The Obama Identity: A Novel (Or Is It?) is a 2010 novel written by Edward Klein and former Republican United States Representative John LeBoutillier. Among other things, the book explores and promotes the Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories and Barack Obama religion conspiracy theories in the form of a novel. In an interview on Fox & Friends , Leboutillier claimed that the book uses "real things" and has "so much real stuff". [1] Following the interview, Media Matters for America published excerpts from the book in an article which criticized the book as having an "incomprehensible plot". [1]
This book is a parody. Prior to Obama's election, the protagonist, a CIA agent named Theodore J. Higginbothem III, or "Higgy" [2] uncovers a vast conspiracy surrounding Barack Obama. After Obama is elected, the protagonist attempts suicide, but is unsuccessful; afterwards, he goes to work for the president. [1]
The book presents various conspiracy theories about President Obama and other Democrats as fact, including that:
Other scenes depicted in the book include Jeremiah Wright demanding "100,000 a year in reparations for every black man, woman, and child", Obama having his feet washed by a "Filipino steward" and his cigarette smoke fanned away by "barely dressed Thai boys", and Katie Couric having "erect nipples...clearly visible through her blouse" while "in full swoon over Barack Obama" because she wanted to "go out on a date with" him. [1]
Vanity Fair published an excerpt from the book, which it described as "satirical". The excerpt describes a fictitious episode of the Sean Hannity television show, in which Hannity interviews a conservative activist who believes that John F. Kennedy is still alive, that we never landed on the Moon, that 9/11 was an inside job and that Obama's campaign is part of a "gigantic conspiracy by leftists to plant a Muslim in the Oval Office and to teach our children to wear shoes with Velcro instead of laces so they can take off their shoes when they come home." [3]
Andrew Zarowny of the conservative website Right Pundits wrote a favorable review of the book, which he described as "hilarious". He also cited another review of the book written by advertising executive Jerry Della Femina. [4]
Dinesh Joseph D'Souza is an Indian-American right-wing political commentator, author, filmmaker, and conspiracy theorist. He has written over a dozen books, several of them New York Times best-sellers.
Sean Patrick Hannity is an American broadcast news analyst, conservative political commentator, talk show host, and writer. He is the host of The Sean Hannity Show, a nationally syndicated talk radio show, and has also hosted a commentary program, Hannity, on Fox News, since 2009.
Glenn Lee Beck is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and radio network TheBlaze. He hosts the Glenn Beck Radio Program, a talk-radio show nationally syndicated on Premiere Radio Networks. Beck also hosts the Glenn Beck television program, which ran from January 2006 to October 2008 on HLN, from January 2009 to June 2011 on Fox News and now airs on TheBlaze. Beck has authored six New York Times–bestselling books.
Louis Carl Dobbs is an American conservative political commentator, author and former television host who presented Lou Dobbs Tonight from 2003 to 2009 and 2011 to 2021. Since 2021, he hosts The Great America Show on iHeart Radio and loudobbs.com.
WND is an American far-right news website. It is known for promoting falsehoods and conspiracy theories, including the false claim that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
Michael F. Scheuer, is an American former intelligence officer for the Central Intelligence Agency, blogger, author, commentator and former adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Center for Peace and Security Studies. One assignment during his 22-year career was serving as Chief of the Bin Laden Issue Station from 1996 to 1999. He also served as Special Advisor to the Chief of Alec Station from September 2001 to November 2004.
Edward J. Klein is an American author and former foreign editor of Newsweek, former editor-in-chief of The New York Times Magazine (1977–1987). He has written about the Kennedys, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, and Donald Trump.
Larry C. Johnson is an American blogger and former analyst at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. He is the co-owner and CEO of BERG Associates, LLC.
