Patterico's Pontifications

8/26/2009

Obama Still Reading Book He Read a Year Ago

Filed under: Morons,Obama — Patterico @ 8:39 pm



The New York Post observes:

Obama is one slow reader.

The commander in chief’s list of beach books for his Martha’s Vineyard vacation includes an environmental best seller that he bragged about reading almost a year ago on the campaign trail.

Obama was so taken with Thomas Friedman’s “Hot, Flat and Crowded” that he quoted it at a rally last September in Flint, Mich., and one media outlet described it as the book that was currently on the then-candidate’s nightstand.

He’s famously smart.

54 Responses to “Obama Still Reading Book He Read a Year Ago”

  1. Bush read several books a week by all accounts. Maybe reading makes you dumb.

    Kevin Murphy (3c3db0)

  2. Just because he quoted it doesn’t mean he read it…

    I mean, maybe he’s so smart he can write/talk about a book without having ever read it…

    Scott Jacobs (d027b8)

  3. Heh.

    Maybe he liked it so much he’s reading it again?

    Paul (creator of "Staunch Brayer") (3b3b67)

  4. Oh come on, Scott. Obama’s never made that claim.

    Paul (creator of "Staunch Brayer") (3b3b67)

  5. In all fairness, I’ve been reading “Sometimes a Great Notion” on and off for like a year and a half. It’s not like I don’t like it or anything (I really really do), or that it’s particularly hard – I’ve still got a good grasp of the plot and everything – it’s just that I keep getting distracted (for lack of a better word) by other stuff. I kinda feel like it’ll be an interesting feeling when I finally finish it. I don’t go around quoting it, though – that would be a little pretentious.

    Leviticus (f565c1)

  6. Maybe he’ll ask Bill Ayers to read the books for him and write reviews for him so he can sound like he read them. They’ve worked a similar routine before, or so some people claim.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  7. I’m three years into Infinite Jest.

    Just brought it back from a vacation at the beach…again.

    Sunburn (5d93e3)

  8. It being on his nightstand, allegedly, reminded me of the Groucho Marx quote,
    From the moment I picked your book up until I put it down I was
    convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.

    Gazzer (6d46a4)

  9. My favorite book, I bought in 1969, for $0.60, and I must have read it a 100 times.

    nk (b17d90)

  10. Good Lord, did I just defend Obama?

    nk (b17d90)

  11. It seems someone on the president’s p.r. staff neglected to double check the books already crossed off the President’s Very Serious Reading List (the one that doesn’t actually require having read the book…).

    Dana (0f0b2e)

  12. Normally, I’d say this was petty, but since The Lightworker is supposed to be the uber-intellectual and at least two network anchors questioned Palin’s ability to read, I’ll chuckle and let it pass.

    Techie (482700)

  13. The problem with Obama’s books isn’t just that he’s still reading one book a year later, it’s that he portrays himself as a prodigious reader who takes five books on a one-week vacation:

    “According to a spokesman, Obama brought five books up with him to Martha’s Vineyard:

    – The Way Home by George Pelecanos
    – Hot Flat and Crowded by Tom Friedman
    – Lush Life by Richard Price
    – Plainsong by Kent Haruf
    – John Adams by David McCullough”

    It would be fine if he took one or two books and really read them in his spare moments, but he has to be Superman at everything.

    DRJ (3f5471)

  14. it’s just that I keep getting distracted (for lack of a better word) by other stuff.

    Obama’s distracted by the failure of his administration.

    I don’t go around quoting it, though – that would be a little pretentious.

    And stupid, if you had people with cameras trailing you every day.

    Apogee (e2dc9b)

  15. Books are hard.

    Ag80 (248b73)

  16. Perhaps his teleprompter was the one who read Friedman’s book last summer and Dear Leader is only now trying to catch up.

    DRJ (9:19 pm), I am wondering if Obama is the kind of guy who reads the index of nonfiction books to see if he is cited, then only reads those sections. That would seem to fit in with his personality. I heard it said that half of Washington treated Bill Clinton’s magnum opus that way back when it was released.

    JVW (d1215a)

  17. He’s famously smart. Smart enough to re-read a good book most likely. Try it some time.

    #1 Bush read several books a week by all accounts. Maybe reading makes you dumb. Depends on the books he read– or the PDB’s he didn’t, particularly the one dated August 6, 2001 regarding Bin Laden determined to attack the US. If Dubya was spending time readin’ so many of them there book do-hickies, who was we a payin’ to be readin’ the stuff on his desk as president. The Veep in an ‘undisclosed location’ no doubt.

    DCSCA (9d1bb3)

  18. I’m reading Team of Rivals for the second time. It’s kind of depressing, though. Imagine a president who accumulated a cabinet of strong people who didn’t agree with him all the time.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  19. “the one dated August 6, 2001 regarding Bin Laden determined to attack the US.”

