Barack Obama and the Pitfalls of Fraudulent Branding
If Barack Obama had been a commercial product instead of a political candidate, then he and his brand creators — Axelrod et al. — would be facing one of the most massive class action suits ever to hit any American business.
Branded as the superhero of smarts, Barack Obama would be to American government what Einstein was to science.
Branded as an epochal Lightworker, Barack Obama would be a president whose very life formed a dividing line of history. All things would henceforth be measured in before-Barack and after-Barack metaphors.
Branded as a peacemaker of unprecedented prowess, Barack Obama would usher in the era of worldwide kumbaya, while catching the elusive butterfly of civilization’s perfection in his outstretched hand — all without so much as breaking a fingernail.
Sold to the American public as “sort of God,” marketed as a political savior of such extraordinary intelligence and giftedness that there had simply never been anyone like him, Barack Obama so misrepresented himself that hundreds of pundits are still trying to make sense of what went wrong.
When reality met branding-myth, the whole thing fell apart.
Truth happened, you nitwits.
So, imagine that corporate laws against fraudulent branding applied to political advertising.
Well, if they did, then Barack Obama would prove the quintessential false branding case. There wouldn’t be a law school in the country without a case study of the Barack Obama swindle.
I imagine the lawsuit would be akin to a tobacco liability suit on steroids.
I’m old enough to remember when cigarettes were mass-marketed to consumers via television. One of the most successful cigarette branding campaigns, which ran for years on every station, in every magazine, on billboards and the sides of buses and trains, was that of the Marlboro man.
The Marlboro man was so ubiquitous a presence in America that every man, woman, and child in the 50 states knew him by sight. Rugged, handsome, ever-stalwart and strong, never coughing — that’s for sure — riding his mighty stallion, the Marlboro man was the image of terrific masculine benefits for the cigarette that always hung from his mouth as he lassoed a raging steed. His image was matched by the sleek, always sexy female who had “come a long way, baby” with her Virginia Slims. Needless to say, tobacco companies have been paying ever since for such blatant misrepresentation of their unhealthy product.
Considering all the damage this president has done to our economy, our standing in world affairs, and our ability to protect ourselves from Islamic terrorism, there isn’t a citizen in this nation that couldn’t climb on board any class action suit against his outlandishly fraudulent campaign claims.
Fraudulent advertising is no laughing matter in the business world. There are laws against so blatantly misrepresenting one’s product. In the world of commerce, what’s in the box had better be as it was advertised or you’ll be in a heap of trouble with not only your bamboozled customers, but with every regulatory agency that has a single pencil-pusher.
The dangers of smoking aside, this isn’t all that new of a development. Forty years ago, ad man Jerry Della Femina wrote his legendary look at Madison Avenue in the late 1960s, From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor, which, decades later, would go on to be a primer for the writers of TV’s Mad Men show. (The title refers to a line Della Femina used during a bull session when prepping for one of the first American ads for a Japanese auto manufacturer; that no book made today would have such a title shows you how much political correctness creates epistemic closure.)
As Della Femina wrote of his industry and the customers it serves:
There is a great deal of advertising that’s better than the product. When that happens, all that the good advertising will do is put you out of business faster. There have been cases where the product had to come up to the advertising but when the product fails to do that, the advertiser will eventually run into a lot of trouble.
On the intelligence claims, no proof has ever surfaced that any of the Obama brainiac hoopla was anything other than gratuitous accolades granted via affirmative action and white-liberal racial guilt. No transcripts. No professional articles. Nothing. Nada. From kindergarten through law school, not a single shred of evidence has ever surfaced to show that Barack Obama was ever even a good student, much less the brainy wizard of his advertisers’ imaginations. Since the candidate openly admitted to lots of high-school and college drug use, plenty of hoops-shooting, but nary a blip of organized sports rigor, it’s entirely within the realm of probability that those transcripts have been buried with the same malevolent intent as tobacco companies who deep-sixed their own negative research.
Could the Libs be right? Are people actually too stupid to handle their own affairs? After all, 52% of those who bothered to vote, voted for this charlatan. Others snoozed through the election.
Of course, The Pubs offered McCain… not much of a choice. I voted for the Constitution Party candidate… or maybe the Libertarian. I forget which.
But I refused to vote for either of those two clowns. I also refused to not vote!
