When I had first read Jack Cashill's analysis, the idea came to my mind to see if Ayers, who is a celebrated leftist propagandist most noted for his attempts to sway young teachers into his ideology of socialist training with his own books, could have the time to do this. I was first looking to refute this analysis because I think it is easier to prove something impossible than it is to prove it plausible. I am more convinced from the time line and the analysis that it is plausible and any attempt to label me as a "troofer" is insulting my experience in this area.
Original Posting:
Some may know that there has been strongly evidenced suggestions that Barack Obama may have had his two books ghostwritten by William Ayers, essentially refuting that there is no relationship between the two.
The initial evidence centered around the facts that the writing techniques between Barack Obama's book Dreams From My Father was eerily similar to those of Fugitive Days, William Ayers autobiography. From Dr. Jack Cashill over at his website:
Jack Cashill's analysis focuses on two specific sentences from both books and here is his analysis:"Prior to 1990, when Barack Obama contracted to write Dreams From My Father, he had written very close to nothing.
As an undergraduate, Obama had written what he justifiably calls some “very bad poetry.” He published nothing under his own name in The Harvard Law Review, where he served as an editor and as president. And after leaving Harvard, he published nothing in its review or in any law journal."
These two sentences are alike in more than their poetry, their length and their gracefully layered structure. They tabulate nearly identically on the Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES), something of a standard in the field.
The “Fugitive Days” excerpt scores a 54 on reading ease and a 12 th grade reading level. The “Dreams’” excerpt scores a 54.8 on reading ease and a 12 th grade reading level. Scores can range from 0 to 121, so hitting a nearly exact score matters.
Now, with all of that said, one has to look at the time line to see if the ghostwriting is even plausible based on time constraints, mainly because William Ayers is the author of a few other books and may not have had the time to write Obama's book in between his own. Through a little research, I was able to extract the following data:
Between 1989 and 2008, William Ayers wrote around 17 different books. During this time frame, he averaged one year between each of his published works, that is, except for two distinct breaks that appear in Ayers' publishing history. The first break that we see with Ayers book releases was between April of 1989 and August of 1995. Dreams From My Father was published during the time that Ayers had that break. The second break by William Ayers took place between September 2005 and basically right now. During this second break Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope was released.
Doesn't it seem VERY coincidental that Obama's books were written at the same time that William Ayers was taking breaks in his own literary aspirations?
Here is the table I used to gather the data:
(Removed from post - see tables and explanation below for reason)
Does this mean that Ayers was Obama's ghostwriter? We can't be 100% sure but we can start to say that there is a pattern that I think puts him right in the thick of things, especially when coupled with the analysis by Jack Cashill.
Updated at 12:09 pm 10/11/08 - Corrected the dates on the first break that Ayers took between book releases. Sorry about that, sleepy and post-trigger happy!
Updated on 10/10/09 - With almost a year gone by and renewed attention on this subject, I thought that I would clean this up a little. It was a little confusing to look at the format and glean anything reasonable quickly without further analysis, so I would give it a new shot. I am not sure at all if this means anything other than coincidence, but it can't be ignored either. If anyone can blow holes through this analysis, I would gladly take the feedback and would not delete any comments made.
