So, I guess the thing that we’re supposed to learn from this trailer that is horrifying about Barack Obama’s agenda is that he wants to “downsize America”? So I further guess, then, that this film is aimed at people who don’t understand that peak oil is here, that we must cut carbon emissions dramatically now, that the way of life we’ve been enjoying since the post-WWII period is not sustainable… and also that they want to amp it up even more.
Okay, now I’m scared.
I sense that the black family squabbling over the Monopoly game board is meant to signify something, but I don’t get what that should be. The Black Father in the White House is going to send banksters to jail, perhaps? And this is meant to be a bad thing? (If only there were any indication at all that this is something on Obama’s to-do list.)
Did you hear about the judge in Lubbock TX who said they need higher local taxes to prepare for when Obama sends UN troops to invade them?
I love conspiracy theories that contain an invasion by UN forces.
It’s like… Thinking Obama is a crypto-Muslim lizard-man from space who’s going to turn America into a socio-fascist dictatorship is crazy, sure, but you’re just believing in something beyond the ordinary, a great secret only you can see.
Believing that the U.N. forces, are the way that he’d do it, that’s just insane!
Seriously? A hard right political film co-opted the Adbusters Corporate America flag? (http://www.adbusters.org/cultureshop/corporateflag). Adbusters, the people who started the Occupy movement? Dear freaking god.
Also the movie-CIA style conspiracy things connecting pretty unrelated events was very lame.
This Obama doc, in its 8 weeks in theaters, it hasn’t made as much as Fahrenheit 9/11 did in its first weekend. What does that say?
That conservatives are far stingiest with their movie ticket money than liberals?
Er, I mean stingier, of course. My bad.
Ooh, a propaganda film! Sign me up! /sarcasm
Did you know that when Edward Bernays coined the term ‘public relations’ it was because he knew that what he was doing was propaganda, but that that particular word wouldn’t play well.
So there’s an awful lot of propaganda out there!
Most everything is propaganda. Makes it hard to believe anything anyone says. :/
Awful movie. It’s all conspiracy theories — what really angered me is Dinesh DeSouza had the gall to imply Obama would try to make the U.S. and the rest of the world “The United Nations of Islam”. (Seriously, it is said outright in the film.) I mean, really? That destroys all semblance of this so-called documentary.
If you’re going to make an anti-Obama documentary, at least point out what he didn’t do (balance the budget) and did ineffectively (Obamacare). Don’t make up stuff and hope your audience is stupid enough to buy it. And don’t hide behind the “it’ll provoke intense debate” excuse, either.
The only kind word I have about this movie is that DeSouza is smart enough to dismiss the birther theory.
I know, right? And this despite all the support that the cooperative Republicans were offering him.
Obama had two years in his term where the Democrats had the majority in the House, and he didn’t utilize that (often) to get things done. And then when he wanted to get something done (by that time, the Dems lost the majority House to the GOP)… and then he and the GOP-led House had a vicious tug-of-war between policies.
He wants to please the majority, but in politics, it doesn’t do squat. When you have a key power position like the POTUS, you have to exercise that and lay down the law for certain things. Otherwise, you’ll be seen as pandering and a softie.
Sorry, but that’s just not true.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGSNjs9v78k
From Maddow’s list:
Stimulus bill (single largest tax cut ever, single largest clean energy investment ever, single largest investment in education ever)
Health care bill
Auto bailout
Financial regulatory reform
Created consumer financial protection agency
Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
Children’s health insurance
Hate crimes legislation
Tobacco regulation
Credit card reform
Student loan reform
Triple size of Americorps
Veteran health service reform acts
Passed 25 separate tax cuts
Most significant land conservation bill in 20 years
Agree or disagree with the legislation or with its effectiveness, you simply can’t say the Democrats didn’t get a lot done before the 2010 midterms. I think the most you can say is that they didn’t sell their own accomplishments very well. And the Republicans fought and resisted every step of the way.
obama’s american is functionally equivalent to bush’s america- this is a president who went to war WITHOUT congressional approval (and claimed it wasn’t “hostilities” under the war powers act to drop bombs. seriously), who uses drones to bomb brown people with impunity, who has fought for the right to assassinate american citizens merely suspected of terrorism – no due process need apply, who promised to cut down on medical mj clinic raids and instead ramped them up (so far) – iow completely lied, who has completely sold out GLBT – it took the log cabin republicans to get DADT overturned, who literally LAUGHS at the idea of mj legalization, who sends SWAT teams in after amish raw milk farmers, who FIRMLY believes in bush’s unitary executive policy and has expanded it since coming in office, who has continued with warrantless wiretaps, who has the LEAST open administration in history- claiming secrecy act privacy protections at every turn after he claimed he would have an open administration, and who is clearly in love with crony capitalism.
i don’t need to see some Dinesh DeSouza hack job “documentary” to have a fair critique of obama.
obama’s america is terrifying enough without delving into the fantasyland of DeSouza and his conspiratorial ilk
I haven’t seen the film, but from the trailer and from the reports of those who have, it appears this isn’t a fair critique of Obama. Which is bizarre, because there’s *tons* of crap we can criticize him for without having to make stuff up.
Absolutely. Not to mention the tangent DeSouza’s film goes, like when he’s talking about Obama’s childhood and moving to Hawaii. He then goes with “But Hawaii isn’t the state we remember it… it was taken by force and enslaved” or something to that effect… any shred of credibility just flies out the window.