Unfortunately, you may as well have not voted, for all it mattered. That’s why the Tea Party is critical – not to elect the Republican, but to ensure the RIGHT Republican candidate is nominated. Take care of that, and the rest will follow.
Kyle-Anne, there are actually three sets of defendants in the False and Deceptive promotion, that the American public would, in your hypothetical world outlined above, have a cause of action against.
1) The Pocket Water Carriers:
The three elements most violated by this (so far) unindicted co-conspirator are: a)failure to disclose; b)flawed and insignificant research; c)competitor brand disparagement.
a) Failure to disclose: The litany of items that were known by the Pocket Water Carriers and not disclosed range from knowing that there were no shovel ready projects to knowledge of the direct acceptance of foreign funds through credit cards to relationships with the New Party. And more.
It is considered false advertising under the Lanham Act if a representation is “untrue as a result of the failure to disclose a material fact.” Therefore, false advertising can come from both misstatements and partially correct statements that are misleading because they do not disclose something the consumer should know.
The Pocket Water Carriers have made repeated intentional misstatements and distorted statements with the intent to deceive the consumer.
B)Flawed and Insignificant Research (see, photograph of Paul Krugman as a cross reference)
Advertisements based on flawed and insignificant research are defined under section 43(a) of the Lanham Act as “representations found to be unsupported by accepted authority or research or which are contradicted by prevailing authority or research.” These advertisements are false on their face.
Where to begin? The Global Warming hoax would be a wonderful place to start. The whole notion of “Bush lied” about the intelligence on Iraq’s WMD. The ObamaCare “savings” and “keeping of your own policy”. The Freddie/Fannie cooked books, the involvement of Frank/Dodd in hiding the decline and collapse and the direct consequences of the mortgage meltdown. The failure of HAMP.
This list goes on and on. The Pocket Water Carriers consistently and intentionally mislead the public with a blizzard of false research, buried facts, phony statistics and blatantly false impressions of the truth…all to hurt one political party and to assist a single wing of the furthest left reaches of the political landscape.
C)Product Disparagement
Every day and in every way, the Pocket Water Carriers do everything they can, including KNOWINGLY FALSE claims of racism, (or homophobia, warmongering, stupidity) to disparage ANYONE running against the far left, lefter, leftist reaches of the political landscape. This includes not just the “far right”, but it has included in the race for President in 2008 such “extremists” as Bill and Hillary Clinton, Geraldine Ferraro…and prior to that, the total expulsion from the party itself, of Joe Lieberman.
They met in secret to “pick at random” either a Karl Rove or a Fred Barnes or somebody, anybody…to call racist. The Tea Party? Accused, without substance…of being racist. Oppose the Ground Zero Mosque? Racist. Want to secure the borders? Racist. Victor Davis Hanson? Racist. The Republican Party as a whole? Racist. The police in the Gates affair? Racist.
The intentional provocation of class and racial warfare, divisiveness and antagonism has been promoted on a daily basis by the Pocket Water Carriers on behalf of the far left reaches of the political landscape, to the devastating and destructive disadvantage of the American people. They have torn us apart for their own extremist goals and aspirations. And, they have done it with a mountain of lies and deceit.
The Pocket Water Carriers put out a product each and every day that further poisons this land of ours, far worse than tobacco, far worse than carbon dioxide, far worse than toxic waste.
The day is coming when we ought to consider withholding support not just for the “viewership” or “readership” of these truth mass murdering information stream pollutants, but we ought to start considering those who sponsor them with advertising dollars. Without the ad buys, this would stop. We deserve better. We deserve the truth.
“The Pocket Water Carriers put out a product each and every day that further poisons this land of ours, far worse than tobacco, far worse than carbon dioxide, far worse than toxic waste.”
Carbon dioxide is a trace atmospheric gas, not a poison or pollutant. Life depends on carbon dioxide. If you are against carbon dioxide you are against life — anti-life in other words. {Sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide are poisonous, though.}
yes, I know…I have written about that in many prior posts…just didn’t expound on it here…when I said “far worse” it was a bit tongue in cheek. Thanks.
