Obama's Latest CBC Speech

Perhaps you saw President Obama's speech at the CBC, (Congressional Black Caucus), the other day. If not you can view it here split into 2 parts. I'm going to discuss a few things he said in this speech on this post. Including parts where I both agree and disagree.

I will provide the exact times in his speech where you can find exactly what I'm talking about without having to watch the whole thing. Feel free to watch it all if you wish though. I will say either part 1 or 2 then the minute and second of that part where Obama mentions the issue I'm talking about. I will then put part of the quote up to center each issue I have on that particular section of speech. Here we go.

part 1 3:35

"Some folks seem to have forgotten how bad things were when I took office. They seem to be exercising some selective memory"

Actually, our memory is just fine, we remember that you didn't fall from the sky and were a part of the do-nothing congress whose earmarks and misguided legislation helped cause this recession.

part 1 4:03

"Our entire financial system was poised on the brink of collapse."

Now thanks to misguided bailouts due to both Bush and Obama it's our currency, government, and therefore our entire country poised on the brink of collapse. Just ask Arthur Laffer, Reagan economist.

part 1 4:36

"We're cutting taxes for 95% of working families. Not for the rich folks but for ordinary folks."

What good is a few bucks for the folks when your Cap and Trade bill will make our "energy prices skyrocket"? Those are your words Mr. President and you should stop slapping the public across the face by talking about your fake tax cuts. The things your making more expensive in our lives are far more than any supposed "tax cut" you think you passed.

part 1 4:49

"We're extending and increasing unemployment insurance for 12 million Americans to help them weather this economic storm."

The best tool to weather an economic storm is a job. How about you stop talking about "saved jobs" because they mean nothing if unemployment keeps rising rather than decreasing. Start creating real jobs by working with (rather than against) businesses. A stable job will help someone much more than "increasing unemployment insurance".

part 1 5:11

"We are saving the jobs of teachers and police officers that Americans rely on all across the nation"

Nothing wrong with this one, except for the fact that it's taxpayers in local communities whose taxes help pay for teachers and police officers salaries. If you create more private sector jobs then the tax revenue from those jobs will increase and there will be enough money to save teachers and cops from being fired without a "stimulus" check.

5:25

"with the largest investment in our infrastructure since the interstate highway system was built in the 1950's"

Then why aren't we repairing the roads where it's most needed?

part 1 6:05

"This recession has hit communities of color with particular ferocity"

Aren't most of those same communities run mostly by Democrats? Haven't they been run by Democrats for years? Just an observation. Weren't the ghetto's still ghetto's in the 90's? Obama was a community organizer in Chicago and aren't crime and poverty still relatively high there? I hope he has better success with the nation than he had in Chicago but so far I'm not impressed.

part 1 6:32

"we all know that these problems have been there for a long time"

Exactly.

"That's why my administration under the leadership of Eric Holder is serious about enforcing our civil rights laws and tearing down barriers to equal opportunity"

Who isn't?!! We should all be in favor of enforcing our civil rights laws but these "barriers to equal opportunity" within the African American community can only be solved by leaders within those communities. Business leaders to create jobs and loving parents pushing morals, values, hard work, and serious schooling to the children of those communities. An embracement of personal responsibility and tough policies against crime. For crime brings with it poverty and destruction to any community regardless of race.

Part 2 1:17

"your trying to make sure everyone has health care and they're putting a Hitler mustache on you that doesn't make sense to me explain that to me"

Anyone who does that is an idiot. However, it's also not wise for Obama and others on the left to label anyone who disagrees with them "extremist".

Part 2 2:00

"It will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition"

I'm not against this, just like I'm not against it being illegal to deny coverage based on race etc.

Part 2:11

"It will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it the most. They won't be able to place some arbitrary cap on how much coverage you receive in a given year or a lifetime."

That's great, but the government will be able to do all of these things, and senior citizens will bear the brunt of it.

He mentions requiring insurance companies to cover preventative care at no extra cost.

Part 2 2:50

"There's no reason we shouldn't be catching diseases like breast cancer before they get worse."

I agree again, but it will be very expensive because of all the extra preventative tests. Aren't they currently criticizing the insurance companies for this. If there's no compensation for these tests yet they are required then it will severely damage the insurance companies. That's of course the hidden agenda because if private insurance goes down and you can't change insurance (remember you can keep your insurance but you can't change it, Obama only likes to mention the first part of that), not being able to change your insurance is in the bill.

Part 2 3:56

"They said the same thing when we tried to pass Social Security. They called FDR all kinds of things." "They said the same thing about Lyndon Johnson when he tried to pass Medicare."

When Social Security was passed by FDR under the economically catastrophic New Deal the average life expectancy for whites was 59 years old. For Black Americans the life expectancy was only 48!! You couldn't collect until you were 62. It was an FDR trick designed to take money from working people but never intended to pay them. Now that the life expectancy has greatly increased in this country, (thanks to our awful health care), the program is going broke. Therefore, critics of the Social Security program were right even if Obama disagrees.

Also, isn't Medicare riddled with fraud and waste? Obama's plan doesn't increase fraud prevention. What do you think will happen when millions of people are added to it?

At about 4:45 in part 2 he talks about education. I agree with most of what he says for the next few minutes about education. The only problem is that the teachers unions will prevent much of what he talks about, like getting rid of teachers that aren't performing well.

Part 2 7:00

"Government can't put away the Playstation, government can't put our kids to bed at a reasonable hour, government can't attend those parent/teacher conferences, government can't help them with their homework, government can't make sure they leave for school on time. These are things only a mother can do and a father can do. These are things that a parent can do."

I agree 100% with this as well as most that comes after it. I don't like the term "shared prosperity" at about 9:30 in the speech. Then he closes with the usual style we've become accustomed to with Obama. There's a quick skip toward the end and someone accused Fox of editing the speech. I watched it on Fox and there was no such edits.

One last point before I end this. We all know of Martin Luther King Jr's. famous I have a dream speech. I'd like to share some of that speech that you may not know.

"In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred."

"The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone."

President Obama and the CBC have great opportunity at this time to inspire the African-American communities in ways no other American leaders could before. Mr. President I agree with you when it comes to all of the things in this speech that talk about what the government can't do. You actually sent a very conservative message of personal responsibility toward the end of the speech.

Government has spent decades trying to fix our poorest communities. Government has spent decades trying to solve poverty and crime in the African-American communities. It's time to use your outstanding communication skills to inspire those communities to help themselves. After all:

"The government declared war on poverty and poverty won." Ronald Reagan