Customer Reviews

The Audacity of Deceit: Barack Obama's War on American Values

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

First off I'm a conservative, and post-election I read this book in addendum to reading the 'Audacity of Hope' to get more an idea of what our new president is about. I found this book to be informative and bring up many good points (none of which I found to involve cheap shots or racism which other reviewers have insinuated). And the author O'Leary is very clear of his attack dog stance from the opening cover. Some of the beneficial arguments were: why Obama's energy plans are idealistic and won't work, why socializing healthcare will hurt everyone, and why Obama's shady political associations (of which the author sheds light on many - both likely associations and proven ones) DO matter. Important as all these issues might be, unfortunately I found the book simply lacked the ability to clearly and consistently present both pro/con views and weave all the issues into once concise argument. Thus I think it fails in its ultimate goal as of convincing either moderates or liberals. This may in part be due to the fact this book was a "rush job" which (I believe) was pushed out the door to be made available before the election. Whatever the book lacks however, as these are issues that everyone should be aware of, this is a book that everyone should read.

I was pleasantly pleased to discover that despite the title, this book is not so much about Barack Obama, the person (though that is covered), but is largely about the policies advocated by Barack Obama and what implementing those policies might do to our country. Succinctly put, Obama believes that all our social ills can be solved by bigger government taxing producers more heavily to re-distribute money to those who do not produce. Although it is difficult to tell what Obama's position is as he changes them to fit the need, from his speeches and writing we can see that Obama is:

* Against the second amendment and the right to own firearms.
* For late term or any abortion
* For allowing felons to vote
* For raising taxes on income of any sort
* For giving away a trillion dollars in the Global Poverty Act
* For social spending increases from welfare to mortgage relief
* Against drilling, coal, or nuclear power and for high gas prices
* Against free trade
* For a liberal Supreme Court
* For government run health care
* For drastically reducing the military

These policies follow ultra-liberal trends in every respect. They are a return to Jimmy Carter and even to Herbert Hoover, whose policies in a similar situation greatly prolonged the effects of the Great Depression. As the author deals with all these issues he also presents facts that are uncommonly known about our country. Did you know, for example, that the US has 1.84 Trillion barrels of oil in proven reserves, including oil shale and coal, where the rest of the world combined has 951 billion? That's PROVEN reserves. We know they are there. Did you know the top ten percent of household pay 70% of the taxes and that 30% of households pay no taxes whatsoever?

There should be no doubt where Obama stands on any of these issues, but for those who would like to analyze how closely Obama comes to their own beliefs, O'Leary provided the `Barack Obama test,' a 40 question test asking for your beliefs and comparing them to Obama's. I don't think amazon allows links in a review, so the test is at barackobamatest-dot-com.

All these policies are Socialist in nature, which should come as no surprise since Obama has immersed himself in Socialism his entire life,. As a child he was influenced by his Socialist, if not Communist, parents and family friends, such as Frank Marshall Davis, the Communist poet in Hawaii. As an adult he has associated with a string of characters on the Far Left. William Ayers, the Pentagon bomber; Jeremiah Wright, the Black Liberation philosophy preacher; Tony Rezko, the convicted felon who reaped millions of dollars in housing projects. There are a lot more, and in every case they are people on the Far Left who want to completely tear down the American Capitalist system, the religious values of the majority of Americans, and, indeed, the entire social structure.

In effect, this election is a battle in the Culture War between Traditionalists who uphold Judeo-Christian values, believe in the Ten Commandments, believe in personal opportunity and responsibility, in economic liberty and property rights juxtaposed by far left Socialism which believes big government, less personal freedom, and cultural relativism are the right way to form a society. There is a great article over at American Thinker that covers this issue more widely. In effect, this is the Woodstock anti-Vietnam generation's bid for power. The `Audacity of Deceit' provides a catalogue of the Far Left beliefs that are driving Obama's campaign. Read it before it is too late.

