Our First ‘Red Diaper Baby’ President?

This information gets to the core of the intellectual and political development of our current president, the most powerful man in the world, the man in charge of the mightiest economic engine in history.

As president, Barack Obama is many things — many unprecedented things. There’s the commendable: the truly historic achievement (with apologies to Bill Clinton) of being the first black president. There’s the dubious: the lamentable distinction (christened by Newt Gingrich) of being the first “food stamp president.”

But here’s an intriguing, provocative thought: Is Barack Obama our first “Red Diaper Baby” president? Gee, that would be unprecedented.

Now, before deeming the question over-the-top, out-of-bounds, and unnecessarily incendiary, hear me out:

I come at this question as a Cold War historian and as the guy who wrote the book on Obama’s mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, a hardcore communist. And the thought is not my own. It was posed to me last week by an emailer, and I’m surprised the thought never once crossed my Cold Warrior mind, particularly given the daily questions that I field about Obama’s past, the communists in Obama’s past, and even whether Obama himself is a communist. I’ve heard them all. I’ve considered those questions from every angle, and yet, this one never occurred to me.

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