January 26, 2009

Little Blue Book of Quotations from Chairman Obama

The History Company is out with a hilariously deadpan Pocket Obama little blue book, which the editors explain is:

Printed in a size that easily fits into pocket or purse, this book is an anthology of quotations borrowed from Barack Obama's speeches and writings. POCKET OBAMA serves as a reminder of the amazing power of oratory and the remarkable ability of this man to move people with his words. His superb and captivating oratory style has earned comparisons to John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and this collection presents words that catapulted his remarkable rise to the American Presidency. Includes themes of democracy, politics, war, terrorism, race, community, jurisprudence, faith, personal responsibility, national identity, and above all, his hoped-for vision of a new America. This book is truly a primer for readers who want to examine the substance of his thought and reflect on the next great chapter in the American story. It is an unofficial requirement for every citizen to own, to read, and to carry this book at all times.

On each page is a brief extract from an Obama speech, seemingly chosen for its soporific effect. For example:

The true test of the American ideal is whether we're able to recognize our failings and then rise together to meet the challenges of our time. Whether we allow ourselves to be shaped by events or history, or whether we act to shape them.

The book is currently sold out on Amazon. I wonder how many of the purchasers get the joke?

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

39 comments:

  1. You better have that book on you they pull you out of your car.

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  2. I know the analogy is over-the-top, but the thought still turns my stomach. OTOH, there's a nice Bloggingheads discussion of Obama's good track record thus far of ditching bad campaign promises, appointing technocrats, and listening to expert advice.

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  3. I thought it was serious until I saw the pictures with the book, esp the one with Mao.

    They should get rid of the pictures. Then they'd be able to pull a fast one on a lot of the cultists.

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  4. Also the last line is a giveaway: "It is an unofficial requirement for every citizen to own, to read, and to carry this book at all times."

    Why include this line? Do these people want to make money or not?

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  5. Some of the commenting amazon.com customers (36 at this writing) are outraged, while others give the Little Blue Book five stars. Registered amazon users can vote thumbs-up or -down on others' reviews. I commend Pocket Obama cured my insomnia to your attention as a particularly insightful specimen.

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  6. As ever, Hollywood quick to jump on the wagon..

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1265998/

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  7. Steve,

    I'm waiting patiently for you to start looking for the obvious.

    Obama was the first candidate of the modern era to refuse public financing, so that he faced no limits on campaign contributions. The Democrats used to insist that public financing was desperately needed in order to prevent candidates from buying office. Obama bought the presidency. This was formerly thought to be the very essence of political corruption. This used to be a cornerstone of liberal philosophy.

    He raised 3/4 billion dollars. Where did that money come from?

    What's the story behind this?

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  8. Milking this craziness has not even begun, has it?

    Anon wrote:
    "I thought it was serious until I saw the pictures with the book, esp the one with Mao."

    My browser has not been able to open the Amazon website, so I will take your word that the book looks like an obvious spoof. I just wonder if everyone will see it that way.

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  9. As ever, Hollywood quick to jump on the wagon..

    Of course Hollywood is just about making money, there is no agenda. Hence all those movies about the USS Liberty, the Duke lacrosse case...

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  10. Charlatanism of some degree is indispensable to effective leadership.


    Eric Hoffer

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  11. I saw this story at Newsbusters and posted it at a certain white-friendly site then notified Steve of it on the 24th -- before I did so, the book at Amazon had zero comments and no Mao pics. After another e-mail to Steve today and others to Drudge, Infowars, WorldNetDaily, and Rush -- I see there are a number of comments and photos of Mao's book. The History Store site or whatever it's called, seems serious and this actually may be a sincere effort, THAT'S the scary part...!

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  12. All the positive reviewers but only some of the negative reviewers on Amazon realize this is a huge joke.

    Some of the negative reviewers think the book is legitimate and are outraged.

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  13. Shouting Thomas, go to opensecrets.org
    It shows who gave what to campaigns. That's how we know that James Watson (yes, of the double-helix and Cold Springs Harbor) donated the maximum amount to Obama.

