Newt Gingrichs dirty politics and Forbes awful article
More piling on. Publius takes a part D’Souza’s “evidence” of Obama’s anti-colonial tendencies while also calling out Newt “Where’s My White Hood” Gingrich for his vile and calculated politics.
Newt’s comments are beyond asinine and are clearly designed to play on already existing paranoia regarding Obama’s race, citizenship and ideology. Gingrich doesn’t even bother giving a single example in support of his argument but instead generally refers to a recent Forbes article, written by Dinesh D’Souza, on the topic. Gingrich must have been thrilled to read the Forbes article. It allows him to attack Obama on multiple levels. First, the argument invokes the “Obama wasn’t born in the US” meme without having to say it. Note how he argues Obama has perpetrated a “wonderful con” immediately after pointing out that Obama’s actions derive from “Kenyan” behavior. That’s no accident. Second, he can play on racial fears by pitting the anti-colonial African (Obama) against the average white American. Third, he suggests that Obama is an extremist- so extreme he is “outside our comprehension.” We can only predict his behavior by looking at “anti-colonial tendencies,” whatever that’s supposed to mean.
I suspect Gingrich is hoping to draw far more attention to the Forbes article cited above in hopes the narratives listed above will take greater hold. It’s working- at least with respect to attention for the article. I read the Forbes article. I found it insanely idiotic. The basic premise is that Obama’s heritage is from Kenya, and his worldview is best understood by realizing that Obama hates colonialism due to its impact on Africa. His contempt of colonialism leads him to despise the United States in general (which the author of the Forbes article calls “today’s neo-colonial leader”). By extension, D’Souza claims, he also hates capitalism and the rich.
I can’t begin to list everything wrong with the Forbes article, but here are some of the high points: (the quotations in italics are from D’Souza’s article):