The Obama God is the figure-head of the “Democratic” Party of the USA. NAME the pocket water carriers. The people in the DNC, who rubber stamped this man. We already know of the Clintons, the Kennedy claque, Nancy Pelosi and the “democratic” hierarchy of New York and California. Apparently without heed to picayune elements in his history. Elements which not only include his academic and employement credentials, but the remaining reservations about his provenance.
About which there remain unanswered questions. Not responses from his cheerleaders who dismiss the question as impertinent, irrelevant, and those who dare to keep it on the fire as deranged and malevolent, but the offices of law / court. Isn’t it, shouldn’t it be, their job to assure that persons holding ANY public office comply with lawful requiirements. Even if the person is vouched for by groups like the DNC, and the “leaders” of the political party who fielded him as their standard bearer. Can it be possible that the Kennedys, the Clintons, the Democratic Congressmen/Senators had no idea of what this man is and from whence he came. Aren’t those who design and manage these sorts of fraudulent measures as GUILTY in law as the actual figurehead /culprit ?
To Sowell disciple :
good thought. But I would extend it further. Clinton was “impeached” for a crime, a REAL crime perpetrated by him. The highest ranking law officer in the land. Here again FIGUREHEAD of the legal structure of the USA.
But the lawyers in the House couldn’t bring themselves to remove him from office, his performance at the impeachment hearing so entertaining, and allowed for an election to a second term and continuance of his program. Which was, and is, as is Hillary’s, and the Democratic Party, to implant their venom via the circulatory system of the Law into the body politic (sub-prime, ACORN etc ). Aided and abetted by Congress and Court. Is it surprising that Clinton, whose rewards included droit de seigneur, is always smiling ?
Their attitude towards America and her citizens is one, no question, of contempt. Now Hillary is seriously bruited by the “Democratic” Party as the white knight to clean up the Obama mess.
It could not be a more blatant proof of their contempt for the American People. AND especially those who are loyal “democrats”.
And with that I am evidently in agreement with Kathy from Kansas.
Very good article and a great “product” comparison. I question only one of your assertions:
“A great many Americans still like the president but they don’t respect him.”
Having spent a good deal of my professional life interviewing people who took part in opinion polls, I believe that respondents are using the “likable” question to say: “I am not prejudiced against his race.” Poll respondents often speak in code just as the questioners do. Most people tend to approve of the people they genuinely “like.” It is also probably true that a high percentage of Americans like that “we” elected a black president—and I don’t think it has anything to do with the so called white guilt. Americans are, by our nature, inclusive, diverse, forgiving and curious. It is only when the government forces those qualities upon us that we resist.
There really appears to be nothing likable about Obama even apart from his policies and practices.
Thanks for putting into words what I have felt for some time now, every time I hear someone say that most Americans still “like” Obama. I have no respect for the man’s attitudes, his policies, or his actions in office, so I find it baffling that anyone could share those opinions about him (as so many seem to) and yet still “like” him. My own attitude has been that it’s great that America finally elected an African-American for president; it’s just a tragedy it was Barack Obama.
Indeed I have always questioned that “like” Obama stuff. I don’t like him, I have never liked him and frankly I consider him a smug, arrogant, Narcissus and I can’t wait for him to be booted out of office in 2012.
His ‘likability’ is every bit as manufactured as everything else about him.
This guy was trained on everything from his voice to his smile to his sports likes and dislikes to his mastery of prevarication.
Where are his friends? He hasn’t a one that isn’t a political ally.
Where are his girlfriends? What heterosexual male doesn’t have some past paramour…none except Obama.
Where are his relatives? There aren’t any alive that can speak about his past. His Indonesian half-sister is 10 years younger. She never spent time with him when she was old enough to have a clear memory.
Where are his school chums? Oh, there are half a dozen who have commented for perhaps a hundred words or less.
Where are his work associates? Nobody he ever worked with will comment.
Where is anybody who knows anything about him besides Moochelle, who has lived a life of a caged vulture since 2008.
He is the ultimate manufactured puppet.
But 18 months into his regime, the only things we know about him are the veiled anger that now seems to ooze out when anything doesn’t go 100% his way…and the hatred and revenge writ large in his ‘accomplishments’.
I hate it when someone puts the Obama White House in perspective like that. It makes me very nervous.
On a side note about his “trained speaking ability” it is most likely self taught and modeled after Malcolm X: hand gestures, timing, it’s all there. Watch a video of Malcom X giving a speech to verify.
not half as nervous as having Obama in the white house makes ME.
