David Freddoso's Quest to Spoil Obama's Bid for the U.S. Presidency

David Freddoso is a frequent commentator for the blog, "The Corner" on National Review Online, where he also writes columns from time to time. Freddoso, 31, a conservative journalist, graduated in 1999 from Notre Dame. He went on to complete studies at the Columbia's Pulitzer School of Journalism. His first job out of college was as a journalist for a newspaper in Brooklyn. Next, he was a reporter on Capitol Hill for "Human Events" for 3 years. He then became a senior political reporter for Robert Novak's "Evans-Novak Political Report", also for 3 years (http://www.nd.edu/~afreddos/special.htm).

Freddoso has recently completed a book titled, "The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate." Freddoso, a staunch conservative has hopes of sullying Obama's reputation in the book. David Freddoso's goals are to reveal connections between Obama and more controversial citizens and political figures in Chicago, including Mayor Richard M. Daley and, of course, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who used to be the pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ. (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/11263.html).

Marjory Ross, the president and publisher at Regnery Publishing, asserts that the public has no idea how dangerously to the left Obama's political views are (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/11263.html ). Freddoso's book on Obama is due to be released on August 4, 2008 by Regnery Publishing. One of the purposes of David Freddoso's book is to inform the public about Obama's leftist liberal views in hopes of spoiling his bid for the presidency.

Books about U.S. presidential candidates and their effects on the candidacies

Although 3 other books have been published about Barack Obama over the recent months, Freddoso's book is posed to be the first to negatively portray him. Obama wrote two books about himself-"Dreams From My Father" and "Audacity of Hope." David Mendell penned "From Promise to Power." All three books frame Obama in a positive light.

The 2004 best seller about John Kerry's stint in the armed force in Vietnam called "Unfit for Command" was written by John E. O'Neill and Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D. O'Neill and Corsi postulated Kerry did not honestly represent his war record. The book, written by Kerry's cohorts on the Swift Boat while in Vietnam, trashed his character.

Interestingly, the book's release initially led to serious questions about Kerry's character. However, once the facts were checked out with the U.S. Navy and deemed false, the book had no real negative impact on Kerry's bid for the candidacy. In fact, Susannah Meadows says, in an article in the New York Times online, that "Unfit for Command" was much more a statement about the authors than Kerry (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/books/review/10MEADOWS.html).

"The Truth About Hillary: What She Knew, When She Knew It, and How Far She'll Go to Become President" by Edward Klein was released in 2005. A best seller, Klein hoped to damage Clinton's reputation and ruin her chances for presidential candidacy. The book, in fact, fell short of this target as some of the more negative vignettes in the tome are told by anonymous sources and therefore, not fact-checked. Even more conservative commentators openly dismissed the book due to the lack of appropriate sourcing (http://mediamatters.org/items/200506230001).

How likely is it that Freddoso's book will impact the presidential race?

So the question is, will David Freddoso's book accomplish its goals of weakening Obama's growing massive appeal and ruining his political reputation? At this point, it is unlikely that Freddoso will reveal any earth-shattering information currently unknown about Obama-other than an obscure tidbit or two. The prior negative press regarding Obama's connection to Reverend Jeremiah Wright, followed by Wright's caustic, inflammatory remarks has actually done little to damage Obama so far. Obama's ability to woo potential voters to his camp continues to gain momentum and does not seem to have yet reached its peak.

Sources:

Freddoso, Alfred. "Special Features" page. Notre Dame website. No Date. Found at http://www.nd.edu/~afreddos/special.htm .

J.F., MediaMatters of America, blog, The Truth About "The Truth About Hillary": Edward Klein's attack book is poorly researched, poorly written, poorly sourced. June 23, 2005. Found at http://mediamatters.org/items/200506230001 .

Martin, Jonathan. "First Obama Attack Book in the Works." Politico website. June 23, 2008. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/11263.html

Meadows, Susannah. "Unfit for Command": Hostile Fire. New York Times, October 10, 2004. Found at http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/books/review/10MEADOWS.html .