LatinaLista — Everywhere we turn in the media today, there are three stories that are dominating the headlines: Rightfully, the Haiti earthquake and the ongoing rescue efforts; Naturally, the Republican victory and what this means for healthcare reform and; Amazingly, a report card review of Obama’s first year in office.
As part of a demographic who never adhered to party loyalty but based votes more on the individual, I find it unfair to evaluate this man’s first year in office since he had to hit the floor running before he even took the presidential oath, unlike any other U.S. president in recent history.
Obama assumed a presidency weighed down with collateral damage, something his critics, and most Republican pundits, have conveniently forgotten.
Over the weekend, on Meet the Press‘ roundtable discussion, it was laughable how Karen Hughes, a former counselor and senior advisor to President George Bush, refused to acknowledge that the challenges Obama faced when coming into office had anything to do with her former boss.
When one of her roundtable colleagues used the word “inherited” to refer to the challenges Obama faced, Hughes retorted in part:
Every president inherits challenges. President Bush inherited a recession when, when he took office. I think the, the, the first year has been very disappointing, and the reason is that, that President Obama has not governed as he campaigned.
A recession is a far cry from a global financial downfall and everyone in this country knew that what awaited Obama was not going to be easy. Yet, impatience has a way to make people forget and provides perfect cover for those critics who want nothing more to do than ridicule a guy to make him seem inept.
There are some things we need to remember.
When Obama took office, the rest of the world had felt alienated from the United States. Obama had to work, though not that hard, to re-establish those bonds of friendship/cooperation that are necessary in a global economy.
It was obvious that just the ouster of the Bush administration was enough to bring relief to our allies. That they felt strongly enough to award Obama the Nobel Peace Prize for doing nothing more than inspiring hope speaks volumes for how much disdain the rest of the world had felt towards the United States.
When Obama took office, the level of secrecy in the White House and the open repulsion the president and his staff never hid towards the media wasn’t just painful to watch for people who believe in an open government, but deeply disturbing.
There was no transparency, no accountability and evasiveness at every turn. Suddenly, certain media outlets were labeled as “liberal,” for asking hard questions, deemed invasive by the White House. It was an era where the distinct impression left was that the Bush White House answered to no one, since it was all under the guise of “national security.”
Maybe because it’s a more tech-savvy staff, the Obama administration has brought back transparency, accountability and answering the hard questions. There are still accusations of this administration for not fulfilling those expectations entirely but compared to the Bush years, it’s a difference between night and day.
One has only to visit the web site of the White House (WH). This administration posts every press release issued by the WH, what the President, Vice-President, First Lady and Mrs. Biden’s agendas are, the text of every set of remarks, no matter their significance, and there’s even a blog written by staff reiterating what’s happening in the White House.
When Obama took office, the challenges he faced were nothing that could be readily fixed — the financial bailout, the economy, unemployment, etc. Anyone who seriously thought or believed that things could be fixed in one day, one month, or even one year was practicing the most extreme form of self-delusion.
Couple that with the notion that anyone would know with certainty what would work in this never-before-seen-situation, and work well enough to return our economy to a healthy standing is, again, delusional. Ideas are proposed, thought out, and with fingers crossed, implemented.
It’s what we all practice on a smaller scale within our own families/businesses/clubs when situations arise. To think it can be any different in Washington, where the situation is on a much larger scale and there’s a good number of people involved who don’t want success because failure raises them up, makes the idea that it would be easy to turn all these challenges into accomplishments in a short time is again delusional on our part.
In an interview with George Stephanopoulos, President Obama, in reflecting on Brown’s win in Massachusetts, said that he lost a direct connection to the American people.
He feels he spent too much time on creating policies.
