In Toxic Talk, Bill Press exposed the ways in which the extreme right-wing media has done an end run around the American voting populace by exerting a disproportionate control over open political debate. In The Obama Hate Machine, Press returns to show how the Right has taken rhetoric to slanderous new levels in attacking the nation's forty-fourth president.
But presidents have always been attacked like this, right? Wrong. As the author shows, while presidents and presidential candidates have routinely been subject to personal attacks, the outright disdain Obama's extremist opponents have for the facts has inspired an insidious brand of character assassination unique in contemporary politics.
Obama was born in Kenya, Obama sympathizes with Muslim terrorists, Obama is a communist who wants to institute death panels and touch off class warfare-the extent to which these unfounded assertions have taken hold in the American mindset shows just how ruthless, destructive, and all-powerful the right-wing machine, hijacked by extremists in the media and fueled by corporate coffers, has become. The author reveals how corporate interests such as the infamous Koch Brothers continue to steer political coverage away from fact-based dialogue into the realm of hysteria. Bill Press also observes that this phenomenon is not limited to the airwaves and provides an "I Hate Obama Book Club" list, calling out the scores of anti-Obama tomes-and even some from the Left-that have helped drag politics even deeper into the mud.
In his characteristic on-the-mark arguments sure to appeal to anyone on the Left or in the Center, Press shows how the peculiar nature of Obama-hating subverts issue-driven debate and threatens not only the outcome of the 2012 election but the future of the American democratic system. Title Info. Dedication. Introduction
Chapter 1. Presidents under Fire
Chapter 2. The "Othering" of Candidate Obama
Chapter 3. The "Othering" of President Obama
Auto Industry Bailout
Chapter 4. The I Hate Obama Book Club
Kurtz Stanley
Chapter 5. The Brothers
Global Warming is Good For You
Chapter 6. The Role of the Media
Tale of the T.
Conclusion: Toward a Politics of Civility
"In a poisoned political climate, negative personal attacks on President Obama must have no place in our public discourse. In an age when sound bites too often dominate the news, Bill Press digs deeper: busting the myths, standing up for the truth and the American people."
"Joe Barrett, winner of five AudioFile Earphones Awards and an Audie Award finalist, does an impressive job narrating, especially when he reads quotes from conservatives Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck. Recommended for libraries that want to balance their Obama collection with a liberal view."
"Radio talk show host and political commentator Press explores the money-and-media-fueled propaganda machine currently being used to weaken President Obama…This book provides an unsettling glimpse into the unsavory side of corporate interests and an irresponsible media."
"While Lincoln, FDR, and Bill Clinton were the objects of virulent political hatred during their times in office, none of them faced the level of vitriol that has been heaped on Obama, according to political commentator Press…A fascinating analysis of the impact of the hate machine on Obama, the upcoming presidential election, and the future of American politics. "
