For example, the original text, as written by Iacocca, begins like so:
Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course."Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!
The same passage, as anonymously altered for Internet consumption, reads as follows:
Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage with this so called president? We should be screaming bloody murder! We've got a gang of tax cheating clueless leftists trying to steer our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even run a ridiculous cash-for-clunkers program without losing $26 billion of the taxpayers' money, much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'trust me the economy is getting better..'Better? You've got to be kidding. This is America , not the damned, 'Titanic'. I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the Democrats out along with Obama!'
And so on. When Iacocca wrote "Throw the bums out!" he was referring to the Bush administration, not Obama and the Democrats. In fact, when the book was published Obama had only recently announced his candidacy. This is what Iacocca wrote of Barack Obama then:
Barack Obama is one of those stars who seem to come from nowhere to capture the imagination of the nation. What's not to like about this guy? He has CHARISMA and CONVICTION, and obviously he has strong COMMUNICATION skills. In my opinion, his race isn't an issue. We're as ready to elect a black man as we are to elect a woman. But is Obama the one? Is he COMPETENT to be President? He lacks experience in national government, and the media needs to push him on how he would lead — especially in foreign affairs. however, lack of experience isn't always an insurmountable barrier. Look at the mess George Bush's experienced team of Cheney and Rumsfeld mad of things. But Obama is going to have to get very specific about what he would do and who would be on his team, in order for us to have enough confidence in him.
No doubt Mr. Iacocca would have a few critical things to say of Obama now that he's been in office for over a year. Perhaps some of those criticisms would even be harsh. We don't know, because Iacocca has made very few public statements about politics since the 2008 election. What we do know is that none of the statements about Obama attributed to Iacocca in the email were actually made by him, though someone seems awfully keen on convincing us that they were.
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Sources and further reading:
Where Have All the Leaders Gone?
By Lee Iacocca and Catherine Whitney (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007)
Last updated 01/27/10