Yet, that’s what was needed. Most everyone who doesn’t have healthcare insurance or sees a parent or grandparent struggling to get by with buying a fair amount of medication on a limited budget or sees people paying over-the-top premiums or just being denied insurance for having pre-existing conditions or…doesn’t have the patience to wait around for policy changes or bills to be passed, especially when it takes longer because it’s a political issue that divides straight down the line between the Have’s and the Have Nots.
However, without those policy changes, change cannot come. In our impatience, we have forgotten that.
In fact, because of our impatience we have forgotten a lot of things, but most importantly, we have forgotten just how we got to this stage in our history; how long it took to get us here; and what it will take to get us out when we have to deal with a changing economy, natural disasters and a political party that has gone on record as allying itself with lobbyists who oppose reform measures of any kind.
There are still pressing issues to deal with, like immigration reform. It will be as explosive, if not more so, than healthcare but it’s an issue that won’t go away and for the sake of the people involved needs to be rectified.
When Obama took office, no other president in history had as many imperative issues facing him as he did or partisan opposition. That he has to get two parties to agree, who are more diametrically opposed to one another than ever before, does not make this job easy or fast.
In my book, it’s unfair to only ask how has Obama done this first year in office. It’s more fair to ask “How did Obama, Congress and the American people do in working together this first year?”
After all, we’re all in this together.
Comment(30)
Candy
Calling it an “Incomplete Review” means nothing to me. Perhaps you mean mixed review. “Incomplete Review” is a commentary on the reviewers negligence, while mixed review means a mixed bag of positives and negatives.
ReyFeo
You keep making excuses for this POTUS…when will the time come when this becomes HIS PROBLEM.
Think about it, he signed a crazy (rushed) stimulus bill which got us nothing…simply paid the special interest he vowed to stay away from…that didn’t happen on Bush’s term (although Bush had his own stupid stim bill).
He allows two idiots (Pelosi and Reid) to run amuck with a crazy Healthcare bill NO ONE wants and runs his political capital into the ground…that didn’t happen on Bush’s watch.
Unemployment you say? Well, his stimulus bill, which no one got to really see, was to solve this…nope, happened on his watch.
So the question is are you really going to allow the POTUS to complete a full 4 year term before you realize he may be articulate, but is way over his head with how to solve America’s problems, and then blame him for it as you should be doing now?
Lastly, Latinos, understand this…you can’t fool them with the same ol’ spin about how Obama “inherited” this problem…truth be told, we all know that every POTUS ‘inherits” some form of problem. How they solve it is the make or break, and how the history books will judge, him…right now this POTUS is a complete failure.
Karen
Why are you defending him when we aren’t even on his radar?
Marisa Treviño
Candy, the “incomplete review” refers to the conclusion of the post where I believe in these extraordinary times it’s not fair to evaluate only Obama – Congress and the American public also need to be reviewed on how well we all are working together.
Alonzo
Oh really? Obama gets a free pass? Just when will you declare that the time is right to submit his report card? No, I submit that you are biased in his favor and are afraid of giving him any criticism. This guy was never thoroughly vetted from day one, and you ask us to ignore his failings to date? No way. Its time to put up or shut up.
Angel
It’s convenient for you to dismiss the right of the people to evaluate when Obama is obviously not doing well and one has a blatant sychophantic adoration of him. This is the most laughable excuse that I’ve ever heard. Get real! While you decline to give him a grade, there are thousands of objective bloggers who will. Yours won’t be missed.
Evelyn
ReyFeo :
You keep making excuses for this POTUS…when will the time come when this becomes HIS PROBLEM.
~~
Never, you cant blame someone for something they dont create.
President Obama can only be blamed for problems he creates.
Marisa Treviño
Angel, Who said I was dismissing the right of the people to evaluate Obama? I prefer to look at the bigger picture and take into consideration what Obama came into. The fact is he had to assume the presidency earlier than taking the oath and to hold him accountable for a mess that started under the watch of another administration, not to mention, an openly hostile GOP just doesn’t make sense to me – and actually is the epitome of objectivity in my book. If the situation was reversed – McCain was in office and Democrats were openly hostile – I would feel the same way. To try to hold one man accountable after one year of extraordinary circumstances reveals more about you than it does me.
