Wednesday, July 25, 2012

The Communist – Paul Kengor, Ph.D. (Mercury Ink)


“You may know a man by the company he keeps” – Proverb

There have been many variations of this proverb…you may have heard it as “judge a man by the company he keeps.”

Best-selling author/scholar Dr. Paul Kengor really makes no judgments in his new book The Communist, an accounting of self-proclaimed communist Frank Marshall Davis and his mentoring of a young, would be President, Barack Obama.

When you stack this carefully researched, detailed and notated book alongside the President’s relationship with domestic terrorist turned college professor Bill Ayers and his wife, fellow Weather Underground terrorist, Bernadine Dohrn and the Reverend Jerimiah “God Damn America” Wright it makes for a thought provoking portrait of those who influenced the development of President Obama’s political mindset.

Aside from not reading the book, slinging the usual mud and name-calling, Kengor’s detractors will undoubtedly try to minimize the level of influence that Davis had on the young Obama, and will shout about the dangers of “guilt by association.” Those complaints don’t stand up to scrutiny, when you know that Obama himself regularly referenced the influence “Frank” had in his life in his autobiographical memoir “Dreams From My Father”.

So who was Frank Marshall Davis? Kengor details Davis’ life from a youth growing up in racially constricted Kansas, to his becoming (literally) a card-carrying member of the Communist Party USA (#47544 based on his FBI file) a Communist sympathizing columnist and mentor to Barack Obama. In the prophetic final line Kengor rightly proclaims; “The people who influence our Presidents matter.”

Kengor extensively details the brutal racism that Davis was subjected to and speculates that it may have moved Davis to the dark side and a ripe candidate to be attracted to communism. Davis became a community activist, not only through his columns for the Chicago Red Star newspaper, but also as a labor movement activist.

Davis Influencing Obama

The most striking part of The Communist is what I can only describe as the constricting, concentric circles that seem to surround President Obama; the incredible “coincidences” and crossing of paths between Davis and those who continue to influence the President and his decision making process. The Valarie Jarrett’s and David Axelrod’s of the world.

Davis’ influence is clear.

What would motivate a newly elected President, in one of his first acts in office, to return a bust of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill; a gift from one of our staunchest allies, that held a place of honor in the George W. Bush Oval Office? A quick read of Davis’ scathing writings on Churchill might be a good indication to the cause of this bizarre move.

Davis’ formula for economic recovery in the 1940s may seem familiar with his Qbama-esque “public works projects” (shovel ready jobs), anti-Wall Street “big business” and “wealth redistribution” writings.

While Obama decries “tax cuts for the rich”, Frank Marshall Davis decried “GOP would spare the rich with (a)20 percent tax cut plan”…January 11, 1947! Is it any wonder that Conservatives say that the Democrat party have no new ideas?! Davis and the Red Star regularly accused Republicans of wanting to “hurt the poor and pad the wallets of the rich…with phony tax cuts that only benefit the rich and corporations.” Sound familiar?

One of Davis’ favorite target of scorn was General Motors. He regularly derided GM’s wealth and referred to GM leadership as “General Motors Hitlers.” Obama “saved GM” by nationally the company and seizing control with the government bailout. Davis favored redistribution of wealth to have “healthcare for everybody.” The crippling financial and healthcare meltdown we face due to Obamacare is still to come.

Is Barack Obama a Communist? I will suggest you follow Kengor’s advice; read the book and decide for yourself. Is he misguided politically and has he been negatively influenced by the company he keeps?  In my opinion…without question.   

No comments: