Posted on 10/13/2008 3:26:50 PM PDT by MichaelAsher54
The emergence of a previously unseen writing sample proves all but conclusively that Barack Obama did not in any meaningful way write Dreams From My Father, the book that Time Magazine has called “the best-written memoir ever produced by an American politician.”
The emergence of a second writing sample, this one by a legitimate author, provides convincing evidence as to who did.
In 1990, the University of Illinois at Springfield published a collection of essays called After Alinsky: Community Organizing in Illinois. Obama contributed a chapter, titled: “Why Organize? Problems and Promise in the Inner City.”
1990, by the way, was the year that Obama, the newly elected president of the Harvard Law Review, received a six-figure advance from Simon & Schuster to write what would become Dreams From My Father.
(Excerpt) Read more at cashill.com ...
‘“the best-written memoir ever produced by an American politician.”’
“Good freaking grief. Ever heard of Grant’s Memoirs?”
Consider the source, my friend, Just consider the source.
Even Cashill admits, backhandedly, after the string of quotes that basically he's assembled word-associations: Although I cite one example for each, Dreams offers many more. There are ten “trap” references alone and nearly as many for “narrative,” “struggle,” and “journey.”
These terms are so commonplace in writing all all variety as to be of little use in establishing identity of authorship. "Journey" is the oldest metaphor in writing, going back to the author of Genesis and Homer. "Struggle" is, of course, associated with Alinsky-Marxist types, but it certainly is used widely by all sorts of writers. Narrative is simply a buzzword, so utterly common as to be a cliche. Sure, Ayers structures his writing technique around narrative, but so do zillions of other writers. Did Obama have coaching? For sure. But a lot of new authors in whom an acquisitions editor sees promise but present lack of skill get coaching. Might someone have completely ghostwritten for him? Of course, as I noted in my first comment. It's very possible the books were entirely ghostwritten, but then again, they might not have been. And Cashill simply has not made his case yet. That's all I'm saying--be very cautious taking this and running with it. It's a good way to end up with egg on your face. It might be true but we need some solid evidence before going out on a limb with it.
Is all of that your personal opinion or do you actually have any facts to support your comments?
Agreed.
Isn’t that an old country western song, “Ghost Writers in the Neighborhood”.
point taken
Houghton, have you read all of Cashill’s pieces? When you add all the thematic similarities, the circumstantial evidence and the, admittedly limited, QUSM analysis done so far together, it is getting much closer that you seem willing to admit. Obama was struggling with this book for four years. Who else would Obama turn to but one of his closest colleagues, one who just happened to be an accomplished writer who shared his world view? The time line regarding Ayers availability is another piece that Cashill hasn’t even added in.
“Good writing is one of the things that can’t be taught. And editors can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. And welcome to FR.”
Sorry. That’s just not true. Good writers learn to write, with very few exceptions. Even the greatest writers, with few exceptions, labor over their work, revising, rewriting as they see how things can be improved. That itself refutes the romantic myth that good writers simply follow their Muse and the prose flows from their fingers.
The single most important key to good writing is probably doing a lot of reading. To the degree that writing comes intuitively, it arises from being steeped in other people’s good writing.
Look, I’ve been a professional editor, my wife teaches non-fiction writing professionally, I’ve been around editing and publishing for 30 years. It’s false to say that good writing cannot be taught. Some may learn it more on their own more than others, but they learn it. It does not happen automatically. And mediocre writers, if they have the fundamental cognitive and intellectual skills, can be taught to write well.
Cashill starts from a flawed premise—that the 1990 essay represents the height of Obama’s underlying verbal abilities. Look, we know the man has certain kinds of verbal skills (and lacks others, as evident when he’s off the teleprompter). The style of that 1990s article is to some degree artificial—it’s an academic way of writing that is considered “good writing” in its habitat. Just because someone writes one article in that manner doesn’t mean that’s all he’s capable of. To determine what Obama was capable of with coaching you have to look at multiple samples of various kinds of writing, at his oral skills in the 1980s etc., and at the way his mind works.
I repeat, it’s possible his books were entirely ghostwritten. But Cashill has not made his case, hasn’t even gone about it in a credible way.
And to retort that good writing can’t be taught makes no case at all, merely refuses to engage the argument.
I had never heard this piece of the puzzle.
That's really weird.
Another charge that won’t stick.
No, I have not read the other pieces. Perhaps he makes his case better there. I’m only responding to the piece that was linked here. I’m willing to be persuaded, but this piece is not credible.
More power to him if he can make the case credibly, but for God’s sake, then link to his other stuff, not this one.
Taken under advisement. Look, I’d be overjoyed if Ayers could be exposed as the author of Obama’s memoirs. I just don’t want us ending up exposed as fools. Something like this happened with Corsi’s book coming out the same time as Freddoso’s. Corsi, also a WND favorite, like Cashill (I’ve followed both for years on WND and some of their stuff is good and some of it doubtful), overinterpreted his evidence and reached for speculation and hyperbole, making himself an easy target for Obama retorts which the MSM ate up and rebroadcast, meanwhile, Freddoso’s far more substantial (and harder to refute book) could conveniently be ignored.
The result? Had Freddoso’s book come out alone, if the Obama camp decided to try to rebut it, the resulting controversy would have had to at least be reported by the MSM as a controversy and Freddoso’s book would have gained a wider audience and perhaps converted a few. As it was, Corsi’s book ran interference for the Obama camp’s feckless but successful response.
I’ll cheer for anyone who can make a credible case that Ayers or someone else ghostwrote Obama’s books. But I want to see a solid case presented; otherwise it can do more harm than good.
A complete QSUM analysis is needed but expensive.
ping
Interesting article, thanks.
ping
I’ve looked at some of them and have to hurry to a meeting. Cashill has some good points in these articles but he also has some petty, superficial resemblances that undermine his case. It’s a much, much stronger case than the piece you linked to for this thread initially. But it’s still incomplete and not yet as persuasive as it needs to be.
It ought to be pursued vigorously. But like a good third or fourth draft of a book, it’s not yet ready for the big time.
I give him credit for glimpsing the possibilities upon reading Ayers’ Fugitive Days. It’s just that the case needs a lot more work.
I'm asking because, if we're talking about Obama in 1990 (when he was 29), did he learn the "maritime metaphors" from books or from his own experience?
From the article: "As I have documented earlier, one thread that ties Ayers to Dreams is the repeated use of maritime metaphors throughout both books, a testament to Ayers’ anxious year as a merchant seaman." I don't know what the specific "maritime metaphors" are to know if Obama was writing from personal experience, book knowledge of the sea, or somebody else wrote those references from their own personal experiences.
I know that Obama was raised in Hawaii and Jakarta, both islands. I just haven't seen anything that mentions an interest in the sea or boating with Obama -- the only reference to leisure activity has been basketball.
Is it possible for some writing to be out of character for the writer, or is it "anything goes" when it comes to writing books?
-PJ
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