ReyFeo
So Evelyn, 911 was Bill Clintons fault, right?
– Yemen USS bombing, did nothing
– Twin Tower terrorist assault 1993, did nothing
– etc
Now Obama:
– Has out spent GW Bush, Daddy Bush and intern-loving Billy and Carter in one year.
– Fast forward to next year when the unemeployment rate is still hovering at 10%, who’ fault will it be then?
Wake up Evelyn, Obama is trending failure…add him to the Carter list.
Karen
Re: “To try to hold one man accountable after one year of extraordinary circumstances reveals more about you than it does me.”
Nobody expects Obama to have fixed the whole economic problem already, but he should have taken some steps in the right direction by now. He kept Bush’s economic team. You know, the people who created the mess! Obama needs to get a backbone and fire the Wall St crooks who ruined the economy. He also needs to bring back Glass Steagall.
I am tired of this nonsense that nobody can criticize Obama and that nothing is his fault.
He’s only focusing on the economy now because Scott Brown won in Mass. He should have focused on the economy from day one.
Evelyn
Lets discuss how the Republicans have behaved in the last year?
It has been less than one year since President Obama was sworn in. When he sat behind the big desk in the Oval Office for the first time, he found himself responsible for a free-falling economy (and mounting staggering job losses), a massive deficit, the manpower and financial burden of hundreds of thousands of troops in Iraq, a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, and a militant Islamic movement looking to inflict damage on America and American interests, all of which came as a direct result of the failed policies of his predecessor. Obama also had a host of other problems to address, from global warming to energy dependence to a corrupt and dangerous Iranian government struggling to hold onto power and capable of real danger, just to name a few.
The president didn’t create any of these problems. Not one of them. And it is completely unrealistic to think that any person or party could solve these issues in less than a year.
From listening to the ridiculous rhetoric from the right, you would think that the president was trying to turn the country into some bizarre combination of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. .
The criticism form the right is not only unfounded, but the Republicans have offered no real alternatives to address the issues, aside from advocating for the failed Bush policies of the last decade. Republicans in Congress are single-minded and united to do anything they can to politically damage the president, without any concern for actually governing for the American people. We saw that in play in the health care debate, as the 40 Republican senators remained rock solid in support of the insurance companies and the status quo (the current system is a disaster, as health care costs chew up more and more of the country’s GDP while leaving Americans with more and more health care expenses and less and less coverage).
What have the Republicans offered aside from “no”?
To me, that should be the real story of the first year of the Obama administration. The discussion should be about the utter disdain the Republicans have shown for the American people, as the party has put political games and protecting its corporate interests in the first position on every issue. That, and the out-and-out lies that have become the go-to strategy of the party (death panels anyone?).
Consider that in the last two weeks alone, we have been treated to:
– GOP senators blocking confirmation of Obama appointees as a way of securing petty political victories.
– Republican senators holding up funding for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan as a tactic to slow down health care reform.
– Republicans opposing health care reform on fiscal grounds, even though the bill will lower the deficit, and despite the fact that the same Republicans had no trouble ballooning the deficit in the Bush years by approving massive tax cuts for the rich, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Medicare prescription drug program without paying for any of them.
– Sen. James Inhofe traveling to Copenhagen to undermine President Obama at the Copenhagen climate change summit.
– GOP senators calling for the watering down of financial reform legislation, just a year after the misconduct of the banks caused the economy to go into a death spiral.
– Sen. John Thune lying on the floor of the Senate as to when benefits take effect in health care reform legislation.
– Republican superstar Sarah Palin reiterating the lie that health care legislation called for death panels, and changing the basis for the accusation when her original charge was proven untrue. (This kind of dishonest fear-mongering is more contrary to American ideals of democracy than anything in the health care legislation itself could ever possibly be.)