    LOL.

    Roosevelt.

    Pearl.

    Harbor.

    Dave Surls (6fbd4e)

  20. I’m actually surprised “Ulysses” wasn’t on the list, too.

    Kevin Murphy (3c3db0)

  21. puhleaze….. cut Ear Leader some slack.

    he read the book last year, but now that he’s on vacation, instead of campaigning, he’ll have time to color it in.

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  22. Anyone can get surprised by small groups of terrorists. Ask Slick Willie about our embassies in Africa or the U.S.S. Cole…but, it takes real talent to get caught by surprise by the whole Japanese Navy.

    Only a liberal could manage that.

    Dave Surls (6fbd4e)

  23. Not to worry, folks. The International Man of Parody will always, always defend his Great Leader, and claim that those who don’t agree with him are stupid. This is the guy, remember, who likes to call other people condescending.

    But then, remember IMP’s great stories of his famous and impressive life. I’m sure he has written some of the books on the President’s nightstand.

    Glenn Reynolds’ has some great insights into Tom Friedman’s books over at Instapundit. As for IMP, yet more weird performance art. At least until the new medications kick in.

    Eric Blair (a88004)

  24. The problem with that famous PDB to which DCSCA refers is that liberals absolutely will not acknowledge that Clinton got numerous similar warnings and did nothing different. But at least Clinton sent 400 cruise missiles into Iraq to distract people from a sex scandal, so he had that going for him, which was nice.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  25. We also know he hasn’t read the version of the health care reform bills floating around Congress based on his stump comments, so there’s that too.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  26. Daley, you know that is…it’s…it’s….different!

    Blood for oil!

    Cheney is evil!

    Waterboarding!

    Gitmo!

    It’s sort of like that famous quote by McNamara, when he heard the Joint Chiefs’ “nuclear attack response” plan: “Gentlemen, you don’t have a strategy—just some kind of terrible spasm.”

    So it is with IMP. It’s reflexive and automatic with him.

    Eric Blair (a88004)

  27. DCSCA, what could Bush have done in August 2001? I can only imagine the level of vigilance he would have needed to prevent 9/11. Torture, surveillance, racial profiling… or just some hugely paranoid placement of armed guards and confiscation of box cutters, etc. It would not only be unlikely, or even impossible, but it would have been condemned loudly by … you.

    But Clinton did nothing to stop terror. Bush stopped it dead in its tracks. 9/11 was the only shot Islamists got into Bush’s USA. Somehow, he managed to prevent many other attacks. All of them. If that’s really your measure of a president, he comes out OK, I think.

    Regardless, 9/11 was aided by the crippling of our intelligence agencies that are being further crippled today.

    Juan (bd4b30)

  28. Maybe he’ll ask Bill Ayers to read the books for him

    I guess everyone should be relieved that the guy now in the White House at least isn’t reading (presumably) transcripts of sermons preached by Jeremiah Wright.

    Mark (411533)

  29. Earlier DRJ told us about Robert Byrd’s plea that we rename health care legislation after Ted Kennedy. Makes more sense than the conservative cry after Reagan’s death to remove Roosevelt from the dime and replace him with Reagan.

    DCSCA (9d1bb3)

  30. Apologies for posting on wrong thread.

    DCSCA (9d1bb3)

  31. I’m actually surprised “Ulysses” wasn’t on the list, too.

    Or Finnegan’s Wake.

    Paul (creator of "Staunch Brayer") (3b3b67)

  32. Friedman is very easy to put down.

    [note: fished from spam filter]

    imdw (aaadd5)

  33. International Man of Parody’s BDS is really acting up. There is medicine for that.

    JD (9e41b2)

  34. I’m sure Obama reads books the same way he and his fellow dems “read” the health care bill.

    Monkeytoe (e66874)

  35. “Anyone can get surprised by small groups of terrorists. Ask Slick Willie about our embassies in Africa or the U.S.S. Cole…but, it takes real talent to get caught by surprise by the whole Japanese Navy.

    Only a liberal could manage that.”

    So you don’t buy into the conspiracy?

    imdw (652e77)

  36. “Hot, Flat and Crowded”

    Sounds like a book about the unemployment offices under the Obama Administration.

    Gretchen (18a9f2)

  37. DRJ – He was planning on reading a page out of each book. You were spot on in #13.

    I do not begrudge Teh One golfing. I am a bit envious, in fact. It bothers me that he takes an entourage so large, and disrupts locals and other vacationers, rather than just playing the sport of kings. Has anyone seen his scores posted anywhere?

    It is, however, brain-jarring to see the aggressive mendacity and double-standard employed by the MSM and the Left. Remember when Bush went golfing with unemployment at 4.5% and they went bugf*cknutz?

