The Use of History for Political Ends

Noted historian Jill Lepore has recently published The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party and the Battle over American History (Princeton University Press 2010). Her ostensible intent is to demonstrate the danger of crafting past events to fit present goals.
This book is disappointing on so many levels because it could have been so much better. I pass over the errors in fact checking to get to the heart of the matter. The Whites of Their Eyes is little more than a Progressive screed against perceived enemies. This is disappointing. It could have, should have been a great historiographical essay on changing values extracted from the War of Independence. Instead Lepore presents the reader with a selective caricature of the Tea Party movement.
Her misrepresentations are legion. Here are a few: Yes, Rand Paul, the Republican Senate candidate from Kentucky, has a problem with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Unfortunately, Lepore does not explain what the problem is. If one is at least paying lip service to the idea of objectivity or fairness, should you not say something more than he objects to this law? Not if you are writing a political text.
As for the idea of discerning the original intent of the Founders, Lepore "Borks" this idea literally and figuratively. She states it as a goal of the Tea Party and associates it with Judge Bork. For her this is enough said in its defense. She does, in a vacuum, provide several good counters to this theory but never really states what "Original Intent" is. In discussing the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, she does not catch the fact that in regard to slavery Lincoln referred to the Declaration of Independence while Douglas referred to the Constitution. Their different appeals is crucial to understanding both sides of this issue. Understanding both sides of an issue is something Ms. Lepore seems unwilling to do. That is well and good for a political work but not a work of history. She decries selective history while being guilty of the same offense.
The use of history for political ends is an ongoing problem. Unfortunately, Ms. Lepore only adds to the mess. Margaret Macmillan's Dangerous Games is a much better resource.