Senate patronage	Illinois Governor Blagojevich rescinds the rule that the Director of Mental Health at the state Department of Human Services must be a medical doctor. Emil Jones's wife Lorrie then takes the job.	P. 32 says that Jones's wife is Patricia. It's unclear which is wife #1.
31 Jul 07	Obama's ambition	Senator Christine Radogno writes Obama urging him to help move anti-corruption bills that Jones is blocking. Obama does not respond.
	Obama's ambition	Jones gives Obama bills and committee assignments to bolster his state senate résumé.
2008	Obama's ambition	Jones is reportedly borrowing money from his campaign fund for personal use.
CHAPTER 3
Fall 2004	Obama's luck	Republican candidate Jack Ryan self-destructs, Mike Ditka declines to step in, and Alan Keyes flubs it.
Nov 2004	Obama's ambition	Just after his election to U.S. Senate, Obama says he won't run for national office in four years: "I am a believer in knowing what you're doing when you apply for a job." (p. 44).
Feb 2005	Obama's luck	A witness testifies that Rezko told him not to worry about a subpoena, because House Speaker Dennis Hastert was going to get U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald replaced. (p. 46)	Hastert — Republican. We all know how well the Bush administration's firings of U.S. attorneys worked out.
3 Jan 08	Obama's luck	Iowa's "viability rule" results in Obama victory over Hillary Clinton in the state's primary caucuses. (p. 41)
CHAPTER 4
	Worship of Obama	Freddoso cites multiple examples of people fawning over "Obamessiah", including a woman1 who describes him as "a Washington Valentino." (p. 63)	Numerous people do fawn, and numerous people don't. By itself this does not make a case against Obama.
Fall 2004	Obama's obfuscation	Freddoso quotes David Mendell as saying that Obama presented his positions in such a "passive, two-pronged way" during his campaign for U.S. Senate that both liberals and conservatives thought they agreed with him. (p. 76)	This point is telling, the moreso since Mendell is Obama's biographer.
CHAPTER 5
2005	Obama on education	Freddoso refers to Obama's visit to Thornton Township High School, described in The Audacity of Hope. Obama criticizes funding shortages which preclude keeping the students for a full school day. Freddoso points out that the average teacher in that district made $83,000 and wonders whether Obama realizes that this is the real cause of the short day. (pp. 79-80).	It does not follow that high teacher salaries caused that funding shortage. Also, Freddoso next writes that the Chicago Teachers Union, with its clout, forced short days into the teachers' contract.2
Oct 2007	Obama on education	The CTU endorses Obama's bid for the presidency, in contrast to its parent organization the American Federation of Teachers,3 whose endorsement went to Hillary Clinton. (p. 83).	This is a more substantive point, and Freddoso makes a good case that Obama on education is more talk than action.
2008	The bills Obama votes for	Obama voted for a number of bills that, according to Freddoso, destroy his reputation as a reformer. These include ethanol subsidies and the farm bill. But Freddoso likes the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which Obama co-sponsored with Republican Tom Coburn (p. 93). "[Obama] deserves credit for not always voting against reform." (p. 94)	These are good points. I too think subsidizing the production of ethanol from corn is bad policy. But Freddoso goes over the top on ethanol, forgetting that it does not have to be made from corn.
CHAPTER 6
26 Jun 03	Obama's liberal leaning	At the behest of a small magazine called Black Commentator, Obama removed his name from the Democratic Leadership Council's list of rising stars, thereby "repudiat[ing] his party's moderates rather than disappoint a tiny website..." (p. 108)	This runs counter to Freddoso's case that Obama's ambition drives him toward the party structure.
2008	Obama and labor	In addition to defending Davis-Bacon, Freddoso says, Obama voted "to effectively abolish secret-ballot elections in the workplace when employees determine whether to unionize. This is a gift long sought by union organizers..." (p. 110)	If the "card check" law does abolish secret ballots, would not management be even more delighted than union leadership?
	Obama and competitiveness	Freddoso acknowledges that Obama understands the potential burden regulation can be to a small business. But then he writes, "[Obama] goes on later in his book to offer the literary equivalent of the liberal's 'blank stare' when he writes that 'government policies can boost workers' wages without hurting the competitiveness of U.S. firms.' " (p. 111)	Does Freddoso doubt that government policies can boost productivity? This is the classic way to allow non-burdensome wage increases.
	Obama and offshore oil drilling	Freddoso writes, "His figures [on oil reserves] do not lie, but they were obviously chosen for their conclusion rather than to illuminate the issue—something else that does not separate Obama from other politicians. America was the world's third-largest oil producer in 2006, and we currently produce about 40 percent of the oil we use, despite our small share of the world's 'proven' supply." (pp. 113-4)	This must refer to Top World Oil Producers, 2006, where Saudi Arabia and Russia are #1 and #2. But in 2007, according to the CIA, the top two increased their production, while the U.S. fell to 7.46 (est.) And this figure shows U.S. oil production declining sharply since 1970. So Freddoso is not wrong, but he omits some aspects.
	Obama and the news media	"Obama's liberalism," Freddoso writes, "extends beyond his positions on issues to other aspects of his world-view. The reason civility has declined in America, he suggests, is that today we lack a nice, liberal television anchor whom we all trust to tell us the way things are." (p. 115)	As examples of this "nice, liberal television anchor whom we all trust," Freddoso includes Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow. Funny, I always thought they were trusted in spite of their (alleged) liberalism, not because of it as Freddoso implies.
	Obama and budgets	"...Barack Obama, like all partisan Democrats in the Senate, votes his party's budget." (p. 118)	And Republicans do not?
	Obama and taxes	"As a liberal, he supports higher taxes, not lower ones. He voted to preserve Illinois' death tax." (p. 119)	Ah, the notorious "death tax." It currently penalizes only multi-millionaires.