Or even that interview with Obama’s half-brother. *shakes head*
Hawaii was taken by force and enslaved, though.
Strange admission for a right-wing propaganda movie to be making.
yes, exactly. there is a metric buttload of stuff to attack obama on. both the left and the right and god knows the libertarians can attack him for all sorts of stuff he HAS done.
kind of like bush. i don’t need to watch some movie about how he was obviously complicit in the trade center bombing and brought down building 7 (rolls eyes) to think he was a craptastic president.
This isn’t a documentary as much as it is a screed by a far right demagogue who thinks he can work at Michael Moore’s skill level with film-making. And for all that I don’t like about Michael Moore (primarily the hypocrisy) I at least recognize that Moore has an operative sense of humor.
For all the things the far right accuse of Obama, I wonder how many of them will admit to how wrong they are when Obama leaves office and all the apocalyptic things they screamed about never happen? I doubt any of them will, because they all basically screamed the same “End of the World” crap when Clinton was in office.
I guess this is the wrong week to remember when liberals accused Ronald Reagan of being the candidate most likely to start WWIII one week after he got elected and how every Republican president since then has been generally declared the secular version of the Antichrist by political southpaws. Hyperbole has always been a big part of American politics; we just don’t consider it hyperbole when we agree with it…
I do recall a 4th grade teacher at my school getting in trouble when she told a class that if Reagan got elected we should expect our 10-year-old asses to get drafted into the military.
Just to note: it wasn’t sensible to say crazy stuff like that then, and it’s still not sensible to say crazy stuff like that today.
My problem with the hyperbole being shoved about today is how much of it is based on unfounded paranoia and outright hate.
A lot of political hyperbole has always been based on unfounded paranoia and outright hate. Just ask the Kennedy family–who have faced more than a little such hate-filled hype just because of JFK’s “liberal” stances and his Catholicism. (Ironically, many political southpaws would attack JFK today because he was too conservative. The more things change…)
I just don’t kid myself that the Left is all that morally better in this area.
ITT: disillusioned progressives who thought they elected the modern-day Jesus.
I’m sorry.
No, really, I am sorry. I don’t envy you the moral dilema you face on election day.
I don’t share it (I’ll be gladly voting Obama), but I don’t envy it either.
Re: ITT.
So now you’re bringing Chile into this? ;-)
I’ve said this before elsewhere: I voted for Barack Obama and I got Barack Obama. And I’ll vote for Barack Obama again because the Republicans are lying incompetents who can’t be trusted with our economy, our military, our bodies, and our foreign policy.
*terroristfistbump*
you got a barack obama who was NOTHING like how he ran. you got a war mongering (without congressional approval), hardcore drug enforcing (medical MJ clinic raids), lying (mj raids), unitary executive (due process. I don’t need due process to assassinate american citizens. i just have to suspect they are terrorists. that’s all i need. and i fought for that authority. and i;ll use it) president.
you got a president who LAUGHS at the idea of MJ legalization, and who hired one of the most awful cop-o-crats imaginable (kerlikowske) as his “drug czar”. He’s not interested in harm reduction. he;s interested in throwing people in prison. He sends SWAT teams in at the drop of a hat – amish RAW MILK vendors?
He’s invoked secrecy protections ad nauseum, running one of the most secretive presidencies in history. He retains wiretapping and other provisions that have gutted the 4th amendment
he sold out GLBT every step of the way (donnie mclurkin anybody?), and again it took a lawsuit by repubs to overturn DADT when he could have stepped in far sooner.
and he stated outright he opposes gay marriage
he is a crony capitalist, statist, war mongering, hardcore anti-drug warrior
he’s a bald faced liar, a hypocrite, and an awful president.
and i find it amusing that all the anti-war protesters have been mostly silent… now that it’s OBAMA.
obama sold people a bill of goods and they bought it
Have you bothered to look at reality? Or you are repeating what Limbaugh and T party wants you to think?
Obama inherited a nose diving economy. Bush inherited a thriving economy.
Obama withdrew us from Iraq where we should not have been unless you are the ex CEO of military industrial complex. Iraq war was Bush’s answer to 9/11. It was off the books and so drained our economy dry; just was OBL wanted.
Obama got OBL; Bush let him go from ToraBoara because he was focussed on Iraq.
Obama inherited draining jobs (every week trending lower and lower). He stopped the trend. Bush inherited below 5% unemployment. He left with above 8%.
Obama wants to secure science and tech and invest in new economy. Bush? Tax cuts to corporations and cuts to every thing else.
Tell me which of these are false and tell me why you still vote republican. Actually I know. Because facts dont matter to you; hatred for Obama does.
i don’t respond to trolls, i am not a rightwinger, and i don’t listen to rush
when you are willing to address what i actually post, get back to me.
obama has been awful on civil rights, awful on the war on drugs, etc.
i’ve pointed those issues out. if you wish to respond to what i ACTUALLY posted, get back to me
address – his seeking of the power to murder US citizens w.o. due process for instance based on the assessment (w.o due process) they are connected to terrorism
address his bombing without congressional approval – his violation of the war powers act
address teh fact that raids on medical mj clinics went up substantially during his presidency
stuff like that
and spare me the rush limbaugh crap
you might see some of these objections at the nation or mother jones , not rush