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Media Not Pleased With Historical Figures in Obama’s New Children’s Book

» 37 comments

Among the books President Obama has written, seemingly the least politically charged of all of them is his recently released children’s book, “Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters.” It’s a picture book which features images and stories of many prominent historical figures, such as Helen Keller, Cesar Chavez, Georgia O’Keefe, and Sitting Bull. However, proving that even children’s books can be controversial, media outlets have taken issue with the historical figures he appears to endorse in the book.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Fox News responded took issue with his endorsement of Sitting Bull, running a story with the headline: “Obama Praises Indian Chief Who Killed US General.” USA Today also pointed out the choice of Sitting Bull, saying: “His most controversial choice may be Sitting Bull, who defeated Custer at Little Bighorn.”

However, the book has already sold 50,000 copies in the first five days since its release — so all the media stir appears to be having little, if any, effect on sales.

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  • greg454

    Cesar Chavez? Well, who else is in Obama’s progressive propaganda book? Fidel Castro? Che Guevara? Pol Pot? Chairman Mao?

    “However, the book has already sold 50,000 copies in the first five days since its release — so all the media stir appears to be having little, if any, effect on sales. ”

    —Mein Kampf was very popular to. Nobody denies there’s lots of Obama-Socialists in America.

    http://politicallyincorrectlibertarian.wordpress.com/2010/11/27/doubleplusgood-ring-a-bell-the-british-are-becoming-more-orwellian-in-their-lanaguage/

  • BlackWidow

    I love this man. No matter what he does or more importantly WHY he says or does something just drives your right wingers crazy.

    First, it doesn’t really matter what he does or doesn’t do to please you righties he has already made history just because he was elected. The entire rest of his accomplishments are simply icing on the cake.

    Deal with it. By the way until you have read it don’t complain.

  • skyfet

    If the Jokers don’t like Sitting Bull, then I like Sitting Bull. Now sue me.

  • TfT

    Did the LA Times report on the book or did they report on Fox News? Geeze, what a bunch of dolts in the media these days. The LAT can’t write an article about Obama’s book without mentioning FNC? Stupid.

  • SmartAlec

    I’m writing a book titled “A Letter to The President” where I include references to real historical figures such as Washington, Adams, Jefferson, etc. I hope he picks one up on Amazon. Maybe he can download a copy to his teleprompter.

  • Greg

    Wouldn’t a better headline be, “FOX misleads and is forced to correct criticism of Obama and hardly any media notice.”?

  • Greg

    greg454 said:
    Cesar Chavez? Well, who else is in Obama’s progressive propaganda book? Fidel Castro? Che Guevara? Pol Pot? Chairman Mao?

    “However, the book has already sold 50,000 copies in the first five days since its release — so all the media stir appears to be having little, if any, effect on sales. ”

    —Mein Kampf was very popular to. Nobody denies there’s lots of Obama-Socialists in America.

    http://politicallyincorrectlibertarian.wordpress.com/2010/11/27/doubleplusgood-ring-a-bell-the-british-are-becoming-more-orwellian-in-their-lanaguage/

    How in the wild world of crazy can you compare Cesar Chavez and Pol Pot? Do you even know who the man is?

  • Bill Mahwer

    What is this idiot doing writing a kids book?

    With the worlds economies imploding, North Korea taunting him, the highest unemployment rate in years, and the US economy heading for the S…House this guy puts out a kids book.

    How UnPresidential. Other world leaders must be laughing their butts off.

    Why is it the US cant elect good Presidents anymore. Are they not paid enough or are there no good candidates left.

  • Greg

    Bill Mahwer said:
    What is this idiot doing writing a kids book?

    With the worlds economies imploding, North Korea taunting him, the highest unemployment rate in years, and the US economy heading for the S…House this guy puts out a kids book.

    How UnPresidential. Other world leaders must be laughing their butts off.

    Why is it the US cant elect good Presidents anymore. Are they not paid enough or are there no good candidates left.

    He wrote it before he became president… Which means that your comment is speculative nonsense that could have been easily avoided if you possessed the decency to do one minute of research before you reflexively attacked our president…

  • Bill Mahwer

    Greg said:
    He wrote it before he became president… Which means that your comment is speculative nonsense that could have been easily avoided if you possessed the decency to do one minute of research before you reflexively attacked our president…

    He should have stopped it release until he leaves the presidency. This is not an image of a President in Office the US should portray.

    What next an Barack Obama Cookbook. Oooops….. I dont want to give Michelle any ideas she will order him to publish one.