	Obama and social security	"...Obama opposes the creation of personal accounts in Social Security, which would allow millions of low-income Americans to pass something to the next generation when they die. Instead, he wants their retirement money to be absorbed back into the government when they die. He takes this position on Social Security because he worries that, if given choices about how to invest for retirement, some investors might not be able to beat the average 1.23 percent return that the Social Security program currently promises young workers." "Despite the sophisticated financial world in which we live, where more than 60 percent of Americans are invested in the stock market (and even more own bonds or fixed-income instruments), Barack Obama insists that we are better off pooling our money with the federal government, where it accumulates no interest." (pp. 119-20)	Yeah, like all those Enron employees, who did so well with the company's stock and pensions... or like all the people whose 401K plans depended on REITs and mutual funds heavily invested in the great financial houses of Wall Street. Also, Freddoso ignores the fact that people do have choices about how to invest for retirement: they can invest privately while still relying on Social Security. And lastly, 1.23 percent does not equal zero percent.
CHAPTER 7
	Obama's associations	"This is a man with whom Barack Obama associates. The two have served together on boards, and Ayers has contributed to one of Obama's campaigns. David Axelrod, Obama's strategist, has described their relationship as 'friendly'." (p. 122)	In my opinion, this overstates their closeness. And "friendly" can describe Obama's relationship with John McCain or with George Bush equally well.
	Obama's associations	Doerhn "romanticized" the Manson murders. (p. 125)	Who knows what "romanticized" means without seeing Doerhn's actual words?
	Obama's associations	"Alice Palmer brought Obama to Ayers's fundraiser." (p. 129)	You remember Alice Palmer: the woman whom Obama disqualified.
	Obama's associations	The teenage Obama composing dirty limericks with "a poet named Frank." (p. 131) Frank's advice on race relations (P. 132) DF identifies Frank as Frank Marshall Davis, "reportedly a communist who worked on behalf of the Soviet Union." (p. 133)	Freddoso documents this episode well, but does not establish that Davis was a great influence on Obama.
	Obama's associations	Richard Wright, a black man, wrote about how he was treated as a token black by the communist party, then expelled when he protested. Obama read his books. (p. 136)	Then why would Obama favor communism? But of course Freddoso says he doesn't. That renders moot the alleged influence of "a poet named Frank."
	Obama's associations	Obama advisors Tony Lake, Cornel West, Charles Ogletree, Robert Malley, Jodie Evans (pp. 137-9)	None of these seem very pernicious, except for Malley, who met with Hamas and therefore had to resign.
	Obama's associations	Saul Alinsky, the Original Community Organizer, with his aggressive tactics4 and his "very fluid understanding of ethics that more or less matches that of Ayers." (pp. 139-144)	It's a real dilemma that Freddoso sets up here: Aggressive Alinsky versus Rapacious Rezko; the Marauder against the Machine. Could it be that Alinsky had to use such methods in order to be effective at all in Chicago? "When you deal with men of ice, you can't deal with ways so nice..."
	Obama's projects as community organizer	Freddoso writes of Obama's effort to bring a branch of the Mayor's Office of Employment and Training to the South Side (which succeeded) and to clear Altgeld Gardens of asbestos (which was only partly successful.) (pp. 145-6)	A careful reading of this portion tells me that Obama was capable and generally successful, but that larger forces (e.g. globalization) prevented any long-term improvement.
CHAPTER 8
26 Jun 03	Obama's faith	Freddoso describes the outrageous Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Obama's long association with him (pp. 151-68) but then writes "Yet during those days as a community organizer, Obama recognized that his work was suffering because the pastors in Chicago generally viewed him as an outsider—as someone willing to use their congregations for his own purposes, but whose motivations remained unclear because he did not attend church himself." (p. 156)	Here's another contradictory conclusion. Either Obama is a religious opportunist, as Freddoso suggests in his next paragraph, or he's sincere in his dedication to the man who inspired his Christian faith and who married him to Michelle. In the former case, Obama is unlikely to follow any of the radical influences Freddoso tries to link him to; in the latter case, his reluctance to disown Wright despite the political cost is admirable. There is much to condemn in the positions taken by the Revs. Wright & Pfleger, and by James Cone in his book on "black theology." But while Freddoso demonstrates fairly convincingly that these were significant influences on Obama during the 20 years he attended Trinity Church of Christ, he fails to prove they still are.
CHAPTER 9
25 Feb 99	Obama and foreign policy	Illinois state senator Patrick O'Malley, a conservative Republican, had introduced a non-binding resolution urging that legislative body to urge Illinois U.S. senators to reject a treaty supporting the International Criminal Court. Freddoso writes that conservatives like O'Malley worried that the ICC would threaten U.S. sovereignty and become a "jurisdictional leviathan."(p. 169) On this date, the resolution came up for vote in the state senate's judiciary committee. The vote was 10-0 in favor. This was not a roll-call vote; the names are not recorded; but O'Malley recalls that after the other nine had voted "yes", Obama reluctantly changed his vote from "present" to "yes."	Should we believe the recollection of a conservative politician about Obama's attitude toward a non-binding state resolution ten years ago? I vote "no." Freddoso's argument that Obama waffles on supporting the ICC is stronger, but still unconvincing in my opinion.
July 2007	Obama and foreign policy	Freddoso describes Obama's statement in this primary debate as an "easily corrected gaffe." What Obama said was that he will meet with foreign leaders from Iran, Cuba and North Korea without precondition. (p. 173; emphasis Freddoso's)	There are two ways to interpret "without precondition." One is the way Freddoso interprets it: that it implies Obama will sit down with no goals in mind; that he will basically be an appeaser. I submit that this denies Obama the intelligence Freddoso credits him with elsewhere in the book. Rather, I think Obama means that he would not expect the foreign leader to agree with his demands before sitting down with him. Bush essentially demanded such concessions from North Korea for the first five years of his administration, and it proved counter-productive.
