The Amateur
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The Amateur

I recently had a political discussion with a friend on Twitter. Perhaps some of you that follow me saw some of the back and forth during the VP debate [and watched me get into Twitter Jail]. She’s a former Obama supporter turned conservative and a fervent Romney supporter. She has given valid reasons for her switch [the situation in Israel is at the top of her list]. She encouraged me to read this book called “The Amateur” by Ed Klein, who’s previous works have mostly focused on the Kennedys, but also covered Hillary Clinton and Katie Couric.

Given that I’m really trying to be objective here – and the fact that I have previously read an anti-liberal book by the waste of human space Ann Coulter [it was “Treason” for those of you curious], I obtained a copy of this book and started to read it. I’ll be honest and say that I loathe these types of books because they carry an obvious negative slant against the person the books’ subject is about. But I also looked at some of Ed Klein’s other books and can see there was some objective writing, so I decided to give this a try.

35 pages into this and I was about to vomit. Seriously. I get that no one is perfect, especially in politics. But this read like a witch hunt. Like Barack Obama was guilty until proven innocent and Mr. Klein wasn’t interested in writing about anything he found in the innocent category.

Thank goodness I didn’t pay for this rubbish. I’m sorry to my friend north of the border, but I cannot, in good conscience, read any more of this shit.

I’m an objective person and there is a decent list of things I have not been happy with Obama on. His record on torture stands at the top of my “Why don’t you address this?” list. His inability to close Gitmo bothers me a lot. And I was initially against him in bailing out General Motors [I have since changed my mind and support his decision since the ultimate goal was to save American jobs]. But this book doesn’t jive with my view of what I would call constructive criticism. I criticize my leaders because I want them to do well. Most people that embrace this type of book are on the side of wanting to get rid of Obama and replace him with a one term governor that rarely mentions his moderate accomplishments during those 4 years in Massachusetts.

Besides, I have more important books I need to finish reading.

Obama 2016
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Obama: 2016

Several of my ultra conservative friends on Facebook posted reviews of how great this movie was and how it opened their eyes to the deceit that Obama has in his life. So once again, in my efforts in trying to be objective, I used one of my recent free Redbox rentals, brought the DVD home and pressed play.

First, let me get the positives out of the way. Gerald Molen is a Academy award winning producer who has worked on some of my favorite films like Jurassic Park, Minority Report and Schindler’s List [which he won his Oscar for]. So I thought given this history of producing credits, his approach to our President might provide some real insight that I wasn’t aware of before.

And it did on several levels. One area was in how he talked about Barack being raised without his father, which resonated with myself not growing up with a father. Granted, he had a step father – Lolo Soetoro – who at least provided some type of male figure in his life. But I got that connection the filmmaking team was trying to make here. Also, there is an interview with the President’s half-brother, George Obama. It’s obvious George is no fan of his half brother as he gives off an obvious negative vibe. But there’s a small level of positive in the Q&A sessions.

Now for what bothered me. The overall sentiment of the movie is fear, even if some parts are presented in a professionally produced light. The idea here is to really question if we want Obama for another four years. And if you were already no fan of Obama, this film speaks to you in a way that cements your view of voting against him – preaching to the choir.

But this liberal Democrat wasn’t swayed by this film. The obvious conservative slant and the idea that Obama has been hiding secrets in life that would one day turn the USA into an epic fail of policy in all areas didn’t ring true with me. On the contrary, I think that regardless of some missteps, mixed in with his many tries of getting rejected by the GOP side of Congress and Senate in passing laws, President Obama has been a decent leader of the free world. The obvious negative slant from a very active LDS Hollywood producer was obvious in this film and he took his dislike of Obama, found some dirt and turned it into a work that spoke to the conservatives that already had no plans to vote for the incumbent.

Summary

Producing works of negative against a sitting President is not new, with Michael Moore finding big success with “Fahrenheit 9/11” back in 2004. But unlike that Oscar winning documentary, this book and movie do not offer much constructive criticism. Instead of wanting their leader to succeed, they are more intent to pushing him out and replacing him with one that matches their conservative values.

So if you are already in the anti-Obama camp, you might like the book and movie. Otherwise, focus on the issues you have with our current President and work to help push him to do better in the next four years, adding praise to the long list of accomplishments he has done.

NOTE: I had to disable comments due to the massive amount of spam this post was getting.