’2016: Obama’s America’ Docu Slammed By President’s Campaign As “Lies”
BREAKING… EXCLUSIVE: Dinesh D’Souza is the conservative author of the best-seller The Roots Of Obama’s Rage which was the basis for the #2 political documentary of all time 2016 Obama’s America. He is also its co-director. He answers today’s slam on the film by the Obama-Biden campaign, which comes just as the movie is hot in battleground states and its producers are looking for a network to air it before the November election. D’Souza attacks the mainstream media for “refusing” coverage:
DEADLINE: What is your reaction to today’s Obama-Biden campaign slam of 2016 Obama’s America??
DINESH D’SOUZA: “I welcome Obama’s critique of the film. He has probably figured out that he cannot ignore it any longer. Obama’s response is a characteristic mix of name calling and false allegations. Some of the claims he makes refer to things that are not even in the film. Elsewhere Obama just gets it wrong. For example, he disputes that he funded $2 billion in Brazilian oil exploration. In reality, Obama has given billions of dollars not only to Brazil but also to Colombia and Mexico to drill for oil. On March 19, 2011, Obama gave a speech in Brazil in which he deplored the legacy of colonialism, promised technology and support for Brazilian energy development, and concluded “when you are ready to start selling we want to be one of your best customers”. The facts in the film stand up very well to the closest scrutiny. I think people should see 2016 and make up their own minds.
DEADLINE: What do you think of the criticism the film has received?
D’SOUZA: The criticism of the film actually bothers me less than the neglect of the film. If I were Michael Moore and I were to make a film that was the No. 2 political documentary of all time, I would be on every network. I would be on Meet The Press, and I would be profiled in The New York Times, and I would be all over MSNBC. Instead large sectors of the press are refusing to cover the film. They are just pretending it doesn’t exist.
DEADLINE: What is your response to charges that you are simply an anti-Obama propagandist?
D’SOUZA: I tried very hard with this film to make an intelligent film with credible sources and new information. I’m a college president [D’Souza in 2010 was named the president of The King’s College, a Christian college located in New York City], I’ve been a fellow at the Hoover Institution and at the American Enterprise Institute, so what is kind of funny is in a guy like Michael Moore we have a true propagandist and a true conspiracy theorist. A guy who is fast and loose with the facts. My film was to some degree inspired by Fahrenheit 9/11. In the sense that I remember that Michael Moore dropped that film in the middle of the 2004 campaign and it had a big impact. But nevertheless, I set out to make very different type of film than Michael Moore. One that is, first of all, not just preaching to the converted. And second, one that doesn’t insult the intelligence of the audience. And I really think that is actually a large part also of the film’s appeal. That even though the left says it’s propaganda, it’s a risky attack on the film because when people go to see it, they actually see whether they agree or disagree that it is not propaganda. Whatever your politics, you are going to come away from this film saying at least, “Hey, I do know a whole bunch of things about Obama I didn’t know 90 minutes ago.”
DEADLINE: How do you respond to claims that the film is racist?
D’SOUZA: There have been some factual attempts to puncture the film but those I think have not worked. So now we have the sleezeball attack. Basically an attempt to blacken my name and imply the film is some sort of a birther type film, which it most emphatically is not, or to suggest that there is some racial element in the film. Whereas in reality I go out of my way to diffuse the race issue to say this is not about race. What Obama is about, in my opinion, is he is a Global redistributionist. He’s pursuing reparations but it’s not racial reparations. It’s global reparations for the sins and conquest of colonism. So the film is manifestly not racial. Now it does explain that part of Obama’s appeal is that he, you know, offers White America the certificate of racial absolution, if you will. That he makes people feel good about voting for him, as if by doing that they are somehow transcending America’s racial past. …But that hardly makes the film a racial film. That’s simply part of the film’s intelligent analysis of what’s going on out there.
DEADLINE: You have been accused of saying that the President doesn’t have America’s best interests at heart.