– Sen. Tom Coburn demanding a reading of an amendment to the health care reform bill calling for a single-payer program (which would have taken 12 hours, but which only went several hours before Sen. Bernie Sanders withdrew the amendment) as a way to slow down health care reform. (If the Democrats had tried something like that during the Bush years, they would have been pilloried by Republicans for not respecting the American people’s wishes as expressed by the election results.)
Again, these events are only from the last two weeks. And the list is hardly complete.
What have the Republicans done to help the American people with the grave problems they face.
Any deficiency in the Democratic approach pales when compared to the shameful conduct of Republicans during this time. The Democrats are making an effort to clean up Bush’s messes. The Republican motives in the last year have not in any way involved actually trying to fix problems (or, even worse, they don’t even acknowledge that many of the problems exist in the first place).
This story should be the Republican party’s complete disregard for the needs of the American people. The party’s decision to prioritize scoring political victories over the president, protecting corporate interests, and relying on lies to do it over solving problems and governing should be clear to anyone paying attention. Let’s hope that when voters go to the polls in 2010, they remember who was trying to solve problems and who wasn’t. Time will tell if we will ever fully recover from what Bush did to the country. The last thing we need is more Republican rule, offering more of the same failed policies.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mitchell-bard/the-republicans-disdain-f_b_405162.html
Karen
This is from an article in “The Nation” about Latin America.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100208/grandin/3
Yet because Latin America presents no real threat, there is no incentive to confront entrenched interests that oppose a modernization of hemispheric relations. “Obama,” said a top-level Argentine diplomat despairingly, “has decided that Latin America isn’t worth it. He gave it to the right.”
cookie
The thing to remember is that many Republicans disapproved of Bush politics. Let’s not flame the entire population of Republican Americans for the sins of Bush. Many of us are Republicans but didn’t vote for Bush nor did we think he was a good president by any sense of the word. But then how would people like “you know who” in here be able to defend their liberal, far leftist views if they couldn’t demonize ALL Republicans in this country as being one and the same?
Kind of hypocritical isn’t it when these same people try to claim that we are calling all illegals “criminals” as in felons when we don’t do that at all. Don’t you just love the hypocricy of some in here?
Evelyn
ReyFeo
Now Obama:
– Has out spent GW Bush, Daddy Bush and intern-loving Billy and Carter in one year.
Not True
The Center for American Progress’ Michael Ettlinger and Michael Linden recently explained, “The policies of the Bush administration, which included tax cuts during a time of war and a floundering economy, are clearly the primary source of the current deficits.” Specifically, 40% of the fiscal deterioration we’re seeing — the single largest contributing factor — can be attributed to Bush policies. Another 12% comes from Bush’s financial rescues, while 20% are the result of the economic crisis Bush handed off to his successor. What’s President Obama’s share? Just 16% of the total, most of which is the result of new spending that was necessary to prevent a depression.
– Fast forward to next year when the unemeployment rate is still hovering at 10%, who’ fault will it be then?
Surely you wouldent blame President Obama, he didnt creat the problem and sometimes not all things can be fixed. Especially now that the Republicans handed our government to corporations on a silver platter, to do with whatever they want.
President Obama is trying to fix the mess Bush made, but he is up against the Republicans who want to destroy this country, so they can destroy our President . When President Obama said he would fix things no one could have predicted the Republicans would act the way they are. Everyone took it for granted most Americans wanted things to be fixed. Republicans let hate and their racism get in the way of what is best for America and her people, and they dont care if this country crumbles around them.
ReyFeo
Evelyn, the answer is simple…voting majority in both House and Senate and this POTUS can’t get anything done…didn’t matter what Repubs did or say, Dems had the majority and he blew it.
One thing is for sure, he seems to be getting a clue…its the economy stupid!