It takes 80 million of people like me to have power over HIM. Yet he has virtually unlimited power over US.
And I’ve never stolen so much as a candy bar and have no interest in lieing about anything, because I don’t want anything from anybody that I don’t earn. Yet he’s a criminal who has dedicated his life to stealing what people like me have earned (hundreds of thousands from me…so far), and living like an emperor doing it.
So where are YOU coming from exactly?
The important comment is that ” …speak in code… just as the questioners do”.
Polling is not a neutral act, but a business process. With one or several clients.
The design of the questions as well as their place within the questionnaire is not incidental to the outcome, which surprisingly concludes what best pleases the client/s.
Most of us know and understand this. And therefore accept the reports of polls say with salt. But since many people do not know OR care, but just want to be !”on the winning side”, the polls are more influential than they should be in deciding choices in anything.
Polls are just one more example, as surveys, of the Mad Men influence in this technological, affluent, essentially uneducated population.
Obama was marketed to the American public like a set of tires. He was supposed to be oh so “brilliant,” even though he never ran anything in his entire life, not a town, a city, a state, or a large (or even small) corporation. Nothing, not a single thing. Oh, but he was editor of the Harvard Law Review. I guess that qualifies you to run the largest, most complex economy in the world. And I guess giving a good speech qualifies you to be Commander-in-Chief of the largest and most complex military in the world. And I guess looking good on the cover of a magazine makes you an expert in foreign policy, just like he’s “shining” right now in this showdown with Iran. And looking good on Jay Leno qualifies you to run two wars at the same time in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This is what happens when Americans choose hype over substance, speeches over experience. People during the 2008 election used to make fun of “old men” running the country, you know, the ones with all that experience. Well, I guess we sure could use some of that experience right now considering the big mess we’re in.
November. At least we can start putting an end to this madness on November 2nd. Time for a “do-over,” America.
“In keeping with some of your more recent statements, Mr. President, the dogs don’t like the dog food.”
David Axelrod.
What kind of person lets people buy into the hoopla? Either a narcissist or a liar. A true statesman would never have allowed this to happen.
Do you really believe that Obama will go softly into that electoral goodnight? Any man foolish enough to spout out, 3 weeks before a crucial election, that Americans are basically too stupid and scared to know how to vote, probably isn’t ripe for reconciliation after November.
Obama is going to put up one hell of a fight on everything, becoming ever more distant from reality while blaming everyone else for his fall. You should be scared of such a man because the lashing-out from him will be epic; you don’t just turn on a god figure without god getting a little revenge back at you.
Yes, but there is so much hatred towards him lying around at this point that – should he do that – he is in deep, impeachable trouble. And then he will resign before that point, will not hold out as long as Nixon did. He’ll announce that the people failed to see the Messiah materialize before them, and then he will go.
Unfortunately he will go with our blessing: Secret Service, money for an office, 1/2 his present pay until he dies, flights, etc. Can we “afford” for him to go?
It seems to me that Obama’s record – the huge difference between what he was supposed to be and do and what he actually is and has done – is a perfect justification for impeachment. If Bill Clinton could be impeached for lying about his sexual pecadillos, then surely Obama must qualify for impeachment for lying about himself and for his far worse missteps as President.
Is the current control of the Congress by the Democrats the only impediment to an impeachment? Given that this looks likely to change on November 2, I hope that someone is quietly setting the groundwork for an impeachment proceeding now so that Obama can be turfed as quickly as possible after the new Congress is sworn in.
If none of the sins attributed to Obama by the right are considered serious enough to justify impeachment – although the statute does refer to “high crimes and MISDEMEANOURS” [emphasis added] as justification for impeachment – then maybe legislation or a constitutional amendment should be considered to make future presidential candidates more accurate with their statements and promises.
Accountability is what is needed. If it is wrong and actionable to sell a product that may make an individual sick as if it is good for you, isn’t at least as bad to sell a candidate that can damage your entire COUNTRY for generations to come?
I believe there’s a Supreme Court decision that defends a candidate’s power to lie to the electorate, so there’s not much of a case here for impeachment.
More than likely, one facet of that decision was the assumption by the Justices that there does exist an independent media in the US, and that the public would have opportunity to see the lie exposed. Not in today’s MSM, however.