D’SOUZA: Look, what I say is it’s not that Obama hates America. It’s not that he’s a traitor, that he’s a secret Muslim, that he’s a Manchurian Candidate. He simply subscribes to an ideology that thinks it would be good for America to have a diminished economy and a diminished role in the world. In other words, Obama is all about what he perceives as global justice. And global justice to him means a redistribution of wealth and power away from America and towards the rest of the world. That’s his ideology. He thinks it would be good for America to have a humbler role in the world. He thinks it would be good for America not to be No. 1 but to be No. 18 or No. 34 in the world. It’s part of his vision of global justice. Nowhere do I question his motives or say that he is a bad guy. Rather what I’m saying is these are his beliefs, this is his ideology.
DEADLINE: Why do you think the film has been successful at the box office?
D’SOUZA: I’ve been pleasantly surprised and thrilled by its success which I attribute to the deep hunger on the part of people for factual information about Obama, combined with a sense that the full story about Obama is not out there, combined with an intuitive sense that the mainstream media has not been doing its job in fully vetting Obama. So when people watch the film there is a powerful sense of “Wow, I didn’t know all this stuff” and “Why didn’t I know all this stuff because this information is really valuable in helping me think about Obama and the future of this country?” I also attribute it to the riveting Obama story. Obama has a fascinating story. I think there’s almost an element of Greek drama here of a boy who is left, abandoned by his father and goes on an odyssey to find his father and to find himself. I think it’s the storytelling element of the film that is part of makes it so effective. I wanted to make a film that didn’t look like a TV documentary but looked more like Out Of Africa. A beautiful shot film that would take you from Hawaii to Chicago to Indonesia to Kenya to tell the Obama story. So I feel very good about the quality of the film.
DEADLINE: Are you planning a sequel?
D’SOUZA: No, not a sequel about Obama. I’m excited about the idea of doing another film. But the topic that I’m thinking about has more to do with the search for God and the role of Christianity in the world rather than another film about Obama. It’s just an idea right now. I’ve written three books about this topic. It’s a topic that’s interested me for several years.
Deadline's Dominic Patten - tip him here.


We saw the film. It is fair and objective. D’Souza has done a masterful job. Every American should see this for themselves. Don’t believe the detractors. Go see it and judge for your self.
D’Souza will of course be trashed here–Hollywood is a one-church town, and D’Souza doesn’t sing from that hymn book–but his interview answers above are calm, reasonable, and persuassive…. much like his film, which I have seen and which a bunch of folks who aim their ire at him obviously have not. I think we’re in trouble when a respectful, well-considered critique of a president brings forth such bile. It poisons the debate.
Saw the movie. It was truly the biggest piece of crap I have ever seen. It should be nominated for many Razzies and win all of them.
By your statement then Obama is a Razzie because this movie is about Obama in his own words.
This moment in comedy history has been brought to you by Irony By Yvette.
I call BS. You did not see the same movie I did.
Hallelujah Jones wrote:
“Saw the movie. It was truly the biggest piece of crap I have ever seen. It should be nominated for many Razzies and win all of them.”
I get so frustrated when anyone comes onto these forums and makes a blanket/bold statement without giving any information on the basis of their claim. So…what about the film you saw was “crap”? Stand up to your own convictions. Do you even know what you believe, outside of the fact that this film opposes what you believe to be truth?
Thank you Deadline for covering this story! Deadline has proven itself to be above the fray and an excellent source for news.
If I were Michael Moore and I were to make a film that was the No. 2 political documentary of all time, I would be on every network. . . . Instead large sectors of the press are refusing to cover the film. They are just pretending it doesn’t exist.” Yes, very similar to how the press handles (i.e., ignores) Tea Party rallies that dwarf rallies by pro-abortion groups or Occupy Wall Street protests. “Mainstream” journalists are neither; they are the propaganda arm for the Left, ergo they are irrelevant to the majority of Americans.
D’Zousa admits in the beginning of his film that he was born in India, but went to College here in America. If I remember correctly, he went to Dartmouth.