(psst, he took a “massive deficit” and made it worse than all the 5 sitting previous POTUS put together, wow…but its not his fault.)
cookie
I am willing to give Obama a chance and I am a Republican and no Evelyn, I have nothing against a black man (well he is half white bet you hate that don’t you?) being president of which you accuse every white Republican of. I have never read so much disgusting hatred and racism and sterotyping of white people and Republicans as you do in HB.
maryelizabeth
Obama came inherited a mess! It is now 1 year that he is in office. It will be interesting to see if Republicans try to block everything he try’s to pass.
Cameron
Incomplete review? Hah! Ok, let me help you. How about a partial review?
Said the health care debate would be an open process. Didn’t happen. He lied.
Campaigned on a public option and then claimed that it wasn’t important to him. He lied.
Campaigned against discretionary spending freeze while criticizing McCain who was for it. Now he wants one.
Said he’d veto bills with earmarks. Never happened. He signed a huge one in 2009. Liar.
Said he’d close Gitmo. Didn’t happen. Lied.
Said all proposed legislation would be on the internet for 3 days of public review prior to a vote. Didn’t happen. Lied.
I could go on and on listing his broke promises, but of course I can’t because it would be an “Incomplete Review.”
Want to take a guess on the fate of your CIR?
This president is going into the toilet and will be a lame duck on 1 January 2012 and a one termer at that.
Evelyn
cookie :
I am willing to give Obama a chance and I am a Republican and no Evelyn, I have nothing against a black man (well he is half white bet you hate that don’t you?) being president of which you accuse every white Republican of. I have never read so much disgusting hatred and racism and sterotyping of white people and Republicans as you do in HB.
~~
Your depiction of Hispanic immigrants is based on hate.
My depiction of racists of any color is based on their behavior.
I dont mince words, if someone flaunts racism I call it like it is. That being the case.
Your attack can only mean one thing, the shoe fit, wear it well and enjoy, you deserve it more then anyone else.
cookie
Evelyn, Hispanic “immigrants”? I have nothing against legal immigrants Hispanic or not.
I am however opposed to illegal immigration as any law abiding American should be and it doesn’t matter what color they are and it has nothing to do with hate.
No, your idea of a racist is all white people and all Republicans that don’t go along with your living in the past and giving amnesty to illegal aliens. You forget I have read your posts in HB. You call all white Americans of European ancestry illegal aliens, anchor babies and invaders and it doesn’t even matter to you whether or not their ancestors were involved in any native indian conflicts even if they came here much later. All they need is white skin and a respect for our immigration laws today to earn your hatred and your label of racist. That is why you label me a racist and it doesn’t make it so just because I expect our immigration laws enforced and respected. I am of Polish heritage. When did the Poles annilate the native indians?
You however are so racist against white Americans because of some past history hundreds of years ago that you blame every white American alive today for that you can’t see the forest for the trees.
Since you are part Irish which are also white Europeans how dare you attack other white Americans when your ancestors were also from Europe?
Same goes for Hispanics and Mexicans in general. Their ancestors were also white Europeans from Spain. You can’t deny your own genetics and genetically you and Mexicans are also of white European heritage. So stop being a hypocrite!
Alonzo
Those of you who call the Republicans the party of no are right. They are the principled and nearly everything Obama has done is contrary to their principles. This is no secret, so the Democrats are being very disingenuous when they act shocked in the espousal of their criticisms. The Democrats could also be said to be the party of no when the Bush was in power for the same reasons.
Everything BO has been against the following Republican principles:
Limited government as understood by the Founding Fathers. Democrats support expansion of government and usurping of powers that should be left to the states and the people.
Low taxes. The right to keep as much of what one earns as possible.
No large dependency class. The Democrats like to keep these people barefoot an pregnant so they can continue to string them along with promises of a chicken in every pot.
Freedom of speech, a founding principle. Democrats talk of the controlling speech in the media, especially talk radio.
