That won’t make the Middle East less volatile or potentially threatening. If Obama is reelected, the issue of state-Islamism will indeed be at the top of our concerns in 2016.
There is a personal element to D’Souza’s treatment of the Obama story that is both endearing and the basis for a caveat. D’Souza is right, I think, that the personal approach – the comparison of two lives that started in 1961; two “brown” lives steeped in foreign culture and ideas – is compelling. It will get and hold moviegoers’ attention.
It may also blind D’Souza to an analytical point that I, for one, would like to see developed. D’Souza has overlaid the narrative in Dreams from My Father on the story of Obama, Jr.s life, looking for the consequences of a son’s search for his father – an engrossing theme for any man.
But Obama, Jr. created a narrative about his father. He lived with his mother, and was heavily influenced by her. He lived with his grandparents in Hawaii. He was taught by teachers at his Indonesian madrassa, at the Punahou School on Oahu, and by professors in college. He didn’t create the influence of these people on his life; their influence created him. None of these people left the political record Obama, Sr. did, but they are the ones I want to know more about.
Originally published at http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2012/08/25/2016-effective-well-done-a-caveat-or-two/