And to all those African-Americans who have now taken to the streets to decry what they allege is Obama's lacking in the Black community, I still say we are the most unrelenting and unfair when it comes to our own. Bill Clinton (who cut welfare and food stamps) was proudly dubbed by many African-Americans (including 2 of Obama's biggest critics, Tavis Smiley and Cornel West) as the nation's "first Black President" but Obama (who is our REAL first Black President) is not Black enough! Really?
People want to shout about him not doing anything for Black America, but I guess increasing funding for HBCU's , expanding SBA programs for minority-owned businesses and increasing Pell Grants for low-income families means nothing. U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Florida said federal stimulus spending had a clear effect on employment in her state. “I know that when the first stimulus package was passed, I was a member of the Florida Senate,” she said. “Thousands of teachers who were African Americans, police officers – their jobs were saved because the stimulus money came through to help. HBCUs were saved because the stimulus money came through. The Pell Grants were saved; all of these are issues of the African-American community,”
Now, I have already informed myself on what this President has done to help the American population in general, and African-Americans in particular.
Considering 2.7 years as the current timetable of his accomplishments, I would note that President Obama has reformed the health care system, which will provide
subsidies for lower-income individuals who may not currently be covered (many who are AA), and also
provides funding for badly needed community clinics, while doing away with pre-existing condition restrictions such as
diabetes,
high blood pressure, and
coronary heart disease, all ailments suffered in alarming rates by members of the black community.
In addition,
women will soon get birth control free of charge if insured, which means that women who were previously going to
Planned Parenthood – because, even with insurance, they couldn’t afford the price of contraceptives – won’t need to anymore. This leaves women who are uninsured more resources to get birth control via Planned Parenthood. Plus,
the stimulus saved the biggest health care provider to the black community, the various state Medicaid programs. As well, the President closed the
Medicare donut hole in prescription drugs,
reduced seniors’ prescription prices by 50% through the use of generic drugs, and sent
$250 payments to seniors to make up to the lack of a COLA increase for two years now.
Further, the President literally, by his lonesome,
saved the auto industry (while being criticized for it all the while), and in so doing saved many jobs held by African-Americans in the Midwest. No less, the
Cash for Clunkers program provided needed cash to those with clunkers permanently parked or about to stop running.
Benefiting young people who are attempting to afford rising college tuition, President Obama
increased Pell grants,
supported funding community colleges at unprecedented levels, and
reformed the private student loan programs to eliminate the middleman, thereby reducing loan interest rates. He also revamped the actual
repayment of loan programs, reducing them to not more than 10% of income, while providing incentives to those who would choose community service careers. His
credit card reform bill stopped the predatory practice of credit card companies gifting young people with the ability to ruin their credit at an early age (something that hits our community harder than most). He is also
cracking down on for-profit educational enterprises, some of which charge outrageous fees for inferior post-secondary education. These same young people are now able to stay
insured under their parents’ health insurance until the age of 26, whether they are enrolled in school part-time, full-time or not at all.
For the younger children, President Obama is responsible for signing a
bill insuring healthier meals are served in our nation’s public schools, thereby addressing the issue of
childhood obesity, a subject that affects more children in the African-American community than in others. Michelle Obama’s
“Let’s Move” campaign is also addressing this serious issue. And we shouldn’t forget that early in his term, President Obama provided healthcare to
11 million additional children via the CHIP program previously vetoed by President Bush.
As states cut funding for public education, President Obama recently allowed waivers to states to do away with
strict requirements set by No Child Left Behind, requirements which would have marked many of the public schools in low-income neighborhoods for closure. He has also invested in the development and replication of successful
charter school programs, again focusing on low-income communities, while
rewarding teachers who plan to teach in such areas.
President Obama has assisted all Americans, which includes African-American workers, by providing a payroll tax reduction (beneficial to workers who may or may not pay income tax), extended unemployment benefits, kept income tax low for the working class, and signed
financial reform into law (which benefits our community largely because
minorities were especially hard hit by the subprime mortgage crisis). There is also the up and coming
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which promises to be on the side of consumers, and we as black people are certainly that!
I cannot forget that the first black president
increased military pay and improved veterans’ health care, is
drawing down troops in Iraq, and has set a
timeline for our departure from Afghanistan.
Lastly, President Obama instituted reform of
crack cocaine sentencing, and the deadly killer,
the tobacco industry. And – lo and behold –
black farmers were recently finally awarded their long awaited settlement!
"Clearly, we can't sit and wait for Obama to knock on our doors to chat. Our elected
leadership will do what it will for as long as we allow it. Indeed, we can't "make them" fix the economy by asking them to do it. We can only get it to happen by organizing, educating, and mobilizing people from all walks of life to fight for justice in all places where it does not exist, from our nation's capital to our own neighborhoods." So ask yourself this the next time you find yourself complaining about what your President has not done in the past 2 years, "what have I done in the past 2 years to help my President?" The answer just may surprise you and we just might find out that the real problem may not be all about the President's record it may be about our record as well!
Source:
An Obama Supporter Strikes Back: Points in Defense of the President -
http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12966
Obama promised to close the detention center within a year of taking office, after taking office, not during the campaign. Public displeasure with the decision to close the prison grew. Fifty percent of those surveyed said they disapproved of closing the facility. After the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound jet on Christmas Day, conservatives renewed calls for Obama to abandon his plans to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.