So here goes (notice the gaps in Ayers' vs. Ayers' & BO):
| Bill Ayers Writing Timeline | | | | ||
| | Time Between Publishing Dates | | |||
| Books | Start | End | Length Between Books (Days) | ||
| "The Good Preschool Teacher" and "To Become A Teacher" | 4/1/1989 | 8/1/1995 | 2313 | ||
| "To Become a Teacher" and "City Kids, City Teachers" | 8/1/1995 | 4/17/1996 | 260 | ||
| "City Kids, City Teachers" and "A Kind and Just Parent" | 4/17/1996 | 6/1/1998 | 775 | ||
| "A Kind and Just Parent" and "Teaching for Social Justice" | 6/1/1998 | 8/1/1998 | 61 | ||
| "Teaching for Social Justice" and "Teacher Lore: Learning from Our Own Experience" | 8/1/1998 | 3/1/1999 | 212 | ||
| "Teacher Lore: Learning from Our Own Experience" and "Teaching from the Inside Out" | 3/1/1999 | 1/1/2000 | 306 | ||
| "Teaching from the Inside Out" and "A Simple Justice: The Challenge of Small Schools" | 1/1/2000 | 6/1/2000 | 152 | ||
| "A Simple Justice: The Challenge of Small Schools" and "To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher" | 6/1/2000 | 3/1/2001 | 273 | ||
| "To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher" and "Fugitive Days" | 3/1/2001 | 9/10/2001 | 193 | ||
| "Fugitive Days" and "A School of Our Own: Parents, Power, and Community at the | 9/10/2001 | 11/1/2001 | 52 | ||
| "A School of Our Own" and "Zero Tolerance Resisting the Drive for Punishment" | 11/1/2001 | 12/1/2001 | 30 | ||
| "Zero Tolerance" and "Refusing Racism: White Allies and the Struggle for Civil Rights (Teaching for Social Justice, 8)" | 12/1/2001 | 5/1/2002 | 151 | ||
| "Refusing Racism" and "On the Side of the Child: Summerhill Revisited (Between Teacher and Text, 2)" | 5/1/2002 | 10/1/2003 | 518 | ||
| "On the Side of the Child" and "Teaching the Personal and the Political: Essays on Hope and Justice" | 10/1/2003 | 4/1/2004 | 183 | ||
| "Teaching the Personal and the Political" and "Teaching Toward Freedom" | 4/1/2004 | 9/15/2005 | 532 | ||
| "Teaching Toward Freedom" and "City Kids, | 9/15/2005 | 8/1/2008 | 1051 | ||
| "City Kids, | 8/1/2008 | 11/26/2008 | 117 | ||
| "Handbook of Social Justice in Education" and "Fugitive Days PA: Memoirs of an Anti-War Activist" | 11/26/2008 | 1/12/2009 | 47 | ||
| "Fugitive Days PA: Memoirs of an Anti-War Activist" and "The Herb Kohl Reader: Awakening the Heart of Teaching" | 1/12/2009 | 2/1/2009 | 20 | ||
| "The Herb Kohl Reader: Awakening the Heart of Teaching" and "Race Course Against White Supremacy" | 2/1/2009 | 6/1/2009 | 120 | ||
And now, the comparison:
| Bill Ayers Writing Timeline (With Barack Obama's Books included) | | ||
| | Time Between Publishing Dates | | |
| Books | Start | End | Length Between Books (Days) |
| "The Good Preschool Teacher" and "Dreams From My Father" | 4/1/1989 | 7/18/1995 | 2299 |
| "Dreams From My Father" and "To Become a Teacher" | 7/18/1995 | 8/1/1995 | 14 |
| "To Become a Teacher" and "City Kids, City Teachers" | 8/1/1995 | 4/17/1996 | 260 |
| "City Kids, City Teachers" and "A Kind and Just Parent" | 4/17/1996 | 6/1/1998 | 775 |
| "A Kind and Just Parent" and "Teaching for Social Justice" | 6/1/1998 | 8/1/1998 | 61 |
| "Teaching for Social Justice" and "Teacher Lore: Learning from Our Own Experience" | 8/1/1998 | 3/1/1999 | 212 |
| "Teacher Lore: Learning from Our Own Experience" and "Teaching from the Inside Out" | 3/1/1999 | 1/1/2000 | 306 |
| "Teaching from the Inside Out" and "A Simple Justice: The Challenge of Small Schools" | 1/1/2000 | 6/1/2000 | 152 |
| "A Simple Justice: The Challenge of Small Schools" and "To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher" | 6/1/2000 | 3/1/2001 | 273 |
| "To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher" and "Fugitive Days" | 3/1/2001 | 9/10/2001 | 193 |
| "Fugitive Days" and "A School of Our Own: Parents, Power, and Community at the | 9/10/2001 | 11/1/2001 | 52 |
| "A School of Our Own" and "Zero Tolerance Resisting the Drive for Punishment" | 11/1/2001 | 12/1/2001 | 30 |
| "Zero Tolerance" and "Refusing Racism: White Allies and the Struggle for Civil Rights (Teaching for Social Justice, 8)" | 12/1/2001 | 5/1/2002 | 151 |
| "Refusing Racism" and "On the Side of the Child: Summerhill Revisited (Between Teacher and Text, 2)" | 5/1/2002 | 10/1/2003 | 518 |
