Gulag Bound
By John C. Drew
American Thinker
What would you do if you knew that the top Democrat running for president was lying about his past?
That is the question I was faced with in 2008. I had met the young Barack Obama while he was a sophomore at Occidental College, and I knew that his commitment to socialism was deep, genuine, and longstanding. See my earlier article on American Thinker.
I had been a leader of the Marxist students at Occidental College myself, starting in 1976 when I founded the precursor of the Democrat Socialist Alliance on campus. The young Obama I knew was a Marxist socialist who would have been quite comfortable with Communist party members like his Hawaii mentor Frank Marshall Davis, retired domestic terrorists like Bill Ayers, or active socialist politicians like Illinois State Senator Alice Palmer.
The Obama I knew was nothing like the lifelong pragmatic centrist that he was pretending to be in the 2008 presidential campaign. When I talked politics with the young Obama, he expressed a profound commitment to bringing about a socialist economic system in the U.S. — completely divorced from the profit motive — which would occur, in his lifetime, through a potentially violent, Communist-style revolution. In this context, I saw my report on young Obama as a key piece of evidence suggesting a profound continuity in his belief system.
Although I was surprised by Barack Obama’s insistence on his mainstream ideological credentials, I was shocked that my attempts to spread the news about young Obama’s Marxism failed to gain any media traction with reporters, activists, or campaign staffs during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Once I saw the significance of my face-to-face observations on the young Obama, I went out of my way to get my story on record with the Orange County Register. I tried to contact, among others, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, the folks behind the Swiftboat ads, and the McCain campaign.
I thought I would get a phone call back from Fox News — someone, somewhere — and I still do not understand why no one seemed to catch on to the urgency of the situation. I understand that I did not have audio tape of young Obama. I did not have any photos or home movies. Nevertheless, I was extremely active in the leftist politics and counter-cultural milieu of Occidental College in the 1970s.
As a younger man, I had earned a Ph.D. in political science from Cornell, which, I would think, gave me some credibility in measuring young Obama’s ideological convictions. I quickly saw that other people who had known the young Obama were featured in various news articles. It seemed to me that I should have been just another interview for any journalist, producer, or campaign consultant interested in checking out my story and testing my credibility against the facts.
In frustration, I was also posting what I knew on The Caucus Blog site at the New York Times. My expectation was that someone from the Times would call me and follow up on the leads I was sending out. Here is a sample of what I was doing in October 2008 to get the word out about Obama’s Marxist ideology.
I even thought of scheduling my own press conference on the campus of Occidental College through their campus Republican club. Internally, I was conflicted by the urgency of what I knew and the sense that it was best for the story to break out in a manner supportive of the McCain campaign.
What shocked me about my experience in the summer of 2008 is that I thought my experience as a Williams College political science professor, my small business owner status, and my visibility in the Orange County community would allow my message to immediately go to the very top of the McCain campaign. I thought my story would be welcomed by Fox News.
Since then, things have slowly gotten better. My story on the young Marxist Obama has appeared in Michael Savage’s Trickle-Up Poverty, Paul Kengor’s Dupes, Stanley Kurtz’s Radical-In-Chief, and Jack Cashill’s Deconstructing Obama.
Nevertheless, I think there is something broken in our media and campaign system. I do not think most independents or conservatives understand, or fully appreciate, the tremendous advantages the left derives from having the mainstream media serve as the fully paid, completely sympathetic, Dan Rather-level opposition research team of the Democratic Party. It is a system that methodically ignores damaging information about flawed candidates like Sen. John Edwards and Rep. Anthony Weiner, while elevating minor errors among Republicans to the status of Watergate investigations.
If Republicans are going to win in 2012, I think they need to make some changes so that they are more friendly to the whistle-blowers bringing them bad news about the Obama administration. Personally, I would like to see Republicans create new ways to collect negative news stories on liberals by 1) including web pages requesting opposition research from leakers; 2) establishing guidelines for leakers that help them give campaign decision-makers the confidence to pursue appropriate leads; and 3) instituting feedback mechanisms so leakers have some minimal assurance that they have been heard by top campaign managers and that their information has been discarded for technical or strategic reasons and not simply because it was overlooked by a careless staff member.
I think recognition of this problem should be the first step in taking systematic action to prevent flawed Democrat candidates from winning office. In the meantime, I predict that we will see more examples of media failure as the left dominates the muckraking journalism profession while the right seems too dependent on a small handful of seemingly obscure, overworked journalists and — as my case illustrates — unconnected and often baffled citizen activists.
John C. Drew, Ph.D. is an award-winning political scientist and a blogger at David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog. Dr. Drew earned his Ph.D. from Cornell and has taught political science and economics at Williams College. Today, Dr. Drew makes his living as an author, trainer, and consultant in the field of non-profit grant writing, fundraising, and program evaluation. To book Dr. Drew for your event, please go here.
I’m struck my Redwine’s simple suggestion that I call into the Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and Glenn Beck’s radio programs. One of my contacts spoke to Rush Limbaugh’s screener and reported to me that Limbaugh did not do interviews and that I should just call in. This was back in February 2010 when my story first appeared in Newsmax. I’ll make those calls. Any ideas about the best time for me to call in relative to the 2012 election? I’m thinking the sooner the better simply because my comments would be recorded and available for use later on.