  • More Liberty

    Obama didn’t write this book. And in the off chance he actually did, this is proof that he’s put the economy on the back burner. What an idiot.

  • bundesheer

    Bill Mahwer said:
    He should have stopped it release until he leaves the presidency. This is not an image of a President in Office the US should portray.

    What next an Barack Obama Cookbook. Oooops….. I dont want to give Michelle any ideas she will order him to publish one.

    That comeback didn’t make you look any less of an idiot. Damage done in the previous post still remains. You do as much research as fox news does on their stories.

  • Greg

    Bill,

    The book aims to connect a series of constructive personal tendencies to models of those tendencies embodied by historical figures… I suppose he could find inspiration elsewhere but connecting Americans to their past seems a noble undertaking… I suppose he could bow hunt musk oxen shirtless from the air on the back of an eagle… That seems strong… But I’m glad we have Obama and not Putin.

  • ititiiti

    Sitting bull was defending his turf, so he’s the bad guy, eh? Besides, Obama’s book has more truth than that Christopher Columbus discovered American BS, or that George Washington never told a lie crap!
    http://tinyurl.com/39zvpdw

  • dahni

    I’m writing a history book entitled “Contributions of White People to the development of the Constitution and the Republic of the United States of America”. I’m also encouraging formation of a White Congressional Caucus to operate in all political theaters. Maybe everyone should look around the world and see what White People are doing; maybe some things are actually good things?

    Would you rather live in Kenya, or Great Britain; in Iran or Germany, Mexico or Canada; Argentina or Australia; Cuba or New Zealand? Which of the countries listed have problems with people trying anything to get into them, and which have people trying anything to get out of them?

  • Greg

    dahni,

    Not sure how to respond to the introduction of white nationalist advocacy…it has been tried and resulted in spectacular failure… War, slavery colonialism and the like…perhaps you can build a commune in Idaho, run a little farm and homeschool your kids… The rest of the word will continue happily in your absence…

  • http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

    It’s obviously a holiday weekend. That is how a “special correspondent” to the LATimes can make a passing reference to an almost two-week old story and have it picked-up as filler on a blogsite.

  • http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

    Oh, and apologies for not mentioning it in my previous comment, but Hillary also posted about the “Sitting Bull” thing for this site and I remember reading through the discussion, but her post didn’t quite provide the same context as Maureen’s Gawker post.

  • greg454

    Yes, I know who Cesar Chavez is, so did 80% of Coloradoans who voted against having a day in his honor.
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/790304/posts

  • CAconservative

    1.) Custer was a Colonel when he was killed. 2.) The reason you don’t see pro-illegal alien groups touting Cesar Chavez as one their heroes is because, Mr. Chavez was dead-set against illegal aliens. He believed, rightly, that illegal alien trespassers would, and did, destroy his Farmworkers Union!

  • Pablo

    dahni said:
    I’m writing a history book entitled “Contributions of White People to the development of the Constitution and the Republic of the United States of America”. I’m also encouraging formation of a White Congressional Caucus to operate in all political theaters. Maybe everyone should look around the world and see what White People are doing; maybe some things are actually good things?

    I’d like to get a couple of gross of that to distribute at the upcoming Straight White Male Pride parade.

  • Pablo

    Wait, isn’t Obama exploiting his children for profit here? Oh, that’s right. He’s not Sarah Palin, so it’s all good.

  • Darklady

    The bigoted, conservative stupid in the comment section of this column just burns.

    How dare Obama write a book that doesn’t attack people? How is a book about history, lovingly written for one’s children, presidential?

    Now, Palin’s ghost-written, lie-infested, hate-filled rants where she attacks everyone, takes responsibility for nothing, and misquotes famous people she knows nothing about? Well, THAT is a legacy worthy of the White House.

    I assume the folks who worship at the altar of all things Palin consider themselves to be “value” voters who cherish all that is good and sacred… yet they still worship at her altar. Funny, that.

  • Nahu Tuk

    and then, there’s this

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPViKJRHyZo

    Merry Christmas everyone!

  • Greg

    Nahu Tuk said:
    and then, there’s this

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPViKJRHyZo

    Merry Christmas everyone!

    I believe that line is right next to the line to see this guy…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83jXeND9X5o&feature=youtube_gdata_player

  • fenngibbon

    If I recall correctly, Sitting Bull was picked as someone who healed wounds and built bridges, which has lead some historians to respond “WTF?” Okay, they didn’t put it that way, but Sitting Bull was a weird choice — Geronimo would have made more sense.