| "On the Side of the Child" and "Teaching the Personal and the Political: Essays on Hope and Justice" | 10/1/2003 | 4/1/2004 | 183 |
| "Teaching the Personal and the Political" and "Teaching Toward Freedom" | 4/1/2004 | 9/15/2005 | 532 |
| "Teaching Toward Freedom" and "The Audacity of Hope" | 9/15/2005 | 10/17/2006 | 397 |
| "The Audacity of Hope" and "City Kids, | 10/17/2006 | 8/1/2008 | 654 |
| "City Kids, | 8/1/2008 | 11/26/2008 | 117 |
| "Handbook of Social Justice in Education" and "Fugitive Days PA: Memoirs of an Anti-War Activist" | 11/26/2008 | 1/12/2009 | 47 |
| "Fugitive Days PA: Memoirs of an Anti-War Activist" and "The Herb Kohl Reader: Awakening the Heart of Teaching" | 1/12/2009 | 2/1/2009 | 20 |
| "The Herb Kohl Reader: Awakening the Heart of Teaching" and "Race Course Against White Supremacy" | 2/1/2009 | 6/1/2009 | 120 |
As you can see, it seems at least plausible that given the frequency of Ayers' own writing, it could be possible that he would have time to ghost write for BHO.
Posts
7 comments:
A good friend of mine alerted me to this posting.
I've tried wading through Obama's books. The content aside, I've been wondering for a long time how he became quite the writer. As a teacher of composition, I know full well that writing skills do not develop overnight. In fact, I opined to the aforementioned friend that I had my doubts as to Obama's having written the material himself.
Off now to read more of the links.
The problem would not be that Barack Obama's books were ghostwritten for him, the problem would be if Ayres did it. That would make Obama a liar to the point of being wholly untrustworthy and raise the issue of what he was doing in Bali that year.
The Weathermen days were terrible days and it would not surprise me that they would resort to any means to advance their anti-American agenda.
Publia, you hit it right on the head. My Grandmother wrote books, both for herself and ghostwritten for a friend of hers. Therein lies the key, "a friend of hers". If you have someone ghostwrite a book for you, they spend a lot of time working with the person, especially since their name will be on the book or the content will be associated with their name.
I have no doubt that Obama read the book for his audio book readings!
Has anyone thought about what publisher would approach a young Harvard graduate for his MEMOIRS? At his age? WHY? And how many publishers send you away to the beach with your wife while you 'write'??
Everyone remember how little (at all?) he wrote as Editor of the Harvard Law Review? Can't he write? Even the Left's questioned his not having written much.
I can't make heads or tails out of your time line (??) but I'm sure you know what you're talking about.
IS ANYBODY ELSE COVERING THIS?
BILL AYERS RULES...he's winning, too.
I really like your blog. Can you add a link to DIGG your articles. And, on the topic of Digg, do you use the site? It's 90% liberals -- and their posts are having an affect on Google searches.
Here's the Jack Cashill article on Digg: http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Deconstructing_the_text_Obama_s_book_Jack_Cashill. Digg it please! Thanks!
Doesn't it seem VERY coincidental that Obama's books were written at the same time that William Ayers was taking breaks in his own literary aspirations?
Your argument here seems to assume that books are both written and published on the same day.
I mean, you're counting the days between publication dates and calling those "breaks in his own literary aspirations."
That must assume that none of those days were spent writing his own books and therefore he must have written his own books on the same day they were published.
Which of course is just plain silly. It's the time between one publication and the next that authors write their books.
So how can you say that the days between publication dates constitutes "taking breaks in his own literary aspirations"?
I'm sorry, but your "coincidence" argument makes no sense at all.
k
Koyan, your logic is flawed. Of course I was counting the release dates. This gives us a base line for how long it takes him to write a book. There is also time taken to edit a book also. The fact remains that there is still a few gaps in there that coincide with Obama's books.
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