Obama likes to read up on the Civil War. Compared to Bush, it’s nice to see someone who likes to read. Based on his cluelessness about Afghanistan, however, he needs to expand his reading list.
Obama’s Top-Shelf Tastes
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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The Big O is trying to win the war in Afghanistan the same way Nixon won the war in Vietnam–by bombing the country next to it.
Sweet.
Why don't you add your own book too, Ted?
Y_S
Pakistan
Very Complimentary of you Ted.
It would have been a nice touch to have "mideast policy for dummies" in there…
Ted,
Bush actually reads about 60 books per year. I'd say that would qualify him as someone who "likes to read".
I know a cartoon doesn't have to be funny to be effective, but this made me laugh really hard.
But, hell, everyone wants to be the next Lincoln. Or Jefferson. It's like every man I know under the age of 50 wanting to be a rock star and a pilot.
Is that Gore Vidal's Lincoln?
Nice to see 'Silk Road…" is discretely in there.
I imagine if I were you, Ted, that I would have fretted a little about whether or not to include my own book.
Funny, and poignant I think, but some might think a little arrogant.
To Y_S:
Ted did add his own book. Look on the bottom shelf right above Central Asia – you'll see "Silk Road…".
Bush actually reads about 60 books per year. I'd say that would qualify him as someone who "likes to read".
Superfudge doesn't count.
Anonymous @ 7:29 AM:
Of the sixty books Bush reads per year, one must ask – how many do not have pictures?
Nice to see you plugging Scott Ritter's book. I'm glad I'm not the only one who read it…
Ted,
Perhaps you should add "Fact Checking For Dummies" in your "library". A quick Google search gave these results:
"Bush read 95 books in 2006 alone. In 2007, he read 51 books"
"A sampling of the president's reading list so far this year, according to White House aides:
Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar by Edvard Radzinsky
American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin (a biography of Robert Oppenheimer, an inventor of the atomic bomb)
Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss (about the late all-star Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder)
Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power by Richard Carwardine
Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural by Ronald C. White Jr.
Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday
Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks
Polio: An American Story by David Oshinsky (discussing how polio affected the United States in the mid-20th century)
The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth by Leigh Montville
The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry
Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky
The Stranger by Albert Camus"
Ted,
You stole the 'graveyard of empires' concept from me when I said months ago on your blog that Afghanistan is where empires go to die.
I demand royalties!!!!!! Gimmie!!!
It says "Silk Ra" or "Silk Ro"
oh – k.
>>>Bush actually reads about 60 books per year. I'd say that would qualify him as someone who "likes to read".>>>
So sayeth Karl Rove. And we all know that man cannot tell a lie.
Susan Stark, for shame!
We do not have to depend on Karl Rove for this knowledge.
Anonymous above has confirmed it.
Hence, we have the requisite two sources.
I realize Bush himself claimed he never read (and alternately that he just read religious books, then that he read philosophers) but he is a very modest man.
This cartoon nails it, and Maura's comment hits that nail on the head and drives it in deeper. Our aspirations don't define our legacies; the extents of our failures do.
If Obama wants to be compared to Lincoln, though, he may deserve it. Confederate guerrillas fought much the same as the Taliban will continue to. This time, though, we don't have their entire border blockaded and several times the manpower in play. Joke's on you, Honest Barry.
Speaking of Scott Ritter, where the hell is he??
Oh there goes Susan again. Perhaps, trying to unveil a government conspiracy about the number of books Bush reads. Perhaps it'll lead to fraud or another sort of Tea Pot Dome scandal… Off she goes.
As far as Bush reading or Obama reading. I would much rather they keep their reading to zilch and start reading Operation reports and all of those briefings that come in.
Now that sounds like a great idea doesn't it…
um hello….its a bookstore not his library the cobwebs show what he selected and what he left behind arrogance? I'd say cover
PS
Ahmed Rashid supported the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.
In 1979.
Do Not Trust That Man.
Y_S
Pakistan
This argument is moronic people!
All the supposed reading needed to occur years ago, because good judgment is not something you learn with on-the-job training. This is the bogus argument that got Bush in office and nearly gave us Sarah Palin….the idea that these people can somehow be whipped into shape once we elect them.
The Harvard Law Review? I am sure that Obama has read an awful lot, and the fact that he might not have read some NY Times best seller list books that are written for popular audiences (usually at an 8th grade reading level) does not really bother me one bit.
It's like busting the secretary of agriculture for not having read Supersize Me. There's a massive difference between what JOURNALISTS (sorry Ted) write for the MASS AUDIENCE, and what SPECIALISTS write for the sake of an accurate evaluation of a situation. The difference between academic literature and popular literature is stark. What Obama is reading NOW needs to be policy briefings. I have to concur with Santiago on this.
