[FoRK] My real litmus test

[Jeff Bone]

On Apr 24, 2008, at 1:31 PM, Russell Turpin wrote:

> And yes, I think Obama penned his own books. Not only did he start  
> doing
> so before he could afford a ghost writer*,

Which books are you talking about?  I'm aware of Audacity (2006, I  
think), Dreams (2004), It Takes a Nation (co-author, 2006), Real Men  
Cook (he wrote the forward, 2006) and various more recent things that  
are clearly campaign fodder.  Am I missing something obvious?  And  
clearly he's  had the support of various wealthy Democrat kingmakers  
since well before he gave the keynote at the Dem convention in 2004,  
so whether he could afford ghostwriters himself is basically  
irrelevant unless you're referencing something far older than that.  I  
can't find anything substantive from before the time when he was  
clearly being groomed for the presidency by some of the movers-and- 
shakers in his party.

  I'll also observe that most presidential candidates and presidents  
manage to have something published under their name at some point, and  
that it is *generally* not something they write (though I understand  
that W submitted various of his legendary Crayon drawing portfolio to  
his ghostwriter to try to get his message across.  I hear the hand- 
turkeys were particularly impressive.)  If Obama is the exception to  
that general rule, then he's rare;  usually it's only after leaving  
office that Presidents manage to crank out voluminous hoary tomes  
about their "experiences."  (Did anybody else read Clinton's last  
book?  Did you make it through it?  Jeez.)

But I'll defer to you and the vaguely-referenced "writing circles" on  
this, as I hardly think it's relevant in any case.

> I think your crypto-radar may be a bit overly sensitive.

Perhaps, but I believe it's appropriately risk-adjusted.   
Extraordinary potential risks justify extraordinary caution.

> Obama is blatantly
> liberal on economic issues. More liberal than I would prefer. Unlike  
> Bush,
> though, he also is more transparent with regard his outlook on life,

On the rare occasions when I believe Obama is actually being  
transparent, I'm worried.

jb