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  14. I love the John Wayne tie in.

    broodrack

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  15. This book would make an excellent gag gift!

    Shame they are all sold out.

    Although, I second "Evil Sandmich," this book will one day be required to be on your person when the thought police stop you.

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  16. Shouting Thomas,
    You called it right again!
    With "tinpot Jesus" the outrage is sitting there glaring you in the face.

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  17. When are they going to mandate hanging Chairman O in every post-office, church, police station, court, school, bureaucracy, corporate head office foyer, and have him painted onto buildings?

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  18. This is all so depressing. We should be expanding South Africa’s excellent infrastructure throughout Africa, developing hyper-speed air travel, travel to Mars, get a handle on cancer, develop sustainable non-oil energy sources, get fusion working, sort out the racial issues by being realistic about them aka Steve, and instead we are getting more cheesy soviet-style apparatchiks with portrays, booklets and deification. What degression!

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  19. Well well well. MetaGroup comes out with a phony opposition attack on Obama in the guise of the Little Blue Book. Remember that they control the attacker and the attackee.

    Steve MetaGroup is real. MetaGroup is the cartel of major bankers who control the top government roles and the media ownership.

    Obama is a star MetaGroup agent. But his political opponents are MetaGroup operatives also.

    No need to focus on a Hollywood thriller when MetaGroup is real and reality is much more interesting. The puny Hollywood stage is a sideshow. The truly big stage is the international banking/media octopus which filters events happening in real time so that the sum total is an expertly stagecrafted story that is tailored for public consumption. The profits reaped from that 24/7 production are infinitely larger than any box office receipts.

    MetaGroup has put in place today in fact a global Ministry of Truth where the story of the world is edited and spoon fed to the teeming billions. That is where the real action is. Just because there isn't a single large building with a sign outside doesn't mean that the ministry of truth itself doesn't exist. And no no MetaGroup doesn't control every square inch of media turf and banking turf across the globe. China has a competing ministry that remains mostly out of their control. And there are other backwaters like Eastern Europe that are only now being slowing brought under the umbrella.

    I smell MetaGroup all over this operation.

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  20. was ahhhnold behind this stunt? does he have the brain for this sort of clever dirty trick?

    we know that gov schwartznegger is aiming for president of the north american union.

    if ahhhnold was clever like obama he never woulda let himself be completely pinned down on the facts of his birth. because obama has shown that presidente candidados estados unidos can stonewall full disclosure on the natural born citizen question.

    so ahhnold blew it for united states president. but he's got bigger plans anyway. no way arnold will let this 'skinny' prez do bigger box office than himself.

    cabron!

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  21. king obama said...
    "Although, I second "Evil Sandmich," this book will one day be required to be on your person when the thought police stop you."


    Betta make sure that shirt pocket is large enough. Maybe we can all wear the same shirts, then that problem is solved. Then we all drive the same cars to fit in with the global meltdown and all.

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  22. For a joke gift I bought a single copy at Amazon on the 24th, before it sold out, but if you want, go to the site itself and buy a pack of 10 for $49-- ships in 24 hours it says. The site itself seems serious and there's another Obama related item. Here's the information--
    http://www.historycompany.com/productdetails.php?p=128

    http://www.historycompany.com/productdetails.php?p=127

    "Egg of Power" Wooden Sculpture
    The wooden sculpture that Barack Obama has brought into the Oval Office combines African tribal tradition with a poignant message. Obtained on a 2006 visit to his ancestral Kenya, the "Egg of Power" symbolizes the fragility of chiefly power: According to an ancient proverb, power is like an egg; if it's held too tightly, it breaks, and if it's held too loosely, it will slip from grasp.