    JD (240403)

  38. Has anyone seen his scores posted anywhere?

    You mean like his grades at Harvard were posted?

    I read the Adams bio, and like all of McCollough’s books, they’re great reads, but quite lengthy. I’m a slow reader, but even a really fast one would have trouble digesting that book in the course of a few days. The Lindberg book written in conjunction with his wife’s notes was also massive – and equally terrific.

    Dmac (e6d1c2)

  39. I see that the International Man of Parody is still misrepresenting the August 6 PDB.

    The dishonesty is neverending.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  40. The vacation at Martha’s Vineyard will eventually come back to bite him. He is thin skinned and the press will eventually turn on him. When that happens, it will get ugly. Dick Morris prevailed upon Clinton to go camping, something he hated, after a MV vacation early in his presidency. Obama has no savvy advisor to tell him what to do. I think he likes yes-men.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  41. You know, I don’t like people’s reading being dissed. Reading is a great thing to me. Books, too, but I have caught myself reading the toothpaste tube while brushing my teeth. Reading is more personal to me than sex. (I won’t tell you for about how many years. 😉 )

    So I guess I do disagree with our host on this one. Sorry, Patterico.

    nk (b17d90)

  42. I don’t necessarily disagree with you, nk. But the reality is that these press releases are all faked. The chances that Obama is actually reading what his PR people claim he is reading is about zero.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  43. #31: PWI, again.

    Eric Blair (0b61b2)

  44. Let’s view teh One’s book reports to see what he learned on his awesome summer vacation. Should be easy enough – after all, he’s brilliant.

    Dmac (e6d1c2)

  45. If Dubya was spending time readin’ so many of them there book do-hickie

    This type of language doesn’t appear to be the work of a great intellect – I thought you played kickball with the US Embassy staff in Moscow, yes? And would an engineer that worked on rocket propulsion systems at NASA be so inclined to engage in this piss – poor parody of Hee – Haw? Tell you what, Spork, please detail how you came to serve on the CIA sooper – secret assassination teams. Did they recruit you right off the short bus? No wonder they’ve become so inept.

    Dmac (e6d1c2)

  46. #33

    Friedman is very easy to put down.

    Holy mother of pearls of wisdom!

    It actually got one right, although it probably doesn’t understand why.

    EW1(SG) (edc268)

  47. “So you don’t buy into the conspiracy?”

    I don’t see any conspiracy. It’s just ironic that the political party that brought you Pearl Harbor, and made a hero out of the guy that was in charge, has the audacity to comment on how prepared we were on 9/11 and use the attacks as an excuse to criticize President Bush, especially since the mighty Dems have also been unable to prevent all kinds of terror attacks against the United States, in addition to their not being able to detect an attack by huge Japanese armadas and armies.

    Dave Surls (c78e50)

  48. The real reason we give Bush a pass on 9/11 is that the entire nation was flabbergasted that this attack was possible. Democrats and republicans alike were living in a 9/10 world and just didn’t see this coming. Bush indeed did fail to prevent an attack that, even with Gorelick’s treasonous interference, probably could have been predicted with a low probability. But we all did. Our entire culture did. If Bush had seen this coming, he would not be able to stop it just because this is a republic and he’s can’t just stop air travel and arrest people with box cutters.

    Clinton should have changed things in the many attacks we suffered under him, and he should have killed Osama when he could, but we thought the stakes were a lot lower than they turned out to be. Bush stopped the terrorists, and that’s what matters. When we realized the threat, he managed to stop it. Part of that, of course, was drawing the terrorist money and people into Iraq, where they couldn’t possibly win or harm the USA very much.

    Juan (bd4b30)

  49. International Man of Parody
    I.M.P.

    IMP–noun 1. a little devil or demon; an evil spirit.
    2. a mischievous child.

    Seems appropriate!

    GM Roper (85dcd7)

  50. “I don’t see any conspiracy.”

    This conspiracy:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor_advance-knowledge_debate

    “. It’s just ironic that the political party that brought you Pearl Harbor”

    Maybe you do buy into it. I thought it was the Japanese that brought us that. Must be all the anti-american college history I took.

    imdw (60954d)

  51. The difference, imdw, was that FDR was deliberately and knowingly provoking Japan at the time.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  52. Ok, SPQR, what are you talking about?

    nk (b17d90)

  53. If you mean we should have declared war on Japan, instead of, for example, sending Mitcell’s Tigers to China and putting in place a half-assed embargo, I’m with you. Maybe FDR can be blamed for hesitancy but not for standing up to the slant-eyed little dwarves.

    One President learned from that, anyway. imdw, what do you think of the Bush Doctrine?

    nk (b17d90)


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