RUSH: This is David Maraniss. He was on Piers Morgan Tonight, which nobody saw ’cause it was on CNN, which is why I want to play this sound bite for you. David Maraniss is an associate editor at the Washington Post, and he is the author of Barack Obama: The Story. And it’s amazing. You know, nobody in the media bothered to vet Obama in 2007 and 2008. And amazingly what we’re learning now is that nobody in the media bothered to fact-check Obama’s biography.
They just accepted it.
Now a friendly biographer, Maraniss, admits that Obama’s autobiography is full of… Well, it just doesn’t all add up. Piers Morgan says (impression), “It’s a fascinating book to read, next to the Dreams book because there at least someone counted 38 significant parts of the Barack Obama’s version of events that you take issue with, 38,” my gentle, sir. “The Republicans have jumped all over this, as you’d expect saying, you know, this is evidence that Obama’s a fantasist, a liar, made up half of his story. What is the reality about your findings in totality,” sir, “in terms of the veracity, the honesty of Barack Obama’s story?”
MARANISS: The mythologies range from early on when, for instance, in high school in his memoir he says that he wasn’t a starter on his basketball team because he “played black” and the coach “coached white.” Of course I discovered that, in fact, Barack Obama was about the eighth or ninth best player on that team, that he was one of the few players who couldn’t dunk the ball. So it had nothing to do with race. Everything in his book is seen through the lens of race, and that sometimes distorts things. Like the girlfriend that he writes about in his memoir in New York City, he sort of defines her through the lens of race as a white woman who didn’t understand the anger of black people. The real girlfriend, who was Genevieve Cook, had a completely different perspective on race.
RUSH: Maraniss says he’s lying in his autobiography. This is what Maraniss is saying. And this basketball stuff, that’s been out there for a while. Obama is saying that he had trouble on a team ’cause he played black basketball and the coach coached white basketball. Now, I don’t know the difference. I, your humble host, I don’t know the difference between black basketball and white basketball. But Obama did say that he played black and the coach coached white. The official program observer, Mr. Bo Snerdley, with a question. What’s the question? That’s what Maraniss said, that Barack Obama couldn’t dunk the ball. You have to jump, that’s correct.
You have to jump to be able to dunk and he couldn’t dunk so one could conclude he couldn’t jump. So if you can’t jump and dunk you have to play white basketball, I guess. And Obama said he played black ball. The coach coached white ball. And that’s why Obama didn’t play much. But Maraniss says, no, was the eighth or ninth best player on the team. He’s not one of the best, top five. He’s not a starter because he can’t play. This is a friendly biographer telling us that Obama lied about something as insignificant as basketball in high school. Then he makes up this composite girlfriend and talks about how he had trouble with her because she doesn’t understand the anger of black people, and the girl in question had no such problems with race. Made it up.
I don’t know who was on the basketball team. I don’t know the makeup. I don’t know how many Hawaiians. I don’t know how many Samoans. I don’t know how many people from Kenya. I don’t know the makeup of the team, Snerdley. I don’t even know what white ball versus black ball is. Obama said he played black ball, the coach coached white ball and as such the coach was a racist, the team was racist, strategy of the game was racist, and Obama rode the bench. (interruption) Would Obama have worn the Adidas sneakers if they were out then? No way. Adidas canceled the slave sneakers, the shackle sneakers.
Anyway, I don’t know the makeup of the team. I don’t know. All I know is that Obama played black ball, which, somebody tell me what that is. There must be such a thing. Okay, Snerdley says there’s no such thing as black basketball. What would you know? You don’t play.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Snerdley, I looked it up, and there is such a thing as black basketball. In 1999, the New York Times: “Politics of Color, Issue of Style.” The article describes black basketball as played with more athleticism and flair. Basically it’s a game of no defense. It’s just fast break, run-and-shoot, lots of showbiz type stuff and hardly any defense whatsoever. And that’s the kind of game Obama said he had and that the coach didn’t coach. The coach coached white basketball.
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