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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

2012 / Film After the Debate Last Night, I Watched 2016: Obama's America

Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 8:01 AM

Last night, i was so wired after the debate that I had to watch a movie to calm myself down. Unfortunately, thanks to an unfortunate queue alignment on Netflix, the movie I had waiting at home for me was Dinesh D'Souza's new-on-DVD documentary, 2016: Obama's America. I watched it. It gave me a headache.

Also, DSouza really should have caught this fucking typo. (Click to enlarge.)

Also, D'Souza really should have caught this fucking typo. (Click to enlarge.)

D'Souza, of course, is the author of that awful, histrionic Forbes story from a couple years ago accusing President Obama of anti-colonialist thought. 2016 is basically the movie version of that article. Using a series of bad video reenactments (seriously, whoever shot the scenes that supposedly represent D'Souza's upbringing has a bright career in the burgeoning field of karaoke background videos), D'Souza claims that President Obama is haunted by his father's anti-colonialist ghost and he wants to destroy America because of his dad.

The signs that D'Souza says prove Obama wants to destroy America? Obama is for nuclear disarmament, and he passed Obamacare. D'Souza talks with a psychiatrist who agrees that Obama might have daddy issues, and he gets kicked out of Obama's Granny Sarah's house. D'Souza also cites a debunked story about Obama getting rid of a Winston Churchill bust and he hangs a distressing amount of the movie on an overinflated comment from a couple of years ago about NASA's Muslim outreach. Even after watching the movie, I don't understand how all those things can be combined into anything resembling a coherent theory.

All around these "facts" and "experts," D'Souza wiggles his fingers and unleashes an insulting, addled hocus-pocus that preys on conservative distrust of Obama and projects a vague conspiracy theory onto a bunch of President Obama's most minor policies and actions in his first term as president. D'Souza doesn't mention the fact that Obama ordered the assassination of Osama bin Laden. He doesn't mention the financial crisis that inspired much of the debt incurred during President Obama's first term. Those aren't omissions that happen by accident. They're the kind of omissions high school kids make when they're trying to bullshit their way through an English paper while hoping that the teacher is too lazy to notice. This is a garbage documentary from a fourth-rate academic trying to convince mental midgets that their myopic worldview is exactly right.

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sloegin @12, you rock.

As for WildwoodGuy @3 sharing news of D'Souza's extramarital affair... Let me try to put myself in the head of a conservative trying to defend him:
1. He's not the one running for office. It's not like these things ever kept Rush Limbaugh from being the voice of his nation.
2. D'Souza's fiancée--have you checked her out? She's hot.
3. D'Souza's moral wavering is yet more evidence of the moral decline this nation finds itself in with Barack Obama as president.
5. From the story: "Controversial conservative author Dinesh D’Souza, who is also president of The King’s College, is in hot water for allegedly introducing a 29-year-old woman as his fiancée while he is still married." This could just be an attempt at good, old-fashioned Mormon "plural marriage." How do we know God didn't tell Dinesh he could have one wife for each coast?

Listen, though, I'm no Mitt Romney. If I had his Jedi mind-warp skills, I'm sure I could come up with some verbal voodoo jujitsu on this news that would make it sound like it was Obama who was having the affair.

Posted by cressona on October 17, 2012 at 3:41 PM

I'm all for calling out out D'Souza's typos, but a quick scroll up to the top of the Meanwhile on Line Out ad will reveal the following: Two talented Robbie's play the Royal Room tonight.

Just saying.

Posted by TACH on October 17, 2012 at 2:47 PM

Why do republicans forget we rebelled against colonial rule from England? Though in retrospect if we hadn't we may have single payer health insurance with universal coverage. Oh and some old lady would be on our money as opposed to a bunch of old white guys.

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on October 17, 2012 at 2:19 PM

Good thing then we don't celebrate that whole anti-colonial July 4th thing anymore. Who else wants to chip in on the bill to jolly 'ol England?

Posted by sloegin on October 17, 2012 at 11:58 AM

He didn't just call him anti-colonialist in that Forbes article, he called him a KENYAN anti-colonialist. Americans are not very well versed in Kenyan history, so the subtlety of this point is not its intent; it's to clobber people over the head with the idea that this President is fundamentally not American.

Posted by blip on October 17, 2012 at 11:47 AM

@8,

I suppose it escapes D'Souza that Kenya was not a U.S. colony. The only former U.S. colony in Africa is Liberia. Most former U.S. colonies are now part of the country proper, and those that now have independence weren't occupied for very long (such as Cuba and the Philippines).

Posted by keshmeshi on October 17, 2012 at 11:10 AM

@8 But even if there was some nuanced way of looking at apologia for colonialism--which I don't think you're correct on that at all--he's still full of shit.

This is just another attempt a la Jerome Corsi to delegitimize Obama as Other. If he wasn't Terrorist, Communist, or Socialist--he's anti-colonialist--because of his absent father he met once for 30 minutes...what?

There's plenty of things D'Souza could attack Obama on that he's done as President, but that would take putting down the dog whistle for a second.

Posted by dirac on October 17, 2012 at 10:29 AM

It's not that anyone thinks that colonialism is a good thing, but rather that colonialism is the reason for reparations and social justice. I think that is what D'Souza object to, not that he (D'Souza) want to return to colonialism. From NPR , D'Souza says:

Obama is an anti-colonialist. He has a dream, and it's the dream from his father. Anti-colonialism generally is based on the premise that the Western countries, and now the United States, have become rich by invading and occupying and looting the poor countries, so that the wealth of the world is unfairly distributed. And what Obama wants to do is correct that. How do you correct it? You correct it ultimately by making sure that the previous colonized countries have better access to growth and power, and if there's a cost for that you put the cost on the colonizers, in this case the United States.

Posted by Phoebe in Wallingford on October 17, 2012 at 10:01 AM

Maybe I'm old-fashioned here, or maybe I've studied colonialism more than most, but I just can't quite wrap my head around the idea that anti-colonialism is a bad thing.

Posted by TVDinner

on October 17, 2012 at 9:40 AM

"D'Souza doesn't mention the fact that Obama ordered the assassination of Osama bin Laden." Ah, the "OBL is dead" chit. But did he mention the other assassinations (of 16 year old American boys, no less) that he regularly orders?

Now go turn in that term paper Paul.

Posted by dirac on October 17, 2012 at 9:31 AM

I don't really understand the anti-colonialism thing...is this bad? Do repubs think we should colonize some native inhabited islands or something?

Posted by jns on October 17, 2012 at 9:23 AM

My nitwit Republican cousin and her equally stupid teabagger friends ate that shit up, and have quoted it to me.

One if them noted, when I pointed out that Obama cut taxes upon taking office, that that was true evidence of his anti-colonialism at work.

For a conservative to argue that tax cuts are bad is some seriously messed-up shit.

These people cant be reasoned with, and for all you fence-sitters claiming it doesnt matter because Romney and Obama are the same: It matters because the GOP base is infected with this anti-reason stupidity.

The GOP must work this out, and a string of defeats will precipitate this.

Posted by Dr_Awesome on October 17, 2012 at 8:55 AM