David Frum takes it upon himself to address the charge that Barack Obama is a "socialist," the conclusion of Stanley Kurtz's upcoming book, Radical-in-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism (discussed earlier here and here). Frum's objection, in a nutshell, is that conservatives are wasting their energy hurling epithets at Obama and liberals when there are actual problems with government spending and growth to address. Kurtz responds to this, writing, "As always, Frum makes a thoughtful and thought-provoking case. My main objection is that the historical record has convinced me that President Obama in fact is a socialist. Dealing with that record is going to be a problem for people who deny that this is who the president is."
Well, this sounds reasonable enough. What could be a more neutral source than the "historical record?" Kurtz even admits that he entered into this project with the intent of avoiding the "socialism issue" until the "facts" forced him to change his mind. "I believe that Obama truly is a socialist," Kurtz writes. "I put the case in my book in detail, backed up by a very substantial amount of never-before-seen information." Frankly, I'm intrigued. This must be powerful evidence indeed if it convinced Kurtz of Obama's socialism, but I can't be certain until I've read Kurtz's book, I guess. For now, I'll just have to assume Kurtz's history is sound.
If this all sounds familiar, it's because Kurtz's National Review colleague Jonah Goldberg already traveled down this road two years ago. Like Kurtz, Goldberg reviewed the historical evidence, and made, in his words, a "very serious, thoughtful argument that has never been made in such detail or with such care." Like Kurtz, Goldberg chose an inflammatory political ism, "fascism," and repurposed it for his polemic. I don't know if Kurtz provides a definition of "socialism" in his book, but I'd like to know what definition he is using because the entirety of his argument rests on whether Obama's past fits into it. "I don’t see how any reasonable person can see the facts I’ll soon present in my book and continue to treat the socialism charge as a fringe conjecture," Kurtz concludes. I guess he has a definition for "reasonable person" as well.
--Mori Dinauer
