Obama the Communist

[Rebel]

Obama stakes out the following positions in his attacks on the white paper produced by Mboya's Ministry of Economic Planning and Development:

1.   Obama advocated the communal ownership of land and the forced confiscation of privately controlled land, as part of a forced "development plan", an important element of his attack on the government's advocacy of private ownership, land titles, and property registration. (p. 29)

2.  Obama advocated the nationalization of "European" and "Asian" owned enterprises, including hotels, with the control of these operations handed over to the "indigenous" black population. (pp. 32 -33)

3.  Obama advocated dramatically increasing taxation on "the rich" even up to the 100% level, arguing that, "there is no limit to taxation if the benefits derived from public services by society measure up to the cost in taxation which they have to pay" (p. 30) and that, "Theoretically, there is nothing that can stop the government from taxing 100% of income so long as the people get benefits from the government commensurate with their income which is taxed." (p. 31)

4.  Obama contrasts the ill-defined and weak-tea notion of "African Socialism" negatively with the well-defined ideology of "scientific socialism", i.e. communism.  Obama views "African Socialism" pioneers like Nkrumah, Nyerere, and Toure as having diverted only "a little" from the capitalist system. (p. 26)

5.  Obama advocates an "active" rather than a "passive" program to achieve a classless society through the removal of economic disparities between black Africans and Asian and Europeans. (p. 28)  "While we welcome the idea of a prevention [of class problems], we should try to cure what has slipped in .. we .. need to eliminate power structures that have been built through excessive accumulation so that not only a few individuals shall control a vast magnitude of resources as is the case now .. so long as we maintain free enterprise one cannot deny that some will accumulate more than others .. "  (pp. 29-30)

6.  Obama advocates price controls on hotels and the tourist industry, so that the middle class and not only the rich can afford to come to Kenya as tourists.  (p. 33)

7.  Obama advocates government owned and operated "model farms" as a means of teaching modern farming techniques to farmers.  (p. 33)

8.  Obama strongly supports the governments assertion of a "non-aligned" status in the contest between Western nations and communist nations aligned with the Soviet Union and China.  (p. 26)

So what does all this tell us about Barack Obama, the father, and how does it help us fill in the gaps and decipher Barack Obama's Dreams For My Father?  We know from Obama's memoir that his father is an "uncompromising" man whose ideals and principles gets him in trouble with the "big man" who ran Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, leading to a dramatic scene in which Kenyatta personally confronts Obama the father and in one fell swoop destroys not only his government career but ultimately his life.  Working with Obama's book alone it is hard to know what is going on.  We get only an inkling when Obama quotes his "Granny" (one of Obama the elder's wives) as saying the following, "I would tell him he was too stubborn in his dealings with the government.  He would talk to me of his principle .. "  (p. 424)

All this shit worked well for Mugabe, didn't it? 

[formerlurker]

I really wouldn't comment on this unless I read what he stated in context (meaning I would have to read either the chapter or the book, and I have no desire to do either). 

I don't like excerpts like this.

[Tess Anderson]

Hey, Rebel, I think it was his old man, if you're referring to this article:

If there is a mystery at the heart of Barack Obama's Dreams For My Father, one thing is not left a mystery, the fact that Barack Obama organized his life on the ideals given to him by his Kenyan father.  Obama tells us, "All of my life, I carried a single image of my father, one that I .. tried to take as my own." (p. 220)   And what was that image?  It was "the father of my dreams, the man in my mother's stories, full of high-blown ideals .." (p. 278)  What is more, Obama tells us that, "It was into my father's image .. that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself."  And also that, "I did feel that there was something to prove .. to my father" in his efforts at political organizing.

http://gregransom.com/prestopundit/2008/04/gregs-guide-to-barack-obamas-d.html

Sure he's a commie. God help us all.

[Rebel]

Hey, Rebel, I think it was his old man, if you're referring to this article:

I was raised a conservative, by my father. Just sayin'.

[Tess Anderson]

Hey, Rebel, I think it was his old man, if you're referring to this article:

I was raised a conservative, by my father. Just sayin'.

That's the point, and you're probably not "haunted" by your conservative father. This is one of the two men that have had the most influence in his life.

[Rebel]

That's the point, and you're probably not "haunted" by your conservative father. This is one of the two men that have had the most influence in his life.

Yeah, the other is a bigoted prick.

[Lord Undies]

I really wouldn't comment on this unless I read what he stated in context (meaning I would have to read either the chapter or the book, and I have no desire to do either). 

I don't like excerpts like this.

These are not actual excerpts.  These are alarming summations and evaluations of content with referenced page numbers.  It invites the reader to investigate the context to confirm the summations and evaluations.  

Dismissing such an endeavor with prejudice tends to be intellectually evasive.  You can either accept the author's words at face value, check it out for yourself and make an informed decision, or pretend the exercise has no merit at all without knowledge, but you cannot call it excerpts, and because you have deemed them excerpts, say it has no value because you don't like excerpts.