    Art has always been an integral part of African life, and wood carvings are expressions of power and ritual in the life of the tribe. Wood is the most popular material used in native sculpture, since it can be found in abundance. Skilled carvers use simple hand tools to create these stunning works of art -- gouges, chisels, mallets, and pointed instruments. Although no two pieces are ever identical, as carvers meticulously hewn each piece according to the grain and texture of the tree, each is rich in symbolism, conveying a guiding principle of leadership, one that has been embraced by the President.

    Offered is an authentic artisan work of art, true to the exquisite wooden sculpture in the President's office. The "hand" is carved from the hardwood of the Monkey Pod tree, with interlocked, wavy grain and colors that range from medium tan to dark brown; the "egg" is lathe-turned from the hardwood of the Coffea Arabica tree, a species that produces the majority of coffee consumed in the world. This remarkable work of art stands 10-inches high and weighs 1 1/2-pounds.

    After this election It should not amaze anyone that there will actually be a market for this sort of thing. After all, anything "honoring" the (false) Messiah was a standard feature of the campaign. This is going to be the longest four years on record...

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  23. "Although, I second "Evil Sandmich," this book will one day be required to be on your person when the thought police stop you."

    The thought police are in training mode around here. Sources say they wouldn't be patrolling at all if more imperious thought police from Oklahoma -where there was that nasty incident hadn't come uninvited to demonstrate unofficial procedure. I do believe the minions of the offended people with disabilities have also shown up to offer pointers though they are loath to leave their Missouri headquarters this time of year.

    Implementing these tactics nationwide is crucial because, well, if a white person doesn't like PC in general or certain people in particular, he/she is a good candidate to become a mad bomber. The normal rules of profiling, past behavior or even the actual ability to make a bomb, don't apply to the white people.

    Take note that this appears to be a grassroots effort at community policing by self-appointed observers. Also note that the observation period is indefinite. Though a certain level of frustration at not being able to get the vic...,um target to respond to goading sufficiently for an arrest will encourage observers to escalate goading to blatant attempts at entrapment. Hate isn't a crime but it ought to be a crime and these brave souls will plod through one attempt after another to make the hater pay. And through trial and error they will establish that test case that will allow them to judge the thoughts of citizens far and wide with impunity. Besides, it's just a matter of time until Obama makes psychic policing legal.

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  24. His superb and captivating oratory style has earned comparisons to John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

    I always find it odd that Martin Luther King is praised for his oratory. When he was alive he was praised in spite of his clumsy oratorical style. It's quite simple: Jesse Jackson - good speaker, bad man; Martin Luther King - bad speaker, good man.

    King tried to adopt the rich florid speaking style of black preachers, but he wasn't very good at it. The "I have a dream" speech was the exception not the rule. He modulated his voice with changes in sonority and pitch but most of the time he sounded faintly ludicrous not inspiring - sort of a black Ted Baxter straining for effect.

    King was effective as a movement leader largely because of his character and the timeliness of his message - not because of superior rhetorical facility.

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  25. My friend Milton always carried a copy of "The Little Red Book" in the sixties. He also played a plastic guitar.

    He had a tin ear it seems.

    There are a lot of people today who seem to find Obama's utterances apt and euphonious. One wonders what they are hearing.

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  26. The company is "The Editors of History Company" on the Amazon page. That's part of the joke isn't it?

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  27. Damn, that was good idea.

    Maybe someone should start selling little Obama icons for hanging off the rear-view mirror.

    In China, cabbies often had Guan Yin (an important Chinese Buddhist saint, or boddhisatva) hanging from their mirrors, but I did see a couple Chairman Mao icons.

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  28. "Martin Luther King - bad speaker, good man.
    King was effective as a movement leader largely because of his character"

    You are a public school teacher or student, I'm guessing.

    Character? MLK was a philanderer, a plagiarist and a construct of the Communist Party of America.

    MLK was a media creation put out there by Communist Party of America to distract blacks from one of the few actual uncorrupt black leaders who actually encouraged behaviors that would lead to black advancement -- Booker T. Washington, who preached that former slaves ought to do like immigrants; that is, save, learn to read, start businesses, build up their own neighborhoods, rather than sit around and blame whitey.