2 Oct 02	Obama waffles on supporting the war in Iraq	Freddoso writes that Obama's famous speech opposing going to war in Iraq (instigated, he says, by Bettylu Saltzman, "one of Chicago's most important left-wing activists") was not his real position, but that he said it to make his party's nominee look good. (pp. 178-180) He goes on to document Obama's changes of position on the war.	This courageous stand is one of the few things Freddoso praises Obama for. But here he attempts (and fails, in my view) to show that it was really just cynical posturing. Obama has changed his position on Iraq since then; but conditions there have changed, drastically, over the years.
Sep 2007	Obama wants to quit in Iraq.	Freddoso describes Obama's plan to have all U.S. troops out of Iraq sixteen months after his inauguration. He accurately quotes the campaign Web site as saying "Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq." But then he emphasizes the word "immediately." (pp. 180-1)	This is nothing more than a restatement of the "cut and run" slur. Freddoso should read more carefully. Saying he will immediately begin to withdraw troops is not the same as withdrawing troops immediately, and Freddoso is dishonest in equating the two positions.
?	Obama poorly informed about Iraq.	"Even if the war was a bad idea," Freddoso writes on p. 182, "a serious policy-maker must keep informed about whether a sudden withdrawal makes sense today, or whether it instead runs the risk of making a bad situation worse. Is Obama informed? He has not visited Iraq since January 2006, nor has he spoken to David Petraeus, the commanding general of the Multi-National Force in Iraq, about the situation on the ground there. As of early June 2008, Obama had never even tried to meet with Petraeus, to speak one-on-one, away from the political showmanship of committee hearings and television cameras."	That's a serious question for someone who proposes a sudden withdrawal. But Obama does not. More important, Freddoso has his facts wrong here. In the Nov. 3^rd edition of Time, on page 35, Joe Klein writes as follows: "General David Petraeus deployed overwhelming force when he briefed Barack Obama and two other Senators in Baghdad last July."5
?	Obama misjudges Reagan's Cold War actions.	Freddoso writes: "Despite a professed admiration for what Reagan accomplished, Obama relates in Audacity his continued opposition to each discrete step that Reagan took to end Soviet domination. He decries our resistance to Soviet influence in Latin America using the old 1980s terms of art: 'funding death squads,' 'the invasion of tiny, hapless Grenada.' He is especially disdainful of the so-called 'Star Wars' program, which was crucial to bankrupting the Soviets then and which has today evolved into a working missile defense system that passes test after test." (p. 189)	It's quite clear that Roberto D'Aubuisson, commander of the death squads in El Salvador's 12-year civil war, had support from American conservatives, and many death squad members graduated from what was then called the School of the Americas. As for missile defense, the article that Freddoso cites appears incomplete. Regardless, there is reason to be dubious of the technology's effectiveness, even against small numbers of ICBMs.
CHAPTER 10
Feb 2001	Obama supports abortion	This concerns various laws proposed to prohibit late-term abortion, and especially the "born-alive bill," Illinois Senate Bill 1095, which Freddoso reproduces in full (p. 195). In subsequent discussion, he points out that Obama is alone in opposing this bill and its later equivalent in the U.S. Senate. He writes: "It goes without saying that Obama votes pro-choice on abortion without exception. He has a 100 percent score from every abortion group." (p. 201) Obama's objection to Illinois Senate Bill 1095, Freddoso tells us, is that it contains no exception for the health of the mother. He asks, "Is partial-birth abortion ever necessary to a mother's health?" (p. 203) He answers that a group called the Physicians Ad Hoc Coalition for Truth has written that it never is.	I agree that Obama's defense of his stand on this bill, as reported by Freddoso, appears weak. However, Obama's claim that the law would be unconstitutional has some merit.6 And note that Obama favors medical care for such born-alive fetuses. OnTheIssues reports that he feels laws can be written to restrict late-term abortion.7 In the lines I quote here, Freddoso goes too far. It is true that Obama has a 100 percent rating from NARAL. But even on the Illinois bill, Obama was criticized by the National Organization for Women. In the recent primaries, NOW endorsed Hillary Clinton.8
CHAPTER 11
4 Jun 08	Obama and the slum lords	In Chapter 11, Freddoso establishes that Antoin Rezko, his partner Daniel Mahru, Allison Davis, and other Chicago developers can fairly be called slum lords. Rezko and Mahru, as RezMar, invested public money in thirty housing projects, all of which failed. (p. 221) Davis reportedly developed 1,500 buildings in Chicago, but Freddoso names only two as failures (p. 220) Rezko was convicted on 4 June 2008 of sixteen counts of fraud, money laundering, and aiding and abetting bribery. (p. 212) These events were reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Boston Globe. He also establishes Obama's associations with Rezko and the others. But he fails to establish any solid, incriminating link to Obama. And he's careful to avoid accusing Obama of any crime. On page 212 he writes, "When it came to illegal transactions, Rezko did not go to Barack Obama. He went to a Republican friend, Stuart Levine... That was the illegal kind of deal. When Rezko wanted to get his hands on state money legally, sometimes Barack Obama helped him." (Emphasis Freddoso's)	Freddoso's case against Obama in this chapter is largely circumstantial and smacks of innuendo. "Obama and Rezko had really been quite close. The Obamas once spent a day at Rezko's Lake Geneva retreat." (p. 212) The two men bought adjoining lots in Hyde Park from a seller named Wondisford. (p. 213) "For all of the justifiable speculation, there is no clear evidence that this deal was crooked." (p. 214) "Obama performed official acts while in office that benefitted Tony Rezko." (p. 215) Most politicians could be condemned on that basis. Perhaps someday something substantial will come to light. Until then I'll give Obama the benefit of the doubt.

