Obama Hates New York?

Image via Wikipedia

  Back on January 14, Michael Goodwin of the New York Post wrote a front page op-ed that said that the President of the United States hates New Yorkers. He sites 4 reasons for this: tax hikes because of the health care law, telling the governor to drop out of this year’s race, trying to block or dissuade anybody from running against Sen Kirsten Gillibrand, & for coming down hard on Wall Street & bankers.

     I’ll take these points one at a time. While it may or may not be true that there will be tax hikes because of the health care bill, I highly doubt that New Yorkers are targeted for an abnormal amount of it. If it’ll make Mr Goodwin feel better, he can think that everybody’s being targeted with higher taxes.

     As for getting the governor to drop out of the race, there’s a simple reason for that. The guy’s less popular than a Red Sox Fan at Yankee Stadium. If he were to somehow get the Democratic nomination, he’d go down in flames extremely badly.

     Goodwin trying to make people feel bad for Obama coming down on Wall Street & bankers with tough regulations is really stretching things. If any group deserves to be slammed with tough regulations right now, it’s the financial sector. After all, they’re one of the main reasons why we’re all in this mess. Therefore, me felling any sort of pity for those guys? Not gonna happen.

     The only point that Goodwin has is the White House’s interference in the senatorial race by trying to dissuade Harold Ford from running for senator. Personally, I’m supporting Mr Ford. He’s a moderate, like myself, with a very good track record. If the White House thinks that Senator Gillibrand is such a good candidate, then she should be able to win on her own credentials & not because of any heavy handed tactics from Team Obama.

     Overall, Michael Goodwin’s op-ed is way off target & definitely was not good fodder for a front page screaming headline about how Obama hates New Yorkers. Even for the New York Post, that one was low.

What's Wrong With the NAACP?

Image via Wikipedia

     This year, the NAACP celebrates its 100th anniversary. This great organization has, against all odds, fought many great battles to make the lives of black Americans (indeed, ALL Americans) better. It stood up to the Jim Crow system. It fought for voting rights. It fought to desegregate schools. It fought for workers rights. My, how times have changed.

     The sad thing is that I’m not sure what they stand for any more. During their last convention this past summer, in speech after speech, all you heard was that the white man was working the system against us. I didn’t hear one word about taking responsibility for our own people (that came later when President Obama spoke). Not one word was said about black on black crime; only about police brutality. Nothing was said about saving money or about financial responsibility; only about how Wall Street & the banks screwed the black man.
     To most of the speakers, the black man was & still is the victim of white people. I don’t believe that to be true, for the most part. Yes, racism still exists. I feel it every day. However, there comes a point where you break free of that type of thinking & deal with doing things regardless of racism. You stand strong, you take care of each other, you get your priorities together, & above all, you stop making excuses for why you're not accomplishing your dreams.
     For the longest time, the NAACP was great at conveying that message. Now, not so much. For example, when Glenn Beck called President Obama a racist, what did the NAACP do? Did they march on Fox News headquarters? Did they organize a boycott? Nope. They put out a press release. When President Obama needed help pushing health care reform (an issue extremely important to the black community), what was the NAACP doing? They were busy protesting.....in support of dog killer Michael Vick.
     The NAACP needs to get back to basics again & start thinking about how to help the community. It saddens me to say this but new leadership is now needed.