The cause gained momentum in August 2007 when Obama, then an Illinois senator, introduced Pigford legislation about six months into his presidential campaign.
Although the case was hardly a hot-button political issue, it had drawn intense interest among African-Americans in the rural South. It was seen as a way for Obama to reach out in those areas, where he was not well-known and where he would need strong support to win the Democratic primary.
The proposal won passage in May as sponsors rounded up enough support to incorporate it into the 2008 farm bill.
Except for now the president is opposing his own bill and trying to limit claims. As Laura says:
If Obama gets his way, those black farmers who he himself said were unjustly victimized by the USDA will now get about $1500.
He’s just blown over three trillion dollars and is poised to spend even more. Another three billion is a drop in the bucket. He could allow banks to pay back their TARP funds if he’s too short on cash to repay debts that he said just a year ago the federal government legitimately owed.
He disproportionately taxes the poor. He didn’t race to the scene of a natural disaster. He refuses to spend money on black students and now on black farmers. So according to the rules and standards set by the left over the last eight years, doesn’t Obama qualify as a racist?
The head of the National Black farmers association John Boyd is confused:
“You can’t blame it on the Bush administration anymore, I can’t figure out for the life of me why the president wouldn’t want to implement a bill that he fought for as a U.S. senator.”
I can. This president has been compared to Abe Lincoln an awful lot but he is like Lincoln in only one way; Lincoln was famous for keeping a promise only as long as he considered it was worthwhile: “Bad promises are better broken than kept.” he said.
A lot of Americans are going to be finding out over the next 3 3/4 years how many of this president’s promises he considers “bad”.
First of all of course President Obama is going to pick a liberal jurist to the court. With the more of Sen Specter there is absolutely no chance of blocking it even if they wanted to. He could pick Ward Churchill or Bill Ayers and we couldn’t block him.
It is inconceivable that this pick will not enrage and energize conservatives and republicans. If I wrote the worm turning post today it would be the newest item.
Second of all it demonstrates that elections matter! John McCain was not the ideal candidate but I held a sign for him for 7 hours on election day and I’m proud of it. If you are a conservative that stayed home or voted for President Obama remember if this liberal pick stays on the court for 30 years…you helped do this.
Third of all in terms of an indirect proof. This is going to highlight the pro abortion credentials of President Obama in the strongest terms possible. It is the single biggest disaster for Fr. Jenkins at Notre Dame that could happen. This highlights the unsuitability of President Obama for ND. It also puts Doug Kimec and the phony Catholics at Catholics United in the limelight, what will they say.
This is the type of thing that God does, he gives people opportunities to aid in their salvation. A situation is given where people have a chance to make the right choice. Catholics United, Doug Kimec, Fr. Jenkins and even President Obama have all been given the chance to do the right thing. That chance is a gift from God (all those ND Rosaries didn’t hurt either)
What is done with that chance is where the rubber meets the road.
Now this is interesting. Specter could allow a nominee out of committee if Specter was a member of the Republican minority, but as part of the majority, he’s just another vote. Here are the other Republicans: Orrin Hatch, Chuck Grassley, Jon Kyl, Jeff Sessions, Lindsey Graham, John Cornyn, and Tom Coburn.
The weak link is Lindsey Graham, who was a member of the Gang of 14. If Graham says the course, the Republicans may not be able to stop runaway spending, military retrenchment, and an interrogation witch hunt. But Specter may have handed Republicans a gift.
Has Specter’s changeover become official? Can republicans pull him from the committee because of his announced change. It will be interesting to find out.
When Jeff Smith started his filibuster (this was in the days before the 60 vote rule) all the information getting to his town was from the Taylor machine. This meant that the average people only heard about a young upstart making charges against the well respected “Silver Knight” Joe Paine.
Eventually however when Smith’s boy rangers support him in their newspaper Boys life, the reality of the Taylor machine comes out in the violence against the children to suppress the paper. It caused people to realize something was wrong.
Over the last few months several things have happened that might be an indication that several sleeping giants might be coming together.
Item: The White House Attacks on Rush Limbaugh bring attention to him to the point cumulative in his speech at CPAC. The speech is televised not only on Fox, but on CNN exposing him to an audience that only knew his as a caricature of what he actually is. His audience has not only increased but he finds himself in other public panels where people actually have to deal with what he says rather than what other people say he does.
If the democrats are not worried they should be.
Update: I’m listening to Rush Limbaugh today and I’m hearing the same general idea that now is the time to strike. If that’s not an endorsement of an idea I’d like to know what is.
Update 2: Noticed I forgot to bold some items corrected. And it just hit me it will be very interesting when the president visits the Pope in July post ND. Particularly since he is still without a Vatican ambassador.
On Tuesday, the Left – armed with the most attractive, eloquent, young, hip and charismatic candidate I have seen with my adult eyes, a candidate shielded by a media so overtly that it can never be such a shield again, who appeared after eight years of an historically unpopular President, in the midst of two undefended wars and at the time of the worst financial crisis since the Depression and whose praises were sung by every movie, television and musical icon without pause or challenge for 20 months… who ran against the oldest nominee in the country’s history, against a campaign rent with internal disarray and determined not to attack in the one area where attack could have succeeded, and who was out-spent no less than seven-to-one in a cycle where not a single debate question was unfavorable to his opponent – that historic victory, that perfect storm of opportunity…
Yielded a result of 53%
Folks, we are going to lick these people out of their boots.
There is much to do. That a man with such overt Marxist ideas and such a history of association with virulent anti-Americans can be elected President should make it crystal clear to each of us just how far we have let fall the moral tone of this Republic. The great lesson from Ronald Reagan was simply that we can and must gently educate as well as campaign, and explain our ideas with smiles on our faces and real joy in our hearts. For unlike the far-left radical who gained the Presidency on Tuesday, we start with 150 million of the most free and intelligent and hard-working people in the history of the Earth at our backs, with a philosophy that — unlike theirs, which has resulted in 100 million dead in unmarked graves — has liberated and enriched more people and created more joy than any nation or combination of nations in our history.
How can we lose this greater fight, my friends? How can we lose, unless we give up?(emphasis mine)
Update 4:This would have been item 6 if I had not been in bed when it happened. In fairness it is only an item because of the timing but it happening within 90 days of item 1-5 makes it more significant.
At the American Papist a poll went up concerning the best solution to the Notre Dame situation. I left the following comment:
The actual best solution would be for the Whitehouse to find a reason why they can’t attend and pull ND’s fat out of the fire.
Imagine my surprise to see Kathleen Parker echo me:
Obama might consider following Glendon’s lead. Although he supports choice, the president also recognizes the moral complexity of those decisions. Out of respect for pro-life Catholics and their beloved institution, he should politely bow out.
This of course assumes a respect for something beyond his own self importance. Parker seems to be very taken by Glendon’s act:
Here on planet “What About Me,” principled people are so rare as to be oddities. Thus, it was a head-swiveling moment Monday when Mary Ann Glendon, the former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, quietly declined Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal.
Kathleen Parker hasn’t been very right lately, but she recognizes an act of principle when she sees one.
Politically the president must be thanking his lucky stars for Sen Specter, the 100 days to distract public attention from Mary Ann Glendon. There is nothing like the shock of reality (planes over NY) to make people see things for what they are, and reality is the biggest danger to the political future of the current administration.
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