    But how would CPA have been able to use blacks to advance their agenda if all the blacks were independent and prosperous?

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  29. There is already an Obama inauguration documentary available from USA Today (link).

    The USA Today site has an entire page of Obama worshipping material for those who need to outfit a in home shrine.

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  30. I thought it was serious until I saw the pictures with the book, esp the one with Mao.

    The pictures of Mao and his lil' red book are customer supplied. Only the first two were posted by the seller.

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  31. How do the people selling this book have the right to reproduce Obama's sayings?

    Are they quoting things Obama has *said* as opposed to what he has *written*? I'm guessing that things said offhand are not subject to copyright protections?

    Anyway, that would explain why the quotes from the book are so dull. The quotes are probably just generic things that Obama said offhand rather than something written which he spent time polishing.

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  32. Steve, you could probably come up with a great list of Obama quotes, especially given that you're always bragging that you're one of the few people to read his writings seriously.

    Doesn't he have a quote to the effect of "Chicago--the most segregated city in America."

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  33. BTW Steve,

    Why do you never discuss Obama's second book?

    Does that not offer insights into Obama's character?

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  34. "albertosaurus said...

    I always find it odd that Martin Luther King is praised for his oratory. When he was alive he was praised in spite of his clumsy oratorical style. It's quite simple: Jesse Jackson - good speaker, bad man; Martin Luther King - bad speaker, good man."

    Your opinion of MLK's oratory seems to be a minority opinion - the concensus is that he was a great orator. However the concensus (which you seem to share) is that he was also a great man. The accepted hagiographical view of MLK is the usual veneer of lies that surround most left culture heroes (Che Guevara, Rigoberta Menchu, Betty Friedan, etc.). King was a bad man - a plagiarist, philanderer, a vulgar boor, and communist dissembler.

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  35. Doesn't he have a quote to the effect of "Chicago--the most segregated city in America."


    It wouldn't be surprising if he had said that, many thousands of other people have. I'm not sure how true it is at the present day, but it's commonly stated as fact by social scientists.

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  36. Amusingly, at the amazon.com page for the Little Blue Book, the link in first place (at this writing) under "Customers who viewed this item also viewed..." goes to

    The 10,000 Year Explosion.

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  37. King tried to adopt the rich florid speaking style of black preachers, but he wasn't very good at it. The "I have a dream" speech was the exception not the rule.

    Interesting. It's true that King's IHAD speech is the only one you ever hear in the media. Do we know whether he wrote it all himself? ;)

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  38. Sideways wrote...

    Doesn't he have a quote to the effect of "Chicago--the most segregated city in America."

    It wouldn't be surprising if he had said that, many thousands of other people have. I'm not sure how true it is at the present day, but it's commonly stated as fact by social scientists.


    Actually, Chicago ranks #5 in segregation, with Gary, IN being #1 and Detroit #2. source

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  39. I STILL don't think this is a joke, they really believe in it. (I don't and bought one as a joke, and it's "shipping soo" now that they have them back in stock). The new editorial description to me proves they are serious. It reads---
    "Editorial Reviews
    Product Description
    This is the little blue book that right-wing partisans love to hate. Printed in a size that easily fits into pocket or purse, POCKET OBAMA is an anthology of quotations borrowed from Barack Obama's speeches and writings, intended to keep the momentum going for those inspired by his message of hope and change. The portable book serves as a reminder of the remarkable ability of this man to move people with his words, a primer for readers who want to examine the substance of his thought and reflect on the next great chapter in the American story. His captivating oratory has earned comparisons to John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and this collection presents words that catapulted his remarkable rise to the American Presidency and set a true course for the future. Includes themes of democracy, politics, war, terrorism, race, community, jurisprudence, faith, personal responsibility, national identity, and above all, his hoped-for vision of a new America. POCKET OBAMA is essential reading as we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin the work of remaking America."

    NEVER "misunderestimate" liberals love of commie pap!

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