I watched his film over the weekend. It’s an excellent film that all voters should watch wether you’ve made your mind up on voting for whichever canadite you’ve chosen.
Why do people say this is a anti-Obama film? It’s not. Most of the words spoken in the film is from Obama himself. This film is excellent. By the way, parts of it are coming true right now. Look at what is happening in Egypt. It’s all in Obama’s plan. Wake up people.
You’ve really opened my eyes. Oh yes.
It’s kind of hard to D’Souza seriously when he had an appearance on Bill Maher’s show which conservatives are always complaining about for being so liberal.
He has a history w/Maher. And, Maher’s show is liberal biased. The fact that he has conservative guests doesn’t alter that at all.
Hannity has liberal guests on his show, does that make it less conservative?
Another vote in the bag…
FilmBuffRich: Of course, if he were on a conservative show, you would make the argument that you can’t take him serious, when he only appears on right wing shows. Besides, Jesus associated with the prostitutes, beggars, and other lowlifes in order to convert them. Perhaps D’Souza is doing the same.
It’s a GREAT film — and although I am no friend of OhBummer or of the OhBummer Wrecking Crew — the Democrat party and their drooling sycophants in the Democrat-captured media — the film is evenhanded and leaves judgements to the viewer. It is also beautifully shot and there is about the film a fascinating sense of tracking through a world with so much unrealized human potential, a global culture suffering under the dead hand of corruption, statism and toxic, lethal religions.
Pencils down people: the voice of reason and objectivity has spoken.
I hope this movie is shown by a network. It is funny to watch people knock the movie when they clearly have not seen it. Every voter in America needs to see this movie. It will help you to understand where this president has been and where he is trying to take us.
@Maxx – why is it a stupid movie? Because it doesn’t go with your own thoughts of Obama? The movie is not about where Obama was born, it is about is ideas and the harm they will bring to America’s power and wealth. If the movie was against Romney would you still call it trash. Stop being small minded.
Funny how D’souza is now an expert in much to be feared ideology of anti-colonialism having been born and raised in India to a family with the means to send him to Dartmouth.
The movie was excellent. The book “Roots of obama’s rage” was also a great take.
Dinesh D’Souza is nothing more than a charlatan. If you saw what a schmuck he was on the BIll Maher show last week, you’d no that he is totally idiotic, and a Christian fundamentalist. This movie is nothing more than a smear campaign, financed and distributed by the Republican party. Who is the distributor for this film and how did they book 2000 screens? It takes serious money to do this kind of rollout. It’s all smear money, IMHO.
You’re entitled to your opinion about D’Souza, but apparently you don’t understand that Bill Maher invites conservatives on his show so he can belittle them. I don’t watch his show anymore, but I’m sure Mr. D’Souza handled himself quite well and held his own. The movie had limited release until people like me began seeing it all over the country. No, the GOP did not fund it. But what if they did? Go see it. You will hear Obama’s voice throughout the film because he tells his own story in his biography, Dreams from My Father.
Saw the film, knew all of it’s contents already. All Mr. D’Souza did was compile many known facts along with his prior interviews into a very well made film.
Unfortunately He didn’t touch on the fact that he (Dinesh) collected money to put Obumbler’s brother George through Mechanic’s school nor did he mention that he cut a check recently get George a needed surgery he couldn’t afford.
This is a classic reason why something like the Obama campaign shouldn’t have commented on the film. The film had pretty much peaked in interest (as indicated by the 41% drop off at last weekends box office, despite expanding by 270 theaters), but now the discussion of the film will be reignited.
I haven’t seen the film, but had the campaign ignored it, the film would likely have been forgotten by election time.
“And global justice to him means a redistribution of wealth and power away from America and towards the rest of the world. That’s his ideology. He thinks it would be good for America to have a humbler role in the world.”