I’ve been completely obsessed with this since before the 2008 election and certainly more so since. It is absolutely impossible to tell any of this to any Democrat or Liberal anywhere. They totally reject any suggestion of this as blatant extremist right wing propaganda, lies, and completely ridiculous. They themselves have been so indoctrinated into leftist (read: radical socialist/Socialist/communist/Communist/progressive) thinking/groupthink, that they cannot even consider that there might be a grain of truth in any of it.
It is absolutely mind boggling how successful the job of dumbing down and recruiting Americans to leftist thinking has been done.
Just how it will be possible to overcome this, is anyone’s guess. These people have been totally convinced that any opposing opinions or any expose of the reality comes from those who have been forever labeled as ‘racist’, ‘homophobic’, ‘fascist’, ‘right wing loonies’, ‘haters’, etc, etc, etc.
Through decades of leftist indoctrination, American have been so deluded, that many of them have become communists or socialists without even realising it.
I’m afraid that unless someone who is from/on their side turns around and packs a good, hard punch, it will not break through the wall of defense that they have established. Tragic.
I agree that Fox News is way too timid in its covering of Obama. The last thing we need is every single news group lying to us in goose-step. The best thing we can do about the collusion of the main stream media with the leftists is to let them die of natural causes (not being watched or read.) The Republican Party and the Tea Party need to put out some brutally honest ads about Obama and the people who surround him.
Fascinating article and spot on about the collusion between the Dems and the media. Fox News, however, is not as conservative as one would think. They avoid controversy. To this end, I would suggest calling into Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and Glenn Beck’s radio programs. It will likely be worth the effort. Talking to these hosts live on the air could be the best way to get your important info across. I am certain that all three would want to broadcast your story.
I agree with cmm912’s thoughts on progressive staffers “controlling the flow of info” to likes of Hannity. It is entirely possible since most of the staff in these types of shows are in their early 20s, therefore most likely progressives.
It could also be that most outlets do not want to give credence to sources who cannot be verified. Short of having film of Obama parroting Marxism, most will not want to give you a platform and thus open themselves up to wide ranging attack from the rest of the media (who are also Marxist in their philosophy).
I for one have my own blog and have been researching Obama with help from likes of Mr. Drew and Trevor Loudon (by far the best single source)
For anyone to question that Obama is a closet Marxist, they have to be one themselves or be completely ignorant of his background (from parents’ philosophy, to his mentors while growing up, to his college years activities, to his Chicago years, involvement with dozens of radicals including his church, to his radio interview espousing collectivism, to his senate days, and finally to his many appointees who are known socialists/Marxists).
The power of media is such that many in this country still think Obama is a run of the mill Democrat. It is like living in alternate reality at times, but we cannot afford to give up.
Inform everyone you know, even if you think that they will say you are a kook or whatever!
Evidence will finally seep in to people’s skulls — eventually!
I did as well, they never replied, nor reacted to any of the material, including takes written by Dr. Drew and others, like Mr. Cashill, who exposed the true ghost writer (terrirst Bill Ayre) behind Obama’s Dreams, which turned out to be a pastiche of make believe stories which the Left is expert in assembling, or the labor /law professor from Santa Clara, CA who has a web page (subscribers only once known as Great Harvest?) who knew about Obama and his Commie pals, the training of the ACORN crowd in various venues, including a return trip to Occidental for weekend training of wannabe agitators, the Midwest Academy and its Communist operatives, the “Committee of Correspondents”, etc…The mainstream media was worried of being singled out as racists – calling Obama a Commie, after allhe was mentored by some good Communists and we only know a little bit about some of them, what about those we are not aware of? The one Bill Ayre does not mention in his book?
Hello Mr. Drew,
Thank you for this very insightful article! I wholeheartedly agree with you about the media and the Dems! They are one-in-the-same! I do not know how you tried to contact Hannity or O’Reilly back in 2008, but I have often sent them (and Beck) info that I would categorize as opposition research-type info, and never heard anything on-air or via return e-mail. It is my theory that the people they have opening, reading, monitoring their e-mail are young, liberal college aged people who simply delete any e-mails that contain TRUTHS about obama that they do not want exposed, and also delete any e-mails that even HINT at being possibly anti-obama. I say this because I have received notifications that my e-mails to O’Reilly and Hannity had indeed been read (as I said, to no avail), and my e-mails to Fox & Friends are CONSISTENTLY deleted without even being read. It would seem to me that if they had a Conservative monitoring their e-mail, that info would get to these people.
I wish I had known you or about your articles and efforts then, I am nobody, but better that you had at least one more person trying to get you heard. I’d have been helping best I could, along with my own efforts. It’s clear the so-called mainstream media (who I will not describe as accurately as I would like, but to say that their “main-stream” appears to be what we use those “blue disc” things in the men’s room to control the odor of) long ago assumed themselves the king makers at the expense of the People and not as our aid, and they let us down entirely.
When we combine your story with the “Man Of The World” interview in the New York times, where Obama discusses his Muslim upbringing, “recites the Muslim Call To Prayer with a first rate accent,” I believe this would have been very effective in helping America not elect a Communist extremist (see http://changingwind.org/index/comment.php?comment.news.158 and video of the Muslim Call To Prayer, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuXxtg4M_z8). Though McCain would not have been much better since he too is a Progressive, McCain’s mentor Teddy Roosevelt who founded the first United States iteration of the Progressive Party, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Party_%28United_States,_1912%29.