I was lucky enough to secure an advance copy of this book directly from the publisher, which only came out today. I got my copy last Friday and read it over the weekend. In other words, it is pretty well impossible for there to be extensive reviews on the book. That begs the question of whether 'reviewers' and commentors have actually read the text. I think you should take a good strong look at these reviewers and ask yourself: Is the 'reviewer' reviewing the book itself after having read it fully? Or is he or she making a political statement while still ignorant of the contents? If you say this book is 'full of lies' you are fooling yourself. Of course, maybe you want America to turn socialist. I don't

While most of this info was available to the general public during the campaign, it is obvious that even with the mass media dedicated to elect Obama that the McCain campaign was run by complete incompetents who had no idea of what it would take to run against a true believer of Saul Alinsky who knew how to lie through his teeth while running against a guy whose "honor code" prevented him from running a campaigen to deal with the Obama history of deceit.
every chapter of this book would have made a great campaign commercial for McCain, but the guys running his campaign were crminally negligent in refusing to expose Obama's socialist agenda.

I don't know what facts and sources the people who have rated this book with 1 star are looking at. You all are as biased as a die hard ultra right winger. This book does not simply use the internet for research like I am sure most of you people who poorly rated this book 1 star did. It uses real research (beyond just typing issues in on google which I am sure is hard for some of you to believe) to give an accurate assessment of what Obama would realistically implement while in office. Let me enlighten you.

There is a thing called "data mining" that is a very common practice in this world. It allows you to conjure up the facts from a presentation of data that you want to convey and conveniently leave out other facts that would be detrimental to your position and still technically be telling the "truth".

For example, this is exactly what Obama did claiming 95% of Americans would receive tax reductions, read about it and compare with some other real research along with this book. In order for Obama to give 95% of Americans tax reductions, the tax system would have to be altered in such a way that changes the bracket under which many Americans qualify and that is the underlying assumption; the conveniently left out fact that is easily overshadowed by the possibility of 95% of Americans receiving tax reductions that essentially everyone wasn't told. In reality what will happen is there will be no change in the tax brackets and 40% of Americans, mostly middle class, will receive a tax deduction while the middle-upper and upper class pick up this slack and 30% of households still pay nothing. This is FACT. There are other parts to this story but this is a very broad overview.

Look, I am not saying this is necessarily a bad thing that the middle class will receive a tax cut. What I am saying is Obama was basically allowed to technically lie under this common practice and not have it count against him. This straight politics though, it is dirty, sleazy, and full of half truths. Both candidates did this, Obama substantially more than McCain just so you know whether you want to believe it or not, but Obama just simply harped on more half truths that most Americans ultimately bought in to.

Whether you voted for Obama or McCain or didn't vote at all, if you are interested in what Obama actually stands for, then read this book as it is very well researched. Even though there is obvious bias, it still remains a very accurate book.

I know some of you will snub this review immediately upon reading it and that is what is wrong with partisan politics in America today. I will come right out and say that I stand middle right politically but I pride myself on trying very hard to remain objective when observing political candidates and issues (although everyone can not completely eliminate their biases, which is an undeniable universal fact). Everyone else should try to pride themselves on this as well.

In conclusion, the fact remains that Obama was the candidate of more half truths, hidden agendas, and a serious lack of substantial real political experience. Dispute this or not, this book confirms this with actual and credible research. Every political figure in history is undoubtedly guilty of any one of these sins, but in the history of modern politics Obama does prove to be the true master of "deceit". I don't care where you stand politically, if you approach and read "The Audacity of Deceit" objectively you can't help but scratch your head. If you see yourself as an individual capable of refuting this book then by all means go ahead. You should get it published because you will undoubtedly make a ton of money selling it. I'd put my phantom tax cut against it though.

P.S. If anyone of you know, or think you know anything about the banking and finance industry as well as economics, please take a look at Obama's Transition Economic Advisory Board. Do a little background research on these people and you will see just how Obama, contrary to his supposed unwavering ethics, still is falling victim to special interests just like every other politician ever.