Time

Charge

Specifications

Notes

CHAPTER 1

2 Jan 96

Corrupt Chicago politics

On behalf of Obama, Ronald Davis and his team disqualify enough signatures on incumbent state senator Alice Palmer's petition to keep her off the ballot.
Davis's team also removes three other candidates.

DF glosses over whether the disputed signatures were invalid.

2006

Silent on Stroger patronage

Despite plenty of evidence of Cook County Commissioner John Stroger's corruption, Obama did not endorse the challenger. Stroger was black.
Obama's white friend Forrest Claypool runs against Stroger's son Todd in the November election. Obama does not endorse Claypool; he even signs a letter endorsing Stroger.

Jan 2007

Daley endorsement

Obama endorses Richard M. Daley.
Reportedly, David Axelrod, "Daley's man", has been Obama's chief political strategist since 2004.

Mar 2008

Corrupt Chicago politics

Circuit Court Judge Julia Nowicki delivers a "scathing" report on the practices of Stroger and his son Todd.

CHAPTER 2

Jan 2003

Obama's ambition

Obama tells his mentor, Illinois State Senate President Emil Jones, that he could make Obama a U.S. Senator.

2005

State Senate patronage

Illinois Governor Blagojevich rescinds the rule that the Director of Mental Health at the state Department of Human Services must be a medical doctor. Emil Jones's wife Lorrie then takes the job.