Aaron Klein is an American-Israeli conservative political commentator, journalist, strategist, bestselling author, and senior advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He served as campaign manager for several of Netanyahu's election campaigns and chief strategist for Netanyahu's 2020 election campaign that resulted in a rotating unity government with Netanyahu at the helm and his 2022 campaign in which Netanyahu won a full-term. Klein was Netanyahu's full-time strategic advisor in government from 2020 to 2021, during the period Netanyahu was prime minister of Israel's 36th government and he serves as a strategic advisor to Netanyahu during Israel's 37th government.
John LeBoutillier is an American political columnist, pundit, and former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from New York.
Wayne Allyn Root is an American conservative television and radio host, author, activist, conservative political commentator and conspiracy theorist. He is the host of two new television shows, daily at 7 PM ET on Lindell TV network (FrankSpeech.com) and Saturdays at Noon ET "America's Top Ten Countdown with Wayne Allyn Root" on Real America's Voice TV Network. He is also the radio host of "Wayne Allyn Root: Raw & Unfiltered" on AM 670 in Las Vegas and nationally-syndicated on the USA Radio Network, and formerly on Newsmax TV. Root was an opinion columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. His newspaper columns are currently nationally syndicated on Sundays by Creators Syndicate.
The Jeremiah Wright controversy gained national attention in the United States, in March 2008 after ABC News investigated the sermons of Jeremiah Wright who was, at that time, the pastor of then U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama. Excerpted parts of the sermons were found to pertain to terrorist attacks on the United States and government dishonesty and were subject to intense media scrutiny. Wright is a retired senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago and former pastor of Obama.
Barack Obama, who served as the 44th President of the United States, has elicited a number of public perceptions regarding his personality and background. As the first African-American President of the United States, his race and culture played a prominent role, both positively and negatively.
The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality is a bestselling book by Jerome Corsi opposing Barack Obama's candidacy for President of the United States. The book alleges Obama's "extreme leftism", "extensive connections with Islam and radical politics", "naïve... foreign policy", past drug use and connections to corrupt backers, among other things. The book has been criticized for containing factual errors, for being racist, and for being a political "attack book" containing smears, falsehoods, and innuendo.
During Barack Obama's campaign for president in 2008, throughout his presidency and afterwards, there was extensive news coverage of Obama's religious preference, birthplace, and of the individuals questioning his religious belief and citizenship – efforts eventually known as the "birther movement", by which name it is widely referred to across media. The movement falsely asserted Obama was ineligible to be President of the United States because he was not a natural-born citizen of the United States as required by Article Two of the Constitution. Studies have found these birther conspiracy theories to be most firmly held by Republicans strong in both political knowledge and racial resentment.
Morton A. "Mort" Klein is a German-born American economist, statistician, and pro-Israeli activist. He is the president of the Zionist Organization of America. In 2004, he was named one of the top five Jewish leaders in the United States by The Forward.
Allegations that Barack Obama secretly practices Islam, or that he is the antichrist of Christian eschatology, or covertly holds some other esoteric religious position, have been suggested since he campaigned for the U.S. Senate in 2004 and proliferated after his election as President of the United States in 2008. As with conspiracy theories surrounding his citizenship status, the claims are promoted by various political opponents, with American bloggers and conservative talk radio hosts particularly promoting the theories.
Conspiracy theories are a prevalent feature of Arab culture and politics, according to a 1994 paper in the journal Political Psychology. Prof. Matthew Gray writes they "are a common and popular phenomenon." "Conspiracism is an important phenomenon in understanding Arab Middle Eastern politics ..." Variants include conspiracies involving Western colonialism, Islamic anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, superpowers, oil, and the war on terrorism, which is often referred to in Arab media as a "War against Islam". Roger Cohen theorizes that the popularity of conspiracy theories in the Arab world is "the ultimate refuge of the powerless", and Al-Mumin Said noted the danger of such theories in that they "keep us not only from the truth but also from confronting our faults and problems..." The spread of anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist conspiracism in the Arab world and the Middle East has seen an extraordinary proliferation since the beginning of the Internet Era.