The board even includes a former board member of Freddie Mac, the mortgage investment company he slammed and threw under the bus left and right. Just about every other person was a CEO, chairman, or board member at institutions that were found to have engaged in fraudulent accounting practices or some other SEC violation at some point. Ironically, (sarcasm) most of these institutions were the ones that had to be saved by the bailout that has flopped in trying to slow our reeling economy. Oh, and most of these people never got pinched for these violations since they conveniently left their respective institutions before the whip got cracked. I am sure they have some great advice on how to screw over people and create a massive rift in the financial industry, just what we need.

The book seems to be on track so far.....

This may be the best book on Barack Obama that you haven't read.

Author Brad O'Leary carefully documents, using Obama's own words and votes, that, while creating a right for felons to vote, Barack will not protect the military's right to vote; why nearly half the population will pay no taxes yet consume a majority of government services paid for by the other half;how he wants to confiscate your money to fuel the $845 billion Global Poverty Act, and much, much more.

O'Leary makes cogent arguments for free trade and other common sense policies.

This book doesn't waste time with moonbat accusations, although it devotes a very few, well documented pages to Obama's Muslim connections. O'Leary wisely concentrates on policy issues.

"The Audacity of Deceipt" would be a smoother read with better editing. Sometimes there are paragraphs that interrupt the flow because they seem to come from nowhere. All in all, however, this is a book that is well worth the brief time it will take to read it.

I am so grateful for this book. I am an Independent voter and I had a lot of questions about Barack Obama. Reading this book answered a lot of my questions as to where the country would go if Barack were elected. I sense there is a great danger if there is a Democratic congress and a radical Democrat leftist like Barack in the White House. I strongly recommend this book to other Independents.

Barack Obama's speaking skills have masked what it is precisely that's he's saying, not to mention his minimal accomplishments. "The Audacity of Deceit," more than the other books taking a look at this fatally flawed candidate, summarizes what is known to date about Obama, his policies, plans and associates - and it's not pretty for anyone who cares about this country.

From Bill Ayres and his equally contemptible father to the Annenberg Challenge, from abortion to foreign policy - author Brad O'Leary covers all the major aspects of Obama's life and beliefs in a style that makes for a fast read. There's nothing pedantic here, which makes "Audacity" an excellent choice for those wanting an unencumbered but well-researched look at Barack Obama. O'Leary's conclusion? Barack Obama is utterly unqualified by both experience and belief to lead this country and the world.

This book is a political reader's dream in terms of structure, readability, and sheer information. In my opinion it blows the other Obama books out of the water on many counts. Usually books of this sort meander and lose focus, but Brad O'Leary one-ups the rest by a kind of layout that's brilliant and keeps you turning pages. There's one revelation after another here, each one more important and provocative than the previous. It definitely made me see the light at the end of Obama's contradictory rainbow. This is a tremendous essay on the real Barack Obama but in all its comprehensiveness it never slows down. It's the most insightful and useful book on a political candidate I've ever read and clearly the best so far about Obama.

To all the people that are commenting because they love or hate Obama; how about actually reading the book first. There are few things that are un-American, one of them is accepting the mass media as the gospel truth (sorry, but Colbert and Stewart are NOT news). Keep your questioning attitude, or our children will be slaves to a giant nanny state. Bush started the process in the name of security. Obama has hit the accelerator in the name of saving us from an economic disaster that he has no control over! Sorry to join the other hypocrites commenting before I've read the book, but I have to tell those who are just flapping their gums: let's be real on both sides!

The author tends to repeat himself and there are some typos, one I assume Is Intentional.It should not detract from the book the idea that this Liberal(worst Case) or if you like Carter 2.0(Worst Worst Case Scenario) will destroy(as of this writing,Has Destroyed,and Pelosi said $3 Gas for Bush was A Failure,Well we are at Close to $4)this country and it's foundations in order to please a minority(Liberals or "Progressives")just for feel-goody political correctness and Union FatCats and RaceBaiters,I sincerely "Hope" that people will vote for a Real "Change" in 2012,so the book is outdated and it covers what most who were not fooled already knew but it is still a great read and pretty much spot on so far.