P. 32 says that Jones's wife is Patricia. It's unclear which is wife #1.

31 Jul 07

Obama's ambition

Senator Christine Radogno writes Obama urging him to help move anti-corruption bills that Jones is blocking. Obama does not respond.

Obama's ambition

Jones gives Obama bills and committee assignments to bolster his state senate résumé.

2008

Obama's ambition

Jones is reportedly borrowing money from his campaign fund for personal use.

CHAPTER 3

Fall 2004

Obama's luck

Republican candidate Jack Ryan self-destructs, Mike Ditka declines to step in, and Alan Keyes flubs it.

Nov 2004

Obama's ambition

Just after his election to U.S. Senate, Obama says he won't run for national office in four years: "I am a believer in knowing what you're doing when you apply for a job." (p. 44).

Feb 2005

Obama's luck

A witness testifies that Rezko told him not to worry about a subpoena, because House Speaker Dennis Hastert was going to get U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald replaced. (p. 46)

Hastert — Republican. We all know how well the Bush administration's firings of U.S. attorneys worked out.

3 Jan 08

Obama's luck

Iowa's "viability rule" results in Obama victory over Hillary Clinton in the state's primary caucuses. (p. 41)

CHAPTER 4

Worship of Obama

Freddoso cites multiple examples of people fawning over "Obamessiah", including a woman1 who describes him as "a Washington Valentino." (p. 63)

Numerous people do fawn, and numerous people don't. By itself this does not make a case against Obama.

Fall 2004

Obama's obfuscation

Freddoso quotes David Mendell as saying that Obama presented his positions in such a "passive, two-pronged way" during his campaign for U.S. Senate that both liberals and conservatives thought they agreed with him. (p. 76)

This point is telling, the moreso since Mendell is Obama's biographer.

CHAPTER 5

2005

Obama on education

Freddoso refers to Obama's visit to Thornton Township High School, described in The Audacity of Hope. Obama criticizes funding shortages which preclude keeping the students for a full school day. Freddoso points out that the average teacher in that district made $83,000 and wonders whether Obama realizes that this is the real cause of the short day. (pp. 79-80).

It does not follow that high teacher salaries caused that funding shortage. Also, Freddoso next writes that the Chicago Teachers Union, with its clout, forced short days into the teachers' contract.2

Oct 2007

Obama on education

The CTU endorses Obama's bid for the presidency, in contrast to its parent organization the American Federation of Teachers,3 whose endorsement went to Hillary Clinton. (p. 83).

This is a more substantive point, and Freddoso makes a good case that Obama on education is more talk than action.

2008

The bills Obama votes for

Obama voted for a number of bills that, according to Freddoso, destroy his reputation as a reformer. These include ethanol subsidies and the farm bill. But Freddoso likes the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which Obama co-sponsored with Republican Tom Coburn (p. 93). "[Obama] deserves credit for not always voting against reform." (p. 94)

These are good points. I too think subsidizing the production of ethanol from corn is bad policy. But Freddoso goes over the top on ethanol, forgetting that it does not have to be made from corn.

CHAPTER 6

26 Jun 03

Obama's liberal leaning

At the behest of a small magazine called Black Commentator, Obama removed his name from the Democratic Leadership Council's list of rising stars, thereby "repudiat[ing] his party's moderates rather than disappoint a tiny website..." (p. 108)

This runs counter to Freddoso's case that Obama's ambition drives him toward the party structure.

2008

Obama and labor

In addition to defending Davis-Bacon, Freddoso says, Obama voted "to effectively abolish secret-ballot elections in the workplace when employees determine whether to unionize. This is a gift long sought by union organizers..." (p. 110)

If the "card check" law does abolish secret ballots, would not management be even more delighted than union leadership?

Obama and competitiveness

Freddoso acknowledges that Obama understands the potential burden regulation can be to a small business. But then he writes, "[Obama] goes on later in his book to offer the literary equivalent of the liberal's 'blank stare' when he writes that 'government policies can boost workers' wages without hurting the competitiveness of U.S. firms.' " (p. 111)

Does Freddoso doubt that government policies can boost productivity? This is the classic way to allow non-burdensome wage increases.

Obama and offshore oil drilling

Freddoso writes, "His figures [on oil reserves] do not lie, but they were obviously chosen for their conclusion rather than to illuminate the issue—something else that does not separate Obama from other politicians. America was the world's third-largest oil producer in 2006, and we currently produce about 40 percent of the oil we use, despite our small share of the world's 'proven' supply." (pp. 113-4)

This must refer to Top World Oil Producers, 2006, where Saudi Arabia and Russia are #1 and #2. But in 2007, according to the CIA, the top two increased their production, while the U.S. fell to 7.46 (est.) And this figure shows U.S. oil production declining sharply since 1970. So Freddoso is not wrong, but he omits some aspects.