Obama focused on Lincoln's leadership capacity as president, which is relevant to the office he holds. The people he appoints to his cabinet need to be reading the books on the other shelves.
I wish people would stop chasing after the same cult-of-personality arguments and pay attention to what his job ACTUALLY IS. He sets the tone and executive style, be it Hello Kitty or Dr. Strangelove, the people he appoints to his cabinet run the bureaucracy that gets things done.
Stop being tools people!!!!
I realize Bush himself claimed he never read (and alternately that he just read religious books, then that he read philosophers) but he is a very modest man..
Bush did not say he doesn't read, or only reads religious books. What he said in an interview with Brit Hume he said he prefers to be briefed by White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. “The best way to get the news,” he explained, “is from objective sources. And the most objective sources I have are people on my staff who tell me what’s happening in the world.”
I wish people would stop chasing after the same cult-of-personality arguments and pay attention to what his job ACTUALLY IS.
What's a matter Aggie, you didn't get your Obama comemorative plates/coins/tshirts. Maybe you missed the adulation female journalists have over the ones "ass" and gym regimen.
Surveys continue to show the Obama voters are the dumbest among us. And that is pretty dumb.
BTW you think The One knows how many states there are in the union now?
There are still people with access to the Internet who defend Bush's competence? Bah! That's just an act of willful head-buried-in-sandiness.
Hey, Ted, I think we need cartoons of Bushco's trial–the one the current "has nothing in common with the last regime" O administration is setting up. You know, the trials to show the world that we have changed. That when we blow up another school in Pakistan, we did so for the Greater Good and not from an indifference to life and lack of plans other than firing wildly out into the darkness.
Yes, Greg, you can lead a moron to knowledge but you can't make them think. There are still people who insist on believing the most pathetically moronic things.
Case in point: "Surveys continue to show the Obama voters are the dumbest among us. And that is pretty dumb."
REAL statistics demonstrate that registered democrats and self-identified liberals are BY FAR more educated than registered Republicans and self-identified conservatives. These are genuine facts. Joe Ziegler's idiotic "surveys" have been adequately scrutinized. Using that information as though it means something demonstrates my earlier point well.
Sometimes I wonder if Edward just went anonymous.
So, Ted, you're saying that Obama is going to suspend Habeas Corups (Lincoln) and then imprison everyone of a specific minority (FDR)?
Is that your point?
Good job, dumbfuck.
It's John Ziegler. And the poll was conducted by Zogby.
And surveys also show how cheap liberals and Democrats are. They give to charity less, they donate blood less….
Keep patting yourself on the back community college "professor"
Zogby Statement on Ziegler poll
"We stand by the results our survey work on behalf of John Ziegler, as we stand by all of our work. We reject the notion that this was a push poll because it very simply wasn't. It was a legitimate effort to test the knowledge of voters who cast ballots for Barack Obama in the Nov. 4 election. Push polls are a malicious effort to sway public opinion one way or the other, while message and knowledge testing is quite another effort of public opinion research that is legitimate inquiry and has value in the public square. In this case, the respondents were given a full range of responses and were not pressured or influenced to respond in one way or another. This poll was not designed to hurt anyone, which is obvious as it was conducted after the election. The client is free to draw his own conclusions about the research, as are bloggers and other members of society. But Zogby International is a neutral party in this matter. We were hired to test public opinion on a particular subject and with no ax to grind, that's exactly what we did. We don't have to agree or disagree with the questions, we simply ask them and provide the client with a fair and accurate set of data reflecting public opinion." – John Zogby
Just 2% of voters who supported Barack Obama on Election Day obtained perfect or near-perfect scores on a post election test which gauged their knowledge of statements and scandals associated with the presidential tickets during the campaign, a new Zogby International telephone poll shows.
Here are some of today's headlines showing us the brilliance of The One:
"India warns Obama over Kashmir: 'Obama is barking up the wrong tree'…"
"Obama backs down on 'Buy American' after EU trade war threat…"
"AP: 'The new president, seen by some as arrogant'…"(This is hard to believe, a liberal arrogant? Shocking I tell you)
"Gregg Voted to Kill Commerce Dept. Before He Agreed to Lead It…"
Tax problems torpedo two big nominations…
Obama's Katrina:"Death toll hits 55 in ice storm, 24 in KY…
Over 470,000 still without power… "
Yeah real genius.
I am liberal, and I make it a point to NEVER give to charity.
Who comes to Ted Rall's website to share their earthshattering anti-Obama talking points?
Are they even human, or did someone write a web script and feed it a list of "liberal" websites?