In an excerpt from his new book, “The Obama Hate Machine,” Bill Press examines the flood of anti-Obama literature that has emerged since the president took office:
The American landscape, unfortunately, is peppered with presidential libraries, most of which are not worth the time or money for a visit. Each president gets one.
But with Barack Obama, it’s going to be different. He will become the first former president to require two presidential libraries: one to house the personal papers and historical record of America’s first African-American president; the second to house the mountain of Obama hate books that have been published during his time in office.
Who says President Obama hasn’t helped grow the economy? Just ask conservative imprints Regnery Publishing or Encounter Books .
The Daily Beast’s John Avlon was the first to track down the anti-Obama literature in detail. By his count, there were five books attacking Obama published even before he reached the White House. By year three of his presidency, a staggering sixty-seven books, at a minimum, had been published that demonized Barack Obama — far more than either Bill Clinton or George W. Bush had to contend with — and the number keeps growing.
Even though throwing mud at Bill Clinton was a favorite pastime of the far right, keeping Regnery and other publishers busy, only eleven anti-Clinton books had been published by his two-year anniversary.
George Bush got off even easier. According to Avlon, only five anti-Dubya books had hit the shelves by the same time in his presidency. Only in 2004, after his contentious reelection campaign, did the number of anti- Bush books reach forty-six.