As an American who spent 20 years in other parts of the world, and saw firsthand what it was like to be on the hard end of Bush’s big stick, I think Obama’s absolutely right. There is power, and then there is abuse of power, and when the sun sets on the empire, it’s time to let it go and enjoy what will still be one of the best standards of living on the planet. We can still be a fine nation without being number one, possibly a kinder nation than we are right now. I am not for redistribution, but the ridiculously rich should not be allowed to avoid the obligations everyone else is supposed to fulfill. Do you really want a president who pays half the tax percentage of ordinary people, cuts every level of social support on the grounds there is no money, meanwhile having the temerity to hide his money offshore? (Let’s not even talk about the incredible danger that man represents in terms of foreign policy.) Clearly, you do. I don’t. So thanks for this interview, and for reminding me that I too stand for justice. I will definitely vote for Obama now.
Well then, why don’t you see the movie, and make up your own mind based on the information presented and your own fact-checking. But I guess it would just be easier to vote for the Guy that everyone else says is the best choice, appears on Jimmy Kimmel, and is a Hollywood tool, instead of using your brain and researching the facts
What is quite interesting is here we have a film that, with little hype and only shown on 1,000 screens when it opened, became a top three box-office smash on its opening weekend. A week later viewing was expanded to 800 more screens and the crowds poured in. Theater owners were not about to pass up cash.
And guess what? Many media outlets didn’t even bother to review it. And now, two weeks after its release, crowds continue but the spineless press looks away. It is the same treatment that they accorded the continuing best-seller book, The Amateur, by Edward Klein that reveals Obama and all of his failings. If it is at all critical of the resident of the White House, ignore it.
Our media is so obvious in their support of our failed leader.
*sigh* Look at the stock market numbers. Look at corporate profits. Up, up, up. America is certainly better off than when Bush left office. Obama is hardly a ‘socialist’ with some agenda that is terrible for America. He’s a corporatist all the way. You have to take somebody with an agenda (Christian;anti-abortionist) and anything they present with a grain of salt. You can hit the ‘fear’ button over and over: nobody is buying it. He’s essentially preaching to the converted as the comments here prove. Nobody is buying this stuff, certainly not me.
Way to give this opportunistic hack attention he doesn’t deserve. The film is a conservative-funded hit piece on the President that that makes Michael Moore look calm and reserved. OF COURSE he wants the film on TV before the election– the better to serve the “anonymous” Right Wing funders that produced it. D’Souza is a partisan bomb-thrower who doesn’t bother showing both sides of the issues– to call this objectively racist (D’Souza, like many conservatives, relishes pointing out racial conspiracy theories then backtracking as if he’s innocent of the charges lobbed against him) Republican Talking Point Infomercial a documentary is a slap in the face to anyone who’s ever worked in the medium.
Jack, Jack, Jack…
We certainly all have the right to believe and say what we want to. And I am thankful for that right and hope we never lose it (for all sides) I can’t tell in this posting if you actually saw the film, however it seems that your commentary is saying the same rhetoric as you are accusing the film, author and those associated with the film, of. Just blasting out many “talking points” rather than using the facts as you see them to present your argument about the film. What specifically is false about what is mentioned in the film? What racism are you actually talking about related to the film, and what do you specifically disagree with? What do you mean with your statement:
“D’Souza is a partisan bomb-thrower who doesn’t bother showing both sides of the issues”
What other side are you specifically talking about? – if you disagree with what the film says…please share why instead of using the same “talking points” that everyone else who disagrees has been using. Lot’s of disagreements, but I haven’t seen any real substance in what is being said by those who disagree with the film…
Does nobody understand that the President is simply a figurehead, and that it doesn’t matter who is in office?
Thank you for doing what the press has failed to do in over five years. The press and the MSM should be ashamed but they clearly are not. See the documentary and then decide but first gather as much information as possible.
Go check the movie, instead. It will create grave doubts about Obama’s mindset and intentions for any fair-minded viewer. I thought it was going to be shallow propaganda. Wow, was I wrong. Very, very scary, and very well researched. Democrats doing all they can to dissuade people from seeing it, including swarming Rotten Tomatoes with obvious distortions.
The film was brilliantly done and very powerful. D’souza is a Godsend to America.