Restricting our Federal Government’s constituency to citizens and not ceding power to ethnocentrics who demand special consideration in our immigration policies.
Keeping to the letter of the Constitution of the U.S., as written, rather than construing it as convenient to their political agendas. And leaving other matters to the states.
——————————-
Republicans don’t like government interference in health care because they can find no reference to federal government responsibility in the Constitution. The states have every right to do so, and the people may do so on their own, by forming private entities, Government interference means politics and health benefits will be seen as a benefit granted by the government, and this means that the government can politicize it to special interest advantage. I for one do not want to leave my health care into the hands of such a machine. I don’t trust the federal government that much. Do you?
Evelyn
Alonzo :
Those of you who call the Republicans the party of no are right. They are the principled and nearly everything Obama has done is contrary to their principles. This is no secret, so the Democrats are being very disingenuous when they act shocked in the espousal of their criticisms. The Democrats could also be said to be the party of no when the Bush was in power for the same reasons.
Everything BO has been against the following Republican principles:
Limited government as understood by the Founding Fathers. Democrats support expansion of government and usurping of powers that should be left to the states and the people.
~~~
HA! Thats a good one, then how do you explain this fact?
The Center for American Progress’ Michael Ettlinger and Michael Linden recently explained, “The policies of the Bush administration, which included tax cuts during a time of war and a floundering economy, are clearly the primary source of the current deficits.” Specifically, 40% of the fiscal deterioration we’re seeing — the single largest contributing factor — can be attributed to Bush policies. Another 12% comes from Bush’s financial rescues, while 20% are the result of the economic crisis Bush handed off to his successor. What’s President Obama’s share? Just 16% of the total, most of which is the result of new spending that was necessary to prevent a depression.
Low taxes. The right to keep as much of what one earns as possible.
~~~
Republicans lower taxes for the richest 2% of the people, big companies and corporations included at the expense of the middle class and poor. . President Obama has lowered taxes for 95% of all Americans and small companies.
No large dependency class. The Democrats like to keep these people barefoot an pregnant so they can continue to string them along with promises of a chicken in every pot.
~~
It’s the Republicans who wont provide funding to schools but they have plenty for wars. They like to keep the sheeple aka (their constitutions ) dumb so they will vote for them.
Freedom of speech, a founding principle. Democrats talk of the controlling speech in the media, especially talk radio.
~~
When hate speech is used to incite violance against a group of people. The person or persons using it need to be gaged. It’s the same as yelling FIRE! in a crowded theatre and people get hurt in the process of exiting. That person needs to be punished and gaged.
Restricting our Federal Government’s constituency to citizens and not ceding power to ethnocentrics who demand special consideration in our immigration policies.
~~
What about something even worse then civil rights advocates (which you call ethnocentrists.) What about the recent Supreme Court ruling allowing corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns that the 5 Republicans on the court voted for?
~~
Keeping to the letter of the Constitution of the U.S., as written, rather than construing it as convenient to their political agendas. And leaving other matters to the states.
Are you serious???!!!
Bush broke many laws and violated our Constitution which he called, “that paper.”
“Bush” is interpreting the Constitution in defiance of the Supreme Court’s precedents, he threatens to ”overturn the existing structures of constitutional law.”
quote:
“A president who ignores the court, backed by a Congress that is unwilling to challenge him, Golove said, can make the Constitution simply ”disappear.”
cookie
Hate speech? Hate speech to you is anyone (especially white Republicans) who want our immigration laws enforced and no amnesty for illegal aliens while you yourself spew nothing but hate speech about white Americans of European ancestry whether or not their ancestors were involved in any native indian conflicts long ago. Hate speech is telling white Americans that were born here that they are illegally here in our own country.
Alonzo
Evelyn, like some others in this blog I make it a point of never responding to your posts. You can’t be civil and I find your nature to be extremely divisive and abusive. Lastly, I don’t believe in your Marxist dogma.
