Comments on: What Obama’s Reading

By: rar

rar — Fri, 30 May 2008 13:01:57 +0000

i’m sure obama smokes herb and plays ball wit his inner circle. thats where he gets his wisdom from. hes toned down the herb lately but i think he’ll break it out the day before important speeches. his membership in a black church is a dissimulated rastafarianism

By: Rahul S

Rahul S — Fri, 30 May 2008 01:09:46 +0000

my bad.

nominee smokes the way Obama does.

By: Rahul S

Rahul S — Fri, 30 May 2008 01:07:11 +0000

Word on the street: Barak smokes a lot of cigs. I wonder how the media would react if any Republican presidential nominee would be treated if he smoke the way Obama does.

By: Cicatrix

Cicatrix — Fri, 30 May 2008 00:26:36 +0000

I wonder how much of these books politicians and celebrities actually read or if they are props for photo-ops.

Seconding what Ennis said. Also notice that he's marking his page with his finger. Very common thing to do when you're interrupted reading and expect to get back to it soon.

By: Ennis

Ennis — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:17:51 +0000

I wonder how much of these books politicians and celebrities actually read or if they are props for photo-ops.

He's a lecturer at U Chicago Law school. He seems to be a genuine intellectual, and a book like that, for a professor, is more of a fun read than a heavy one.

By: Asha's and Anajali's Dad

Asha's and Anajali's Dad — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:54:32 +0000

I wonder how much of these books politicians and celebrities actually read or if they are props for photo-ops. Not that I doubt Obama's intelligence but things like this scream "Look at me. I'm intelligent and fit to lead the world." I'm sure that each candidate has an advisor whispering in his or her ear to be seen carrying this book when traveling to this particular state since "it plays well with the voters".

It kind of like how I carry around but don't actually read copies of The Economist to give people the impression that I am well-read and informed. That and listening to Radiohead.

By: supster

supster — Wed, 28 May 2008 02:18:07 +0000

i smell another “obama is a muslim” connection coming…

By: Amrita

Amrita — Tue, 27 May 2008 00:23:21 +0000

My "India After Gandhi" series kind of ran out of steam last fall, mainly because work (I do have a day job) started to get the better of me. But this is a shorter book, and we could probably work through it in two or three sessions, divided by week.

Amardeep, thanks for this explanation which frees me up from carrying so much guilt. All this time I thought you stopped the series because I had stopped reading.

By: Amrita

Amrita — Mon, 26 May 2008 23:57:51 +0000

Readig this post and commentary had me thinking this morning that maybe when Bush called the veterans am “awesome bunch of people” that was his way of updating spoken usage. But somehow not really. Manju, I bet he does read Friedman.

By: grandtrunkroad

grandtrunkroad — Mon, 26 May 2008 15:58:03 +0000

I haven't read a lot of Zakaria's stuff after the initial stages of the war. He seems to have moved further to the left in hindsight but he was pretty influential in getting popular support for the war to begin with which is why it's really surprising that people think he's so level-headed and moderate. His influential cover story The Politics Of Rage: Why Do They Hate Us, especially the last bit, reads pretty much like a checklist of reasons why people wanted to start nation-building in Iraq to begin with.