  • michiganruth

    a 9-word book title, and 2 of the words are “I” and “me.” I would’ve been able to tell it was written by Obama on that alone.

    btw, did he really include Georgia O’Keefe or did he include Georgia O’Keeffe? I know we’re on this 24/7 news cycle thing, but geez, doesn’t anyone take the time to check spelling?

  • Alz

    greg454 said:
    “However, the book has already sold 50,000 copies in the first five days since its release — so all the media stir appears to be having little, if any, effect on sales. ”

    That’s okay…most of the buyers are liberals so they will be soothed by the leftist references.

  • piikllmjj

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  • Doc P

    Darklady-Welcome to the jungle! I come here regularly for the laughs! Some of the arguments are just ridiculous, but youd never convince these misanthropes any different!

  • Jayson

    Its a childrens book, a book dedicated to his daughters. So a reference to Sitting Bull is included. So what? If it was a reference to Mr. Nobody from nowhere, the media would still jump all over the book, as well as the majority of you that are commenting on this thread.

    Do you all really believe Custer was such a great man? Do some research.. Custer was on a quest to eliminate natives completely, as were many others of the time. Unfortunately for him his life was ended fighting the people he was trying to eliminate. Many lives were lost on both sides in those times, all because of being “different”.. Somtimes it seems, from comments posted here, nothing has really changed.

    FYI

    The sand creek massacre is an instance where a military leader, Chivington, needed a battle to mark his troop with heroism. Until the massacre, the regimond had not “shed blood” and was receiving flack from Denver citizens. The Cheyenne and Arapahoe were told to go to sand creek were they would be protected by the US military. The tribes were attacked by Chivington and several other regimonds while the majority of their men were off hunting. The chief of the Cheyennes, Black Kettle, was told by another military leader that raising an American flag would indicate to US attackers that they were a peaceful nation. He raised the flag, but the military kept attacking. Most of the Native Americans killed at Sand Creek were women and children. Black Kettle and the remaining tribe latter moved to Washita River which was designated as “Indian Territory”. He and most of the remaining tribe were massacred in 1868 in an attacked lead by Custer.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dave-Inboca/1829370356 Dave Inboca

    Too bad Anita Dunn wasn’t there to put Chairman Mao in his myopic imbecilic suggestion box—-you know, the ruthless dictator who killed close to 100 million Chinese, great example for the gangsta hoodies who gonna steal this book. Dunn is a typical leftard biyotch “advisor” to this doofus-in-chief.

  • totohoho

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    handbag $33

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  • The_Reasonable_Lib

    Gotta love the level of “Obama derangement syndrome” here, everything he does drives you bastards crazy and I love it!!! Kagan, Sotomayor, children’s books, it’s just great. I hope he nominates a dwarf next!!

  • Nahu Tuk

    Greg said:
    I believe that line is right next to the line to see this guy… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83jXeND9X5o&feature=youtube_gdata_player

    Greg, I hope you find Vahu Manah, or whatever it is you’re looking for; I will always be happy to be tolerant of your faith and trust that you would do the same for me.

  • Fess10

    I bought this book for my daughter for her birthday, not because it was written by our president, but because it was inspirational. This book is about discovering role models who displayed courage, integrity, perseverance. There are many people in our history one can look up to for various reasons. None of them is 100% exemplary in all aspects of his or her life, but there is something commendable for which they are remembered. Our history books tend to focus on men who were involved in wars. There are others. If you are the parent of a girl and you want your daughter to know that there are role models who don’t happen to be solely white men involved in wars, there is little to choose from. I loved this book. I want my daughter to be a proud, free woman who gives back to her community with the gifts given to her.

  • RichS

    Greg said:
    dahni, Not sure how to respond to the introduction of white nationalist advocacy…it has been tried and resulted in spectacular failure… War, slavery colonialism and the like…perhaps you can build a commune in Idaho, run a little farm and homeschool your kids… The rest of the word will continue happily in your absence…

    I don’t understand what you mean. Let’s take it one at a time.

    War–are you saying that war didn’t exist before white men started to go to war? Does that mean the ancient Egyptians and ancient Chinese were white? Or did you mean that only white people are engaging in war today? I guess that would mean you think the warring factions in Africa are all white.

    Slavery–do you think that whites created slavery? You do know that it still exists in Africa, don’t you? And also in Asia. Which white countries started slavery and which white countries continue to have slavery today?

    Not sure what “and the like” means. Please explain.

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