The Roots of Obama's Rage

By Dinesh D'Souza Copyright 2010

According to author Dinesh D'Souza, Barack Obama is angry at America and wants to "right the wrongs" the country has done around the world. D'Souza's thesis is that the roots of Obama's rage is anti-colonialism. According to the anti-colonialists, the European and American colonizers of Africa and Asia caused misery and suffering.

D'Souza supports his thesis by tracing Obama's history using stories from Obama's own autobiographies. Obama's father was African and his step-father was Asian (Indonesian). The both lived troubled lives. Obama's mother was a white American from Kansas who was obsessed with race. She apparently blamed her African and Indonesian husband's problems on colonialism.

One of the stories D'Souza discusses is Obama's claim that as a child he once felt rage when reading a story in Life magazine about a black person in America who lightened their skin color. In reality, no such story ever appeared in Life magazine, or any other similar magazine, but it highlights Obama's obsession with alleged race victimization.

Another story is about Obama's white grandfather once accusing his white grandmother of being racist because she had felt threatened on a bus when a black man was accosting passengers. And it was Obama's white grandfather who introduced him to a black socialist poet who taught Obama that all white people were racist.

There is a story about Obama travelling to Kenya in the 1980's, after his father died, to visit members of the Kenyan side of his family. It is during this trip that D'Souza says Obama decided American and European colonialism was a great evil and that it would be his life mission to seek revenge against the colonizers. But Obama knew a path to power in the US Federal government wouldn't be possible if he ever publicly said his goal was to put America on an equal footing with all countries and cultures of the world. So Obama chose to avoid commenting on the subject or on race issues. He adapted a low key, moderate manner.

This book contains many blunt and politically incorrect statements by D'Souza that are rather amusing. For example, he explains how Obama seems to revere and admire his African father, when in fact the senior Obama was clearly a complete jerk.

Also, D'Souza says he is personally thankful for colonialism. D'Souza is originally from India and he was able to be successful in America because of the culture and language the British colonizers brought to India. He was able to relate to American culture because of it. In fact, D'Souza argues that some former colonized countries are failures because there wasn't enough colonization. He uses the examples of Ethiopia and Liberia in Africa as examples. These two countries were the only ones never colonized on the continent, and the people in them suffer the most among the African people.

There is much truth in D'Souza's thesis. Obama certainly doesn't seem to admire America or its history. The irony is that Obama had a good upbringing and many opportunities, courtesy of traditional American and European culture. Yet he is intent on destroying that same traditional American culture. D'Souza makes a plausible and compelling case that Obama is motivated by a belief that American and European colonialism damaged his father and step-father's countries and lives, and it is his goal to right that wrong by humbling America.

This is an interesting book for anyone who enjoys politics and wants to better understand Barack Obama.