An author, journalist, and social anthropologist (PhD Harvard), Stanley Kurtz is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and a contributing editor to National Review Online. His latest book is Radical-in-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism.
"President Obama is a socialist!" The explosive charge has been made, rebutted, and laughed off since the 2008 campaign. In Radical-in-Chief, Kurtz asserts that the charge is not off base and backs up his assertion with a detailed examination of President Obama's past from his college days to his Chicago associations with Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright.
He details the gradualist, socialist strategy of Obama’s mentors and answers the key questions at the heart of this issue. "What difference does it make what Barack Obama believes? All that need concern us is what he does. Isn’t that right?"
Bio
Stanley Kurtz
Stanley Kurtz is an adjunct fellow of the Hudson Institute and a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, with a special interest in America's "culture wars." Kurtz writings on the family, feminism, homosexuality, affirmative action, and campus "political correctness" have appeared regularly for publications such as National Review, Policy Review, The Weekly Standard, The Wall Street Journal, and Commentary. Kurtz graduated from Haverford College and holds a Ph.D. in social anthropology from Harvard University. He did his field work in India and taught at Harvard and the University of Chicago. He has published extensively on family life, child rearing, religion, and psychology in various parts of the world.
Peter Robinson
Peter M. Robinson is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he writes about business and politics, edits the Hoover Institution's quarterly journal, the Hoover Digest, and hosts Hoover's television program, "Uncommon Knowledge."
Robinson is also the author of three books: How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life; It's My Party: A Republican's Messy Love Affair with the GOP; and the best-selling business book Snapshots from Hell: The Making of an MBA.
System of social organization in which private property and the distribution of income are subject to social control; also, the political movements aimed at putting that system into practice. Because “social control” may be interpreted in widely diverging ways, socialism ranges from statist to libertarian, from Marxist to liberal. The term was first used to describe the doctrines of Charles Fourier, Henri de Saint-Simon, and Robert Owen, who emphasized noncoercive communities of people working noncompetitively for the spiritual and physical well-being of all (seeutopian socialism). Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, seeing socialism as a transition state between capitalism and communism, appropriated what they found useful in socialist movements to develop their “scientific socialism.” In the 20th century, the Soviet Union was the principal model of strictly centralized socialism, while Sweden and Denmark were well-known for their noncommunist socialism. See alsocollectivism, communitarianism, social democracy.
(born Aug. 4, 1961, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.) 44th president of the U.S. (2009– ). Obama graduated from Columbia University (1983) and Harvard Law School (1991), where he was the first African American to serve as president of the Harvard Law Review. He moved to Chicago, where he served as a community organizer and lectured in constitutional law at the University of Chicago before he was elected (1996) to the Illinois Senate as a member of the Democratic Party. In 2004 he was elected to the U.S. Senate and quickly became a major national political figure. In 2008 Obama won an upset victory over former U.S. first ladyHillary Clinton to become the Democratic presidential nominee. He easily defeated Republican candidate John McCain and became the first African American president. In 2009 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
Then you would enjoy Dr. Robert Altemeyer's summary of the 3+ decades he spent looking at the strong relationship researchers have found exists between people who identify with conservative customs and beliefs, and high scores on scales (RWA-SDO) used to measure authoritarian personality traits (both of authoritarian leaders and people predisposed to follow them).
Search on "The Authoritarians, Altemeyer, RWA" for a free, layman's version of "The Authoritarian Spectre".
Altemeyer's work also inspired (besides myself) John Dean (Watergate?) to compose an excellent work entitled "Conservatives Without Conscience".
This guy is admirable not because what he says rings in any way true, but because he manages to construct such an absurd accusation thanks to a well-knit mixture of innuendo, half-truths and far-fetched associations. I bet he could make an apparently coherent case that Hitler loved Jews --and indeed finish convincing more than a few Nazi sympathizers. So the fact that he has no chance of cutting it with half-intelligent voters is besides the point: he has probably attained his goal of building up anti-Obama sentiment amongst many dim-wits who are actually entitled to vote. The big loser here is Peter Robinson, whose credibility takes a huge knock after letting himself be convinced to give this personage some "airtime."
"It could be argued that Obama's past no longer matters... After all, we can now judge Obama by what he does...I argue that the truth is the opposite. When it comes to Obama, I argue that the past matters more than the present."
- Stanley Kurtz
I think this is actually a reasonable statement. Kurtz is saying I think that Obama's actions cannot be taken at face value based on current circumstance, but must be seen through the lense of Obama's formative experiences, i.e. "the past." Clearly Obama is not acting according to his declared values in the present time. Since he is not keeping his word, we are left to speculate whether he is just deceiving us, or caving to special interests (which would actually be another deceit), or...? Kurtz is arguing deceit and has as firm ground for this as any other view, given Obama's lack of integrity to his promises and word. I say this as someone who voted for Obama, but who sees Obama as selling out everything at the drop of a hat.
I LIKE Stanley, in Obama´s case , Yes you look further back, myself being a social scientist have a slightly different perception. here we go. Brain theb human brain develops from environment and we know early drama effects frontal lobe, develops from love or abandonment. So lets look White Woman from Kasas has a Baby from very black MAN from Kenya, The father takes off Obama or Barry is very young lots of drama. Mother marries Indonesian little brown Man goes to Indonesia Madrassa training starts at nine years old, so, lets look, White woman with half black child is not looked upon well in Indonesia mother wears veil, covers completely, child Obama-Barry, his name in Indonesia, all this is very confusing. GOVENOR OF HAWAII, Abecrombe can not find Obama´s birth certificate. WE all have childhood drama some more than others, however for sure these events last a life time and are passed on to your children. Thanks Fora TV.
An interesting lecture, if only because the amount of false dichotomies presented and the blatant conflation of ideas, people and/or groups (among other things). I laughed when Kurtz attempted to tacitly imply ACORN was responsible for the current crises we find ourselves embroiled in. The interview felt pretty scripted to be honest which is to be expected since what kind of interview takes place in a room with no audience/blackroom or greenroom? (not sure how they do the black background. As such, critical analysis is largely lacking and the author is given a free pass.
I would appreciate such efforts to analyze and document the evolution of a persons political thought, especially someone who has come to a position of authority, if it purpose was not so blatant. It is unsurprising that I find it hard to listen to this program because the amount of whitewashing is ludicrous.
"It could be argued that Obama's past no longer matters... After all, we can now judge Obama by what he does...I argue that the truth is the opposite. When it comes to Obama, I argue that the past matters more than the present."
- Stanley Kurtz
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