Finally. Affirmative action for white lefties.
Barack Obama updated his reading list for his majesty's upcoming visit to Africa. "Over the years since, I've often drawn inspiration from Africa's extraordinary literary tradition,"he wrote.
"As I prepare for this trip, I wanted to share a list of books that I’d recommend for summer reading, including some from a number of Africa’s best writers and thinkers – each of whom illuminate our world in powerful and unique ways."
The list of African writers concludes with a very pale Obama whisperer.
"The World As It Is by Ben Rhodes - It’s true, Ben does not have African blood running through his veins. But few others so closely see the world through my eyes like he can. Ben’s one of the few who’ve been with me since that first presidential campaign. His memoir is one of the smartest reflections I’ve seen as to how we approached foreign policy, and one of the most compelling stories I’ve seen about what it’s actually like to serve the American people for eight years in the White House."
Ben doesn't? But what about Lucy?
It is nice of Barry to take a break from pushing African writers to include his widely overlooked and very well connected evil apprentice. Unless Ben, in his role as the "Obama whisperer" wrote it himself.
In his praise of Rhodes, Obama writes what many have said of him. "Few others so closely see the world through my eyes like he can".
Is that because Rhodes makes an excellent Iago, fawning and flattering the One, or because Obama is an empty vessel waiting to be filled by Rhodes' contempt and malice.
Don't take it from me. Take it from the Times.
"Part of what accounts for Rhodes’s influence is his "mind meld" with the president. Nearly everyone I spoke to about Rhodes used the phrase "mind meld" verbatim, some with casual assurance and others in the hushed tones that are usually reserved for special insights. He doesn’t think for the president, but he knows what the president is thinking, which is a source of tremendous power. One day, when Rhodes and I were sitting in his boiler-room office, he confessed, with a touch of bafflement, "I don’t know anymore where I begin and Obama ends."
So Ben Rhodes became African by mind-melding with Obama.
#Hope