Alonzo
Low taxes. The right to keep as much of what one earns as possible.
~~~
Evelyn….Republicans lower taxes for the richest 2% of the people, big companies and corporations included at the expense of the middle class and poor. . President Obama has lowered taxes for 95% of all Americans and small companies.
———————————–
The small top percentage of Americans typically pay most of the taxes to run this country. The poor pay nothing, and even receive welfare and earned income tax credits. I’d rather have more rich people than poor any day. Under Bush, the poor paid nothing in the way of taxes, as they do now. The rich invest in their money in business that employ people, including the poor. The poor are just charity, contributing very little. Why shouldn’t he rich get a break?
Evelyn
Cookie:
Hate speech? Hate speech to you is anyone (especially white Republicans) who want our immigration laws enforced and no amnesty for illegal aliens while you yourself spew nothing but hate speech about white Americans of European ancestry whether or not their ancestors were involved in any native indian conflicts long ago. Hate speech is telling white Americans that were born here that they are illegally here in our own country.
~~~
Right, because denouncing racism and the flawed ideology of white privilege is just awful.
Anyone can see for themselves what I said, so dont make a fool of yourself trying to put words in my mouth.
Evelyn
Alonzo :
Evelyn, like some others in this blog I make it a point of never responding to your posts. You can’t be civil and I find your nature to be extremely divisive and abusive. Lastly, I don’t believe in your Marxist dogma.
~~
Gee Alonzo, you had no problem at all responding to my post until I proved everyone of your points wrong. LOL
cookie
Evelyn, “putting words in your mouth, lol”! Your posts speak for themselves in here but you have just had to tone it down in here rather than spewing your unadulterated hatred for whites and Republicans like you do in HB. You forget I have read those words and it is disgusting!
No one is claiming that whites haven’t been racist in the past or that none are racists today. So don’t put words in MY mouth. It is just that you only harp about white racism rather than the fact that there are racists in all groups. Even if white priviledge does still exist in some degree today you choose to dwell on that rather than the strides that have been taken to makes things more equal. No, you are living entirely in the past and continue to hate on white people of today for some past hundreds of years ago. As I said, my ancestors were the Poles. When did the Poles kill the native indians? Oh, that’s right, I have white skin so that is all it takes to earn your hatred.
Evelyn
Alonzo:
Under Bush, the poor paid nothing in the way of taxes, as they do now.
~~
That is correct but those tax cuts were added to the deficit.
In other words Bush borrowed that money so the wealthiest 2% of Americans could recieve tax cuts.
At some time we are going to have to pay it back.
The rich invest in their money in business that employ people, including the poor. The poor are just charity, contributing very little. Why shouldn’t he rich get a break?
~~
Wealthy people do get a break, if they didnt they wouldent be able to afford the multi-million dollar estates they live in, the cars they drive, and the lavish trips and holidays they enjoy.
When the middle class have to make up for the gap created by giving tax cuts to the rich, or we leave that debt for our children to pay that is not acceptable.
Evelyn
Cookie
I am satisfied that I have made my point crystal clear for LL readers so this is the last time I will repeat myself.
I’ll leave the thread so you can keep ranting and raving and keep wishing history would stay hidden and that I would shut up.
You are mad and become rabid because you believe denouncing racism and the flawed ideology of white privilege is just awful and shouldent be done.
Your problem is that you know what I say is true and since you are left without a way to defend yourself you resort to the only thing you have left, which is trying to discredit me by attacking me personally for my beliefs and for exposing a part of history that for you is an inconvenient truth.
Fact of the matter is, it is you who is going to have to live with the fact that it is you who fail to understand (and won’t debate) that your ancestors had no more right to avoid changing their land of origin and come to the United States than a modern immigrant. At the time there was no immigration restrictions on western Europeans (and a full 93% came from there), but you want to call them “legal immigrants”. A fellow HB forum member brought that fact to our attention.
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