Alfred J. Freddoso

Prelude:  Among David's claims to fame -- the sort that he takes merciless kidding from his friends about -- is that in 2002 one of his articles was used by Tim Russert to trap then Sen. Tom Daschle on Meet the Press. It was a thing of beauty, even though Russert didn't mention David by name. Also -- don't tell my academic colleagues! -- during the 2004 presidential election campaign, a piece by David about John Kerry's 2002 plan for Iraq was read word-for-word by Rush Limbaugh (including many accurate pronunications of the name "David Freddoso") on his nationally syndicated radio show.

During hot 2008 political season, David  made an appearance on C-Span's American Journal along with several appearances on CNN and a bevy of radio appearances on various talk shows, including those of William Bennett (Morning in America), Michael Graham (Boston), Drew Mariani (Relevant Radio, Chicago), Kirby Wilbur (Seattle), etc.

The book:  Oh, yeah, and then there's that New York Times (seven weeks on the hardcover non-fiction list) and Amazon.com bestseller, along with TV appearances on CNN, CNN Headline News, CSNBC, Fox News, and MSNBC, and so many radio interviews that I have lost track.

As far as I can tell, no reviewer ever identified a significant factual error in the book.  (I mean serious reviewers, not those who wanted, without any hard evidence, to reduce all criticisms of the candidate to slurs.)  This is good.  I myself think it's a pretty good book.  Ben Smith, who's covering the Democratic campaign for Politico, seems to think so, too.  So does Stephen Hayes of The Weekly Standard -- or so he told Campbell Brown on CNN (search the transcript for "Freddoso").  Not to mention a couple of conservative stalwarts, Pat Buchanan and Hugh Hewitt.  (Hewitt even started a campaign for the book.)  Jim Geraghty contrasts Dave's book with its more, shall we say, speculative competitor, and this invited op-ed in the Wall Street Journal indicates that the kid is not washed up as a journalist for having written the book.  So does this invited op-ed in the New York Post.  And check out this cool (and revealing) interview with Dave by the Irish Rover of Notre Dame.

Notice, by the way, that the Obama campaign had not until September 15 (feast of Our Lady of Sorrows) issued an official response to David's book, the way it had to that other, more speculative book.  On the other hand, the Chicago Tribune's John Kass, who is cited in the book, was not so shy.  Talking about the book, Kass penned the memorable line, "It is the pin of reason to the Obama balloon."  Jennifer Rubin concurred.  Gerard Baker, the primary American correspondent for the London Times, called The Case against Barack Obama "a brilliantly cogent and measured book."  

But then, when David was about to appear on the venerable Milt Rosenberg's show on Chicago's WGN, a mass email by the Obama campaign went out describing David himself (as in ad hominem) in terms that would not, shall we say, make a parent proud.  (I didn't notice any specific criticisms of the book in the email .... must have been an oversight.)  But not to worry, David was immediately defended by Jim Geraghty (includes the email) and Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review, Joel Mowbray via Powerline, and, more tellingly, by Ben Smith of Politico, who thinks that Dave is actually a pretty good political reporter.  Then there's the review in the Economist, the one in the Wall Street Journal, and Matthew Vadum's stirring defense of David in The American Spectator.  Not to mention an appearance on the The O'Reilly Factor and kudos from Thomas Sowell.  Tony Blankley adds:  "Nor have the media paid any serious attention to Mr. Obama's rise in Chicago politics — how did honest Obama rise in the famously sordid Chicago political machine with the full support of Boss Daley? Despite the great — and unflattering details on Mr. Obama's Chicago years presented in David Freddoso's new book, the mainstream media continues to ignore both the facts and the book. It took a British publication, the Economist, to give Mr. Freddoso's book a review with fair comment."  With friends like that, who cares who your enemies are?  (On the other hand, the thought of the Obama administration persecuting and prosecuting my kid has a chilling effect on me; on Rich Lowry and Michael Barone, too.)