Obama book reading hints at continued opposition to Iraq war

[impik]

President Barack Obama has picked up three weighty novels as his holiday reading - one is sharply critical of the Iraq war and two books that reflect on relationships between a father and his family.

Those wishing to psychoanalyse Mr Obama will have plenty of material from his choices of "Freedom" by Jonathan Franzen, "Tinkers" by Paul Harding and "A Few Corrections" by Brad Leithauser, all of which he picked up in Martha's Vineyard.


Franzen's new book, "Freedom" which coincides with his being hailed on the cover of "Time" magazine as the "Great American Novelist" has already been described by the "New York Times" as a "masterpiece of American fiction".

In it, Franzen makes plain his disdain for President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and the Iraq, referring to "the Bush-Cheney venture in Iraq" and the sinister role of Halliburton, Mr Cheney's old company, "whose former C.E.O. was now running the nation".

Mr Obama will be reading the 562-page novel as the last combat troops leave Iraq following a conflict that he was opposed to from the start, in contrast to his main Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton.

Harding's "Tinkers", which won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, is centred around an old man, bedridden and dying, who hallucinates and returns to his impoverished childhood to join his long-dead father.

Leithauser's "A Few Corrections", published in 2001, begins with the obituary of a travelling salesman who had led an apparently respectable life. Gradually, however, his son uncovers evidence of the man's rampant womanising and neglect of his family.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7958882/Obama-book-reading-hints-at-continued-opposition-to-Iraq-war.html

[Proud Liberal Dem]

1. Has there ever been any question about his opposition to the Iraq war?

I know it's not (completely) over soon enough for some people but I for one never doubted his resolve in getting us out of there on a reasonable timetable than either his predecessor or his former rival.

[denimgirly]

6. If the Right voices Enough pattern shows this is when its likely to be questioned.

Obama tends to hate conflict with the right and if the right gets upset enough and begin voicing it 24/7 via Fox News then the administration tend to listen.

This is why it is important for our side, particularly the Progressives (since non-progressives tend to be just happy knowing that ANY "D" in the whitehouse is good enough...go figure) to get upset with Obama when he doesnt listen to our side...because as i said Obama will only listen when you get angry with him because he hates conflict. Its good to see some progressive groups and Cenk Uygur (when he was on the Ed show all week) begin voicing the Left's concerns of Obama's capitulations.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

9. I've never heard him waffle or waver about Iraq

because of Fox News or anybody else. As far as I can tell he has proceeded towards the same goal/outcome regarding Iraq since day one. He also certainly never gave in to Fox/Tea Party/Republicans them over HCR no matter how nasty that whole fight got either. I think that the meme that's constantly being pushed around here (and elsewhere) that Obama capitulates/caves to the right-wing isn't accurate and/or it fails to acknowledge the complexity of his decision-making process (which none of us are really privy to), as well as the instances where he has stood his ground against Fox/Tea Party/Republicans.
Mostly, whenever he has retreated from an issue, it's been done because of, ironically, bipartisanship between Republicans AND Democrats on a specific issue such as with the Gitmo Detainees (NIMBY) and the civilian trial of KSM- neither of which he has officially changed his position on AFAIK- he just can't enough support for taking action on it NOW because of his OWN party members in Congress. What about the case of Kevin Jennings- his education czar? Despite all of the furor that Beck, et. al created about his appointment, he hasn't been fired nor has he resigned. He didn't select SCOTUS nominees based on what he felt were *acceptable* to Fox/Tea Party/Republicans. I also seem to recall that he has taken several swipes at Fox News, so I don't honestly believe he cares much about what they think of him.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. Didn't Bush like the Hungry Caterpillar

[DFLforever]

3. He can't get away from his father, can he?

- the last two novels.

[lunatica]

4. Do you think he should?

I don't see anything wrong in trying to understand what it is to have a father. It's a problem many young people face, especially in a society that disenfranchises fathers. My nephew (white) married at seventeen because he got his girlfriend pregnant. Of course he couldn't make it as a family but when he tried to get help from the government they told him that his wife and kid could only get help if he was gone. They refused to help them since they stayed together.

It's a system that creates dependence and penalizes the family unit. All those family values tend to clash with reality.

[DFLforever]

7. No. But I think it's very sad.

Dominating a child's life through absence.

[jenmito]

5. Why would people unrec this? I rec'ed it and it's still at 0. Obama's choices of reading material

speaks well of him and his interests.

[Clio the Leo]

8. Ah haaaa.

Smart.