Don’t jump the gun. What is apparent now is weak soup for impeachment. If Conservatives can achieve some mass in the elections then investigations with real teeth will get carried out.
The justification for impeaching Clinton was his lying under oath — perjury — in the Paula Jones trial. Get it?
Do you really believe that Obama will go softly into that electoral goodnight? Any man foolish enough to spout out, 3 weeks before a crucial election, that Americans are basically too stupid and scared to know how to vote, probably isn’t ripe for reconciliation after November.
Obama is going to put up one he1l of a fight on everything, becoming ever more distant from reality while blaming everyone else for his fall. You should be scared of such a man because the lashing-out from him will be epic; you don’t just turn on a god figure without god getting a little revenge back at you.
You can say that again….
Oh…you did!
As for his throwing a low blow upon leaving the clench…(think boxing) I wouldn’t put it past him to have written up and signed some Machiavellian presidential orders before leaving office that will no doubt delight his merry band of fools and provide a large target for the MSM to shoot at the incoming POTUS – who will have to countermand those orders. We saw this to a small degree with Bush who felt he had to negate some of Clinton’s presidential orders.
I can’t imagine what those orders will be but I bet they’ll make Clinton’s orders pale in comparison. This guy has a vindictive streak a mile wide. The fact that he can never act presidential tells me that much about him. There is a very nasty personality underlying that wide toothy grin.
If only his Belle Michelle would talk!
You ain’t seen nothing yet. If Conservatives win big in November they will most likely block Obama’s agenda full stop, and attempt to force the president into enacting bills he absolutely detests. This will cause him to reorganize and unify the left for different kinds of ground-level tactics. And they will certainly get inline, because if there is anything Obama has shown to us its that his working “charm” is linked to an underdog status.
Vociferous protesting the likes we’ve not seen before. Demonstrations that will be profane and obscene, again the likes unequaled before. Even underground tactics such as liberal business owners dismissing all conservative employees, the like: things that cannot be traced, yet carry much effect. Obama will up his rhetoric and militancy of the left. We’ve only recently gotten some taste of this anger. He will absolutely convince the left that they are being deprived Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness by the right.
In fact, it might only be the attempt to repeal Obamacare that will do it. And, in fact, you can bet that after such an attempt by conservatives Obama will only be addressing the Left as president, so he will purposely divide the country if he doesn’t get his way.
Something like this, “My fellow Americans, I tried to enact comprehensive health reform for you all”… addressing only the left.
And those who were hurt the most by Mr. Obama, support him still. Will they never learn that the Democrat Party empowers itself on perpetual poverty and by dividing Americans. Why would the Democrat Party give up their power by actually working to end poverty and racism.
Obama and his enablers have swindled the American people. The fact that his records remain “sealed” indicates that something is very amiss, about him, and the truth concerning his past. The Dems can accuse me of being a birther, since smears are the best they can do these days. Have at it, I still smell a rat, and someday the truth is going to be known. Hopefully, before it’s too late for this Republic.
A fine article. I tend to think Obama needs help getting his slippers on in the morning, then sits in his high chair being spoon fed his gobbins by a nanny.
False advertising, you bet, by our media. They enthusiastically supported this clown, covered for him, and even went beyond making him look normal, which he isn’t. Most of the media filth are still supporting him. I suppose they hate this country as much as he does.
He does ladle out the dirt and smears quite well, everybody is good at something.
The absurd notion that this barely articulate man with an invisible resume was to be the leader and savior of this country is and was false advertising. Obama is a fraud; his speeches are inane and lack any trace of thought. He was created for the TV spot and the hopey changey jingles that were repeated endlessly. However the media the benefactors of advertising money continue to spread the lie; the pathetic hollow man Chris Mathews still maintains his loyalty and love to this empty leader. Many on the left will continue to repeat the jingle and try to make us believe that there is substance where their is only emptiness. This man Obama managed to manipulate the American white liberal gameplan to perfection and did it without breaking a sweat because these people wanted to be deceived especially those who had obtained degrees from so called prestigious universities . Obama is a product of the thug corrupt culture that permeates American big cities and is viciously attacking what was once a great nation. It will take decades to remove the stench of this administration.
