CPAC - Dinesh D'Souza

rough notes on comments from Dinesh D'Souza (who is one of my all-time favorites):


- Welcome to Indian-American morning at CPAC (he followed Gov. Bobby Jindal)

- want to talk about Pres. Obama - the most unknown man to enter the presidency

- black holes in his history: who did he room with, what were his grades, talked about living with a woman for a long time - who was she? no reporter has every published her name.

- there are ideological holes as well

- widely diverse descriptions - Manchurian candidate, secret Muslim, socialist vs. messiah, smartest man, first black president

- not a traditional democrat like Clinton, Kerry, Dukakis or hapless Jimmy Carter - we got them; knew where they were coming from.

- Obama - wants Churchill's bust removed from his presence; wants to block oil drilling in American while subsidizing it around the world; uses force in Libya but refuses to use force in Syria;

- Obama abstains from action in Iran...why does he intervene here, but not there? What's driving this guy? Knowing his compass helps you understand what he's doing and where he's going.

- film preview of 2016: what would America look like if Obama gets a second term. Remember, he won't be tethered by public opinion; won't have to run again; he's free to do what he wants - but what does he want to do?

- what is his dream? is it the American Dream? Is it MLK's dream? no.

- American dream made his success possible, but he rejects American exceptionalism. He doesn't defend the color-blind ideal; he benefits from it but doesn't advance it.

- Autobiography: "Dreams from my father" ... which means - here are the dreams I got from my Dad. So who was his dad? he was an anti-colonialist. I grew up in India and understand this concept...everyone I grew up with are anti-colonialists.

- most powerful ideology in the past 100 years...

- simply: the world is dividing into the oppressors and the oppressed: led by west (America) which got rich exploiting the oppressed and must be 'leashed'

- economically - must use the power of the state to control the finances; banks, etc...

- what does country do when you have powerful control of economy? Obama's dad said you must have confiscatory tax rates on them of up to 100%... The thought being 'it's not theirs - it belongs to the collective'

- Obama tells story of going to father's grave and wept - said "I can't have my dad so I'll take his dream."

- so you take the anti-colonialism of father and apply to the son, you see everything come together...including relationship with Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers. The puzzle comes together.

- film will come out in the summer. Film is a journey into the heart of Obama - to figure out who this unusual man really is. It's not a partisan film.

- we try to inject history onto him - but he has his own history.

- he's not an ordinary Dem; they want to redistribute income in America; Obama wants to realign our position in the world.

- he'll be hard to beat, but people need to know the man - and the fill will give you the intellectual ammunition to contest the most important election since 1980