Review Of 2016: Obama’s America
This evening my wife and I attended Dinesh D’Souza’s 2016: Obama’s America. I hadn’t initially planned on attending the movie after hearing a friend compare it to Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore’s 2004 cinematic smear job on George W. Bush.
The last thing I wanted to see was the conservative version of that circus of mean-spirited innuendo and lies. But after hearing positive things about the film from other friends, my wife and I decided to take it in anyway.
I’m glad we did.
What D’Souza has created is a factual timeline of President Obama’s life, focusing on his ideological influences, and bases upon a thoughtful analysis of why Barack H. Obama does what he does today as arguably the most powerful man in the world.
D’Souza is a conservative (he was a member of the Reagan administration) and obviously the story is filtered through that lens, but the facts are accurate whatever debates are to be had about D’Souza’s conclusions from them.
There are no dog whistles about race or religion here. D’Souza even contrasts Obama’s history with his own as an immigrant from India, long a colony of the British Empire.
The real problem D’Souza faces is that the well he’s drawing from has been poisoned by a million conspiracy theorists ranting about Obama’s alleged Kenyan birth (D’Souza states unequivocally that Obama’s birth took place in Hawaii), his supposed secret adherence to Islam and the millions of jokes, comics and email forwards based on both. Conservatives have treated the story of Obama’s background too lightly, and that hurts the more serious effort D’Souza puts forward as we face another critical national decision about Barack Obama.
I’m actually surprised that this film as performed as well as it has given that it is not the sort of sensational dogma that usually inspires commercial success for politically-themed works (again, look at Michael Moore).
Whatever your ideology, this film is well worth your time.
Tags: Barack Obama, dinesh d'souza, election 2012, michael moore