In my opinion, the fanfare of a media army who tingle at the mere mention of his name was the biggest contributing factor to the election of this PC myth. He simply cashed in on, and bamboozled, the cozy knowitall groupthink of the MSM – and they acted as the disciples who spread the word to the rest of us. That exploit is the surest proof that ‘independent journalism’ does not live in the offices and studios of the MSM.
An unexamined life is not worth living, and an unexamined candidate is not worth electing.
So true.
Obama (and his flacks) first snookered the leftist MSM, then a group of moderately conservative columnists — http://bereapundit.com/suckered-by-obama — and then a majority of the electorate in 2008.
Since then, he has managed to bamboozle a goodly number of Democrats in Congress, too — http://bereapundit.com/more-people-suckered-by-obama . (Lots of those folks will pay with their elective seats very shortly.)
As you say, sooner or later, “truth happens.”
Great article. I have often wondered why truth in advertising did not apply to political ads. I realize that the “truth” is very subjective in politics and that political ads for candidates rarely promise anything specific enough to challenge. The promise to “bring hope and change to America” is not in the same category as one that claims to relieve toothache pain within 30 minutes.
However, in CA we have propositions that are quite specific and yet are also the subject of a tremendous amount of disinformation and blatantly untruthful advertising. Even the sitting government gets in the act as when Jerry Brown as attorney general wrote the preamble to Prop 23. He claimed it would unleash a new wave of pollution in California. Of course it does no such thing since it is only about suspending AB32, our draconian CO2 emissions bill, until unemployment eases. The government and government unions all want to defeat this measure since they stand to grow their ranks and dip deeply into the huge fees that AB32 will generate – all in the name of making a tiny inconsequential contribution to global CO2 reductions. And of course it is very debatable that this will affect global temperature or that such temperature change is abnormal or undesirable.
American media that failed to ask any pertinent questions during thge camapign is as much to blame.
Marc Malone
You voted for Obama and retained plausible deniability, that’s all. Throwing your vote in the gutter and then grinning while you admit you did nothing to try and stop the current mess isn’t clever, it’s total stupidity writ large.
The democrat party is now and always has been the party of slavery, sedition, secession, civil war, KKK terrorism, Jim Crow laws, eugenics laws, anti-Semitic immigration restrictions in response to Nazi Nuremberg laws, creators of anti-Christian mythology, the welfare plantation system, voter fraud, voter intimidation, and the eugenics driven mass murder of minority infants. The democrat party has to be so thoroughly destroyed as a national political party that it is no longer a factor in national politics. Refusing to support less than pure Republican alternatives over a pet peeve, sitting out elections, or anything else that keeps you or influences others to not help us rid ourselves of these parasites while we are forced to continue drinking democrat arsenic, is either fifth column democrat propaganda or agreement that we should commit national suicide.
Don’t mince words, tell us what you really think.
Sorry, but the only people the American voters have to blame is themselves. Every single indicator that Obama was an underachieving, Marxist, Islamist-sympathizing crook was OUT THERE–and not just on conservative blogs, either. Granted, you had to go to conservative blogs to get the full story–but even if all you had to go on was the MSM, you still would have heard about Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezko, refusal to release school transcripts, growing up in Indonesia, most liberal voting record in the Senate, plans to talk with Ahmadinejad “without preconditions,” “I will side with the Muslims,” “above my pay grade,” “spread the wealth around,” etc., etc.
It was all there, and people chose to ignore it. Obama himself even said–and the MSM covered it–that people tended to project onto him whatever they wanted to believe.
We deserve the leaders we get–and the majority of our fellow citizens were out-and-out fools.
This is the flip side of the ‘inclusiveness’ and ‘openness’, etc. A dulled-down electorate that will vote for an astoundingly unqualified, anti-American candidate. The American people may once have been great, and now will have to struggle to stay at ‘good.’
Another fun read from Kyle-Anne.
Meanwhile, a desperate country has to deal with the cliff-hanging immediate consequences of the boy who became king without pausing for a job in between; and the unfathomable long-term consequences of nuclear warfare against our economy.
If you accept the premis that he is destroying the country deliberately, then he is an unprecedented genius.
2/2 today.
All newspapers etc need to dump Dowd for you!
Obama’s brainiac credentials are based on “his” two “brilliantly written” autobiographies. That’s why the ghost writer has been treated like a sleeper agent