2016: D’Souza’s Vision of America under President Barack Obama

(Trailer of 2016: Obama’s America by Dinesh D’Souza based on his books “Obama’s America, Unmaking the American Dream” and “The Roots of Obama’s Rage”.)

Dinesh D’Souza’s new movie 2016: Obama’s America opened in local theaters here in my home town of Rochester, Minnesota and was practically sold out its first night. While D’Souza doesn’t introduce any one fact that I had not already heard, he skillfully gathers all the facts together into one place creating a complete mosaic that explains the odd and mystifying behavior of the nation’s first African-American President.

D’Souza is a foreign-born Indian-American and conservative commentator and writer who is currently the President of King’s College in New York City. I have one of his books on my shelf, “What is so Great About Christianity”. The movie is based on two of his books exploring the life of Barack Obama and his odd affinity to a father he never really knew, Barack Obama Sr. D’Souza paints a great picture in the movie of the framing of Barack’s identity as a person and explains his actions as President of the United States. According to D’Souza, Obama is like his father in that he is a radical leftist anti-colonialist who seeks to downgrade American Greatness as revenge for all of the ills brought upon the third world in his view by the West. His policies, D’Souza says, goes beyond the leftist thinking of past liberal American Presidents like Carter and Clinton, and even Kennedy and can only be explained through the radical socialist, anti-colonialist prism. The president’s first action, the mystifying act of returning the bust of Winston Churchill to the Brits is a subconscious expression of Obama’s anti-colonial views. Churchill is the quintessential icon of the West and Colonial Powers.

I liked the way D’Souza brought all the elements together in the movie, especially his in person interviews with people who contributed to the book. The most interesting of those interview was the one with Barack Obama’s half-brother George, who had been living in a hut in Africa. A clip of that interview can be found here. George has apparently written a book in which he states that he does not blame the west for Africa’s problems and points out that where countries have had the continued influence of the United States and the West, those countries have flourished, while those nations which have removed their colonial occupiers have suffered under failed socialist policies.

If left to his own devises and re-elected, D’Souza implies that America circa 2016 under the leadership of Barack Obama will be quite different than the America of today, an America in economic decline, no longer a first world superpower, but more like a nation of the third world. D’Souza doesn’t politicize the movie, he makes no recommendations about the upcoming elections, nothing is said overtly about the challenger, but it is pretty clear what is implied, a new regime with someone else at the helm.

I recommend everyone watch this movie where they can find it. It has a limited run, only two days in my city, so set time aside to see it, or better yet, read D’Souza’s books. I would also like to note that there were not a lot of people under the age of 40 at the theater. That is a sad commentary in itself. If you have young adult relatives or teens in your home, bring them kicking and screaming to this movie. They can go see Batman later. Another sad commentary on my evening at the movies: one of Rochester PD’S finest guarding the lobby. The times we live in I’m afraid.

For more information on this story, read the excellent column by Kira Davis here.