My Only Disappointment in the President

[Valin]

Ricochet:

Jack Dunphy

10/21/12

 

The headline is perhaps misleading in that it may suggest satisfaction with all but one of President Obama’s endeavors. This is not the case with me, as I was among those who, during the previous presidential campaign, found themselves immune to Mr. Obama’s charms. To be disappointed is to have expected other results, and indeed nothing that has transpired since his inauguration, from a lagging economy to an imploding health care system to a foreign policy in collapse, comes as a surprise to anyone who judged then-Senator Obama by his record rather than his rhetoric.

 

But there is one crisis – and it is a genuine crisis – that Mr. Obama was uniquely situated to address yet has failed to do so. I refer to the horrific level of inner-city crime in America, the root cause of which is the appalling number of children whose fathers are little more than sperm donors. It is considered crass to discuss such things but facts are facts, and the fact is that no ethnic group in America has a higher rate of illegitimate births than do blacks, at 72.5 percent. And nowhere is the link between fatherless children and crime more vividly illustrated than in Mr. Obama’s adopted hometown of Chicago, where more than 400 people have been murdered thus far in 2012.

 

Mr. Obama, by all accounts a devoted husband and father, had the opportunity to use the prestige of his office to lower the illegitimacy rate among Americans in general and blacks in particular, not through the sort of government intervention of which he is so fond, but rather through the example he sets in his own family. How many speeches on Obamacare did we endure, how many appearances on The View did he make, how often were we expected to marvel at his acumen in selecting his brackets in the NCAA basketball tournament? He was an unavoidable figure on television, from C-SPAN to the news channels and even to ESPN, all to promote himself and his agenda of an intrusive federal government burrowing ever more deeply into every aspect of American life.

 

(Snip)

[RedlegDuke]

Again, it is Obama's self-centered focus. It is all about him. He has turned completely around, John F. Kennedy's famous quote, "Ask not what my country can do for me, but rather, what I can do for my country!"

[nickydog]

The writer makes a very good point, but I'm afraid Obama does not identify with the black community except to use them for his own political purposes. As Redlegduke says, he only cares about himself.

[Valin]

Again, it is Obama's self-centered focus. It is all about him. He has turned completely around, John F. Kennedy's famous quote, "Ask not what my country can do for me, but rather, what I can do for my country!"

 

The writer makes a very good point, but I'm afraid Obama does not identify with the black community except to use them for his own political purposes. As Redlegduke says, he only cares about himself.

 

 

From the Comment section

 

"Lavaux

 

What could Obama do about inner-city crime that doesn't involve spending money we don't have, violating our constitutional system of federalism, or sticking his nose into places it's not wanted? Very little, I suspect. Oh sure, he could try to do like Bill Cosby and encourage inner-city blacks to embrace traditional bourgeois/protestant values such as marriage, hard work, thrift, charity etc., but of course Obama doesn't believe the aforementioned values are the answer to the problem.

 

Instead, Obama's message to inner-city blacks is Rev. Wright's message, namely, that they are victims of the racist, greedy white majority, and that their problems can only be remedied by imposing Fabian socialism on America. Not surprisingly, this is exactly what Obama has attempted to do."

 

 

I'm afraid this goes much deeper than politics.