The Amateur by Edward Klein

I haven't read anything else by Klein, to see if he's an author who usually writes tell-all exposes or political biographies, or what, exactly, but my Mom gave me The Amateur to read over Father's Day weekend, and it proved interesting, at least. It could be considered highly partisan, as it attacks Barack Obama's qualifications as President, and has a number of derogatory things to say about his character and past associations, as well, so you can take it all with a grain of salt if you like.

It appears that Klein, however, interviewed Obama's past associates quite extensively, and there's a substantial list of his interviewees at the back of the book, including Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Rev. Jesse Jackson, who threw some light on the subject of our Prez' tendency to throw old friends under the bus if it suits his political purposes. The book also includes more information about his personal life (though still slim) than our mainstream media has ever reported, which was interesting.

I'm not going to get into all of the charges against him in this book, just hit a few highlights that I found interesting, as most folks already have a pretty deep-rooted feeling one way or another about Obama, and the ones who love him will not read this book, while the ones who don't will merely have their biases confirmed, I believe.

On the subject of selling Obamacare to the U.S. people:

"To me," said a former staff director of a major Senate committee, "that signals inexperience, because as president Obama has not managed to get any benefit from the major piece of legislation that he's passed. It's almost as though he doesn't want to talk about it. He's not out there touting these things because he's not sure how he really feels about them...what will Obama bleed for? What will he go to the mat for? What does this guy believe in his core?"

Confirming a principle I've held to be true for a long time about work habits:

"Asked by a New York Times reporter about the behavior of young Obama officials who prided themselves on staying at the White House until late at night, (General Van) Jones snapped: 'Congratulations. To me that means you're not organized.'"

And you can draw your own comparisons between the current administration's foreign policy and this statement of our traditional policies by Douglas Feith and Seth Cropsey:

"American interests, rather than global interests, should predominate in U.S. policymaking. American leadership, as traditionally defined, is indispensible to promoting the interests of the United States and our key partners, who are our fellow democracies. American power is generally a force for good in the world. And, as important as international cooperation can be, the U.S. president should cherish American sovereignty and defend his ability to act independently to protect the American people and their interests."