The Latest From the Sage of South Central

By Larry Elder

Democrats to Blacks: Stay Angry, Vote Democratic

Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., once said: “George [W.] Bush is our ‘Bull’ Connor -- and if that doesn’t get to you, nothing will be able to get to you. It's time for us to be able to say that we're sick and tired, we're fired up and we're not going to take it anymore." Connor was a racist sheriff who sicced dogs and water hoses on civil rights workers in the ‘60s. Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., says Republicans "want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws.”

The tactic is as obvious as it is insulting. Tell black voters that “they” are out to “get them” -- and pull that lever for us Democrats so we can resist their racist attempt to undermine your success. Never mind that this kind of anger wrapped in paranoia -- assuming that others are out to get you -- is precisely the formula to undermine your own success.......

Barack Hollande

0diggsdiggDid the French just elect a self-described socialist who wants to raise taxes on the rich? Yes, they did. Is President Barack Obama asking for four more years with an economic philosophy similar to that of the new French president? Yes, he is.

In France, those earning over a million euros would face a tax rate of 75 percent. And one of Francois Hollande’s first acts as new president of France was to reverse his predecessor’s course and lower the retirement age from 62 to 60 -- this in a country whose projected unfunded pension liabilities for its living citizens are about $8.37 trillion, or 300 percent of its $2.774 trillion gross domestic product. The United States’ unfunded Social Security, Medicare and prescription drug benefits liability for its living citizens is about $50 trillion, or 333 percent of our current $15 trillion GDP....

Why the 'Disrespect' for President Obama?

0diggsdiggLast week, a “right-wing activist” (according to Michael Eric Dyson, guest-hosting for Ed Schultz on MSNBC) interrupted President Barack Obama as he explained his executive order that bars deportation for at least 800,000 illegal aliens who came to America -- “brought to this country by their parents” -- before the age of 16.  As Obama stood in the White House Rose Garden and outlined the plan, Neil Munro, a reporter with a conservative website, shouted, “Why do you favor foreigners over American workers?” Based on his colleagues’ reaction, one would have thought he’d thrown a shoe at the President. Reporters and pundits called him unprofessional, rude and even racist for interrupting Obama.

Economy: Obama Brags About Treading Water

After President Barack Obama said, “The private sector is doing fine,” he later quickly regrouped. “The economy is not doing fine [emphasis added]. That‘s the reason I had the press conference.” But Obama said he was particularly concerned about losses in the public sector.

The cluelessness is absolutely stunning.

Obama is wrong about both the private and public sector.   Obama’s assessment of the economy reminds many of 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s characterization of the economy. In September 2008, the investment firm Lehman Brothers was collapsing. Wall Street was shaking as the yet-to-be-declared recession deepened, but McCain said: “I think, still, the fundamentals of our economy are strong. But these are very, very difficult times.”

The Four Lies About the Economy That Obama Needs Voters to Believe

President Barack Obama’s re-election turns on his ability to convince voters that 1) Obama inherited a “Great Recession,” 2) every “independent” economist supported the “stimulus,” 3) “bipartisan” economists agree that Obama’s stimulus worked, and 4) as actor Morgan Freeman puts it, racist Republicans say, “Screw the country … we’re going to do whatever we can to get this black man outta here” -- nothing to do with deeply held policy differences.

That’s a lot of merchandise to push.

1) Take this “Great Recession” business.
2) There is no disagreement.
3) Obama surrogate Steve Rattner recently said that Obama’s stimulus worked.
4) Democrats never tire of trotting out Senate Mnonrity Leader Mitch McConnell, who said his “single most important political goal” was to make Obama “a one-term president."

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