Obama and the news media

"Obama's liberalism," Freddoso writes, "extends beyond his positions on issues to other aspects of his world-view. The reason civility has declined in America, he suggests, is that today we lack a nice, liberal television anchor whom we all trust to tell us the way things are." (p. 115)

As examples of this "nice, liberal television anchor whom we all trust," Freddoso includes Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow. Funny, I always thought they were trusted in spite of their (alleged) liberalism, not because of it as Freddoso implies.

Obama and budgets

"...Barack Obama, like all partisan Democrats in the Senate, votes his party's budget." (p. 118)

And Republicans do not?

Obama and taxes

"As a liberal, he supports higher taxes, not lower ones. He voted to preserve Illinois' death tax." (p. 119)

Ah, the notorious "death tax." It currently penalizes only multi-millionaires.

Obama and social security

"...Obama opposes the creation of personal accounts in Social Security, which would allow millions of low-income Americans to pass something to the next generation when they die. Instead, he wants their retirement money to be absorbed back into the government when they die. He takes this position on Social Security because he worries that, if given choices about how to invest for retirement, some investors might not be able to beat the average 1.23 percent return that the Social Security program currently promises young workers."

"Despite the sophisticated financial world in which we live, where more than 60 percent of Americans are invested in the stock market (and even more own bonds or fixed-income instruments), Barack Obama insists that we are better off pooling our money with the federal government, where it accumulates no interest." (pp. 119-20)

Yeah, like all those Enron employees, who did so well with the company's stock and pensions... or like all the people whose 401K plans depended on REITs and mutual funds heavily invested in the great financial houses of Wall Street.

Also, Freddoso ignores the fact that people do have choices about how to invest for retirement: they can invest privately while still relying on Social Security.

And lastly, 1.23 percent does not equal zero percent.

CHAPTER 7

Obama's associations

"This is a man with whom Barack Obama associates. The two have served together on boards, and Ayers has contributed to one of Obama's campaigns. David Axelrod, Obama's strategist, has described their relationship as 'friendly'." (p. 122)

In my opinion, this overstates their closeness. And "friendly" can describe Obama's relationship with John McCain or with George Bush equally well.

Obama's associations

Doerhn "romanticized" the Manson murders. (p. 125)

Who knows what "romanticized" means without seeing Doerhn's actual words?

Obama's associations

"Alice Palmer brought Obama to Ayers's fundraiser." (p. 129)

You remember Alice Palmer: the woman whom Obama disqualified.

Obama's associations

The teenage Obama composing dirty limericks with "a poet named Frank." (p. 131) Frank's advice on race relations (P. 132) DF identifies Frank as Frank Marshall Davis, "reportedly a communist who worked on behalf of the Soviet Union." (p. 133)

Freddoso documents this episode well, but does not establish that Davis was a great influence on Obama.

Obama's associations

Richard Wright, a black man, wrote about how he was treated as a token black by the communist party, then expelled when he protested. Obama read his books. (p. 136)

Then why would Obama favor communism? But of course Freddoso says he doesn't. That renders moot the alleged influence of "a poet named Frank."

Obama's associations

Obama advisors Tony Lake, Cornel West, Charles Ogletree, Robert Malley, Jodie Evans (pp. 137-9)

None of these seem very pernicious, except for Malley, who met with Hamas and therefore had to resign.

Obama's associations

Saul Alinsky, the Original Community Organizer, with his aggressive tactics4 and his "very fluid understanding of ethics that more or less matches that of Ayers." (pp. 139-144)

It's a real dilemma that Freddoso sets up here: Aggressive Alinsky versus Rapacious Rezko; the Marauder against the Machine. Could it be that Alinsky had to use such methods in order to be effective at all in Chicago? "When you deal with men of ice, you can't deal with ways so nice..."

Obama's projects as community organizer

Freddoso writes of Obama's effort to bring a branch of the Mayor's Office of Employment and Training to the South Side (which succeeded) and to clear Altgeld Gardens of asbestos (which was only partly successful.) (pp. 145-6)

A careful reading of this portion tells me that Obama was capable and generally successful, but that larger forces (e.g. globalization) prevented any long-term improvement.

CHAPTER 8

26 Jun 03

Obama's faith

Freddoso describes the outrageous Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Obama's long association with him (pp. 151-68) but then writes "Yet during those days as a community organizer, Obama recognized that his work was suffering because the pastors in Chicago generally viewed him as an outsider—as someone willing to use their congregations for his own purposes, but whose motivations remained unclear because he did not attend church himself." (p. 156)

Here's another contradictory conclusion. Either Obama is a religious opportunist, as Freddoso suggests in his next paragraph, or he's sincere in his dedication to the man who inspired his Christian faith and who married him to Michelle. In the former case, Obama is unlikely to follow any of the radical influences Freddoso tries to link him to; in the latter case, his reluctance to disown Wright despite the political cost is admirable.

