Review: The Roots of Obama’s Rage by Dinesh D’Souza

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I must say I was skeptical of this book before reading it since I am biased against the author. My reading of Dinesh D’Souza in the past has been rather disappointing. But this is probably his better work and he did a good job enough that I’m thinking about reading his follow up work on Obama. D’Souza is a better author on politics than he is on Christianity (the subject of the first two books I read by him). Here in this book D’Souza presents the biography of president Obama and argues that Obama’s public policy is best understood in light of the narrative of Obama’s upbringing. D’Souza argues that it’s not so much the narrative of Obama as the African American that is the predominate theme explaining Obama’s presidency but Obama the child who grew up in the third world and lived in the imagination of his father’s home country of Kenya. Typically I’m cautious with psycho-assertions of why people do what they do but I think this book does make the case powerfully that Obama’s radical upbringing by his mom to be like his dad and his experiences in Indonesia living with his mom that shaped him to become the man who’s ideology is to bring equality between the US and other third world nations. The strength of D’Souza’s argument to me is his analysis of Obama’s book on his father written before he publicly campaigned for president. It’s amazing to think of how Obama barely knew his father growing up but sees him almost as a god. It was quite sad reading this book to imagine the young Obama who looks up and idealized the father he never really knew. It’s no secret to those who follow Obama today that Obama’s father was far from a saint, a radical ideologue who was a dead beat husband, a drunkard who fathered many children with multiple women through affairs. Obama’s infatuation of seeking his father’s approval at times from Obama’s own word seems almost religious, with even the motif of crisis of faith and renewal. D’Souza book is captivating and made me want to learn more about Obama—not just policy but who this man who keeps much to himself is and his worldview.