White House Bashes Forbes for 'Kenyan' Article

The White House lashed out at Forbes yesterday over a recent cover story accusing Obama of inheriting the "cause of anti-colonialism" from his Kenyan father. Most critics have attacked writer Dinesh D'Souza or Newt Gingrich, who parroted the ideas in a recent interview. But Robert Gibbs took aim at the magazine. "It's a stunning thing, to see a publication you would see in a dentist's office, so lacking in truth," he told Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post. "Did they not fact-check this at all?"

Gibbs met with Forbes' Washington bureau chief to express the administration's disapproval. Forbes issued a brief statement in its defense, saying the story "was presented as an analysis of how the president thinks. No facts are in contention." Asked separately for comment, D’Souza said, “The idea that Obama has roots that are foreign is not an allegation, it's a statement of fact." It's also a fact, Kurtz points out, that Obama's father left when he was a 2-year-old. (See recent stories about the criticism of Gingrich here.)