There is much to condemn in the positions taken by the Revs. Wright & Pfleger, and by James Cone in his book on "black theology." But while Freddoso demonstrates fairly convincingly that these were significant influences on Obama during the 20 years he attended Trinity Church of Christ, he fails to prove they still are.

CHAPTER 9

25 Feb 99

Obama and foreign policy

Illinois state senator Patrick O'Malley, a conservative Republican, had introduced a non-binding resolution urging that legislative body to urge Illinois U.S. senators to reject a treaty supporting the International Criminal Court. Freddoso writes that conservatives like O'Malley worried that the ICC would threaten U.S. sovereignty and become a "jurisdictional leviathan."(p. 169) On this date, the resolution came up for vote in the state senate's judiciary committee. The vote was 10-0 in favor. This was not a roll-call vote; the names are not recorded; but O'Malley recalls that after the other nine had voted "yes", Obama reluctantly changed his vote from "present" to "yes."

Should we believe the recollection of a conservative politician about Obama's attitude toward a non-binding state resolution ten years ago? I vote "no." Freddoso's argument that Obama waffles on supporting the ICC is stronger, but still unconvincing in my opinion.

July 2007

Obama and foreign policy

Freddoso describes Obama's statement in this primary debate as an "easily corrected gaffe." What Obama said was that he will meet with foreign leaders from Iran, Cuba and North Korea without precondition. (p. 173; emphasis Freddoso's)

There are two ways to interpret "without precondition." One is the way Freddoso interprets it: that it implies Obama will sit down with no goals in mind; that he will basically be an appeaser. I submit that this denies Obama the intelligence Freddoso credits him with elsewhere in the book. Rather, I think Obama means that he would not expect the foreign leader to agree with his demands before sitting down with him. Bush essentially demanded such concessions from North Korea for the first five years of his administration, and it proved counter-productive.

2 Oct 02

Obama waffles on supporting the war in Iraq

Freddoso writes that Obama's famous speech opposing going to war in Iraq (instigated, he says, by Bettylu Saltzman, "one of Chicago's most important left-wing activists") was not his real position, but that he said it to make his party's nominee look good. (pp. 178-180) He goes on to document Obama's changes of position on the war.

This courageous stand is one of the few things Freddoso praises Obama for. But here he attempts (and fails, in my view) to show that it was really just cynical posturing. Obama has changed his position on Iraq since then; but conditions there have changed, drastically, over the years.

Sep 2007

Obama wants to quit in Iraq.

Freddoso describes Obama's plan to have all U.S. troops out of Iraq sixteen months after his inauguration. He accurately quotes the campaign Web site as saying "Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq." But then he emphasizes the word "immediately." (pp. 180-1)

This is nothing more than a restatement of the "cut and run" slur. Freddoso should read more carefully. Saying he will immediately begin to withdraw troops is not the same as withdrawing troops immediately, and Freddoso is dishonest in equating the two positions.

Obama poorly informed about Iraq.

"Even if the war was a bad idea," Freddoso writes on p. 182, "a serious policy-maker must keep informed about whether a sudden withdrawal makes sense today, or whether it instead runs the risk of making a bad situation worse. Is Obama informed? He has not visited Iraq since January 2006, nor has he spoken to David Petraeus, the commanding general of the Multi-National Force in Iraq, about the situation on the ground there. As of early June 2008, Obama had never even tried to meet with Petraeus, to speak one-on-one, away from the political showmanship of committee hearings and television cameras."

That's a serious question for someone who proposes a sudden withdrawal. But Obama does not. More important, Freddoso has his facts wrong here. In the Nov. 3^rd edition of Time, on page 35, Joe Klein writes as follows: "General David Petraeus deployed overwhelming force when he briefed Barack Obama and two other Senators in Baghdad last July."5

Obama misjudges Reagan's Cold War actions.

Freddoso writes: "Despite a professed admiration for what Reagan accomplished, Obama relates in Audacity his continued opposition to each discrete step that Reagan took to end Soviet domination. He decries our resistance to Soviet influence in Latin America using the old 1980s terms of art: 'funding death squads,' 'the invasion of tiny, hapless Grenada.' He is especially disdainful of the so-called 'Star Wars' program, which was crucial to bankrupting the Soviets then and which has today evolved into a working missile defense system that passes test after test." (p. 189)

It's quite clear that Roberto D'Aubuisson, commander of the death squads in El Salvador's 12-year civil war, had support from American conservatives, and many death squad members graduated from what was then called the School of the Americas. As for missile defense, the article that Freddoso cites appears incomplete. Regardless, there is reason to be dubious of the technology's effectiveness, even against small numbers of ICBMs.

CHAPTER 10

Feb 2001

Obama supports abortion

This concerns various laws proposed to prohibit late-term abortion, and especially the "born-alive bill," Illinois Senate Bill 1095, which Freddoso reproduces in full (p. 195). In subsequent discussion, he points out that Obama is alone in opposing this bill and its later equivalent in the U.S. Senate. He writes: "It goes without saying that Obama votes pro-choice on abortion without exception. He has a 100 percent score from every abortion group." (p. 201)

Obama's objection to Illinois Senate Bill 1095, Freddoso tells us, is that it contains no exception for the health of the mother. He asks, "Is partial-birth abortion ever necessary to a mother's health?" (p. 203) He answers that a group called the Physicians Ad Hoc Coalition for Truth has written that it never is.

I agree that Obama's defense of his stand on this bill, as reported by Freddoso, appears weak. However, Obama's claim that the law would be unconstitutional has some merit.6 And note that Obama favors medical care for such born-alive fetuses. OnTheIssues reports that he feels laws can be written to restrict late-term abortion.7

In the lines I quote here, Freddoso goes too far. It is true that Obama has a 100 percent rating from NARAL. But even on the Illinois bill, Obama was criticized by the National Organization for Women. In the recent primaries, NOW endorsed Hillary Clinton.8

CHAPTER 11

4 Jun 08

Obama and the slum lords

In Chapter 11, Freddoso establishes that Antoin Rezko, his partner Daniel Mahru, Allison Davis, and other Chicago developers can fairly be called slum lords. Rezko and Mahru, as RezMar, invested public money in thirty housing projects, all of which failed. (p. 221) Davis reportedly developed 1,500 buildings in Chicago, but Freddoso names only two as failures (p. 220) Rezko was convicted on 4 June 2008 of sixteen counts of fraud, money laundering, and aiding and abetting bribery. (p. 212) These events were reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Boston Globe.

He also establishes Obama's associations with Rezko and the others. But he fails to establish any solid, incriminating link to Obama. And he's careful to avoid accusing Obama of any crime. On page 212 he writes, "When it came to illegal transactions, Rezko did not go to Barack Obama. He went to a Republican friend, Stuart Levine... That was the illegal kind of deal. When Rezko wanted to get his hands on state money legally, sometimes Barack Obama helped him." (Emphasis Freddoso's)

Freddoso's case against Obama in this chapter is largely circumstantial and smacks of innuendo. "Obama and Rezko had really been quite close. The Obamas once spent a day at Rezko's Lake Geneva retreat." (p. 212) The two men bought adjoining lots in Hyde Park from a seller named Wondisford. (p. 213) "For all of the justifiable speculation, there is no clear evidence that this deal was crooked." (p. 214) "Obama performed official acts while in office that benefitted Tony Rezko." (p. 215) Most politicians could be condemned on that basis. Perhaps someday something substantial will come to light. Until then I'll give Obama the benefit of the doubt.

1 This was not Amber Lee Ettinger, an American model and actress who starred in "I've Got a Crush on Obama" and other viral videos made by Barely Political in June 2007 and later.

2 Indeed, Freddoso himself writes on p. 80 that lack of funds is not the reason for the short school day.

3 There is another and larger teachers' union: The National Education Association (NEA).

4 "With probing, sometimes personal questions, he would pinpoint the source of pain in their lives, tearing down their egos just enough before dangling a carrot of hope that they could make things better." (p. 142). Saul Alinksy is Spock's long-lost half-brother Sybok! < G >

5 And, as Media Matters revealed in June, there's more, and worse. So even if the July 2008 briefing came after press time for Freddoso's book — unlikely since he includes an event from June — he missed two earlier ones.

6 Regarding the "mother's-health exception," as AltLaw reports, the Supreme Court in Stenberg v. Carhart, 530 U.S. 914, 938, 120 S.Ct. 2597, 147 L.Ed.2d 743 (2000), ruled that any abortion prohibition is unconstitutional if it fails to provide an exception for the health of the mother. In National Abortion Federation v. Gonzales, 437 F.3d 278 2d. Cir. (2006), the 2^nd Circuit Court of Appeals found that the procedure called late-term abortion can carry such a health risk.

7 Obama's stand on abortion (OnTheIssues)

8 Obama walks the abortion minefield (Politico)

THE CASE AGAINST BARACK OBAMA The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate David Freddoso Washignton, DC: Regnery, 2008				Rating: 3.5 Fair
ISBN-13 978-1-59698-56-7
ISBN-10 ?	290pp.	HC	$27.95

THE CASE AGAINST BARACK OBAMA

Reviewed 11/03/2008

Freddoso's Case