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Story Archives: Democrats turn to Wall Street, racism


Democrats turn to Wall Street, racism
by Sam Hanna, Jr. - posted Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 @ 8:00 amE-mail Story E-mail Story | Print Story Print Story 
Those Wall Street barons we've been reading and hearing about in a less than favorable light over the past couple of years will serve as the Democratic Party's personal piñatas throughout the 2010 election cycle. Racism will play a role, too.

That's been clear for months as Democrats honed a message that they hope will resonate with the American people when the people head to voting booths this fall. For all practical matters, the people will pass judgment on congressional Democrats as well as President Barack Obama, though his name won't appear on any ballot. Instead, the vote his party receives on Election Day in November will serve as a referendum of sorts on his presidency thus far.

Demonizing Wall Street for the country's financial ills has been the chic thing to do since the fall of 2008 when a financial calamity nearly mothballed the global economy. A roughly $1 trillion bailout for the nation's biggest of banks and the firms associated with them has served as a lightning rod for Wall Street critics. The criticism isn't far off the mark.

However, we must remember why Democrats want to focus attention on Wall Street and race relations as well in lieu of the American people turning their attention to the record Democrats have established since taking control of the Congress in January 2007. It's a pitiful mark that any politician in his or her right mind would run from like a scalded dog.

No, Democrats don't want the electorate thinking about the national debt, which, under theirs and Obama's watch, has increased at a clip not matched by all of the presidents of the United States combined who preceded Obama. Democrats also don't want the people thinking about jobs and the lack thereof in light of the national unemployment rate holding steady at an alarming 9.7 percent. What's more alarming is the unemployment rate fails to account for people who have quit looking for work, and it doesn't account for people who are what we would describe as underemployed.

Democrats certainly don't want the people thinking about health care reform either. As more details about health care reform surface, the more people are inclined to believe it's a bad deal any way Democrats attempt to spin it. We'll know more in about three years when health care reform arrives in earnest.

That means Democrats need a boogey man or two to exploit this year so they can counter arguments that Republicans should be handed control of the Congress again. That's where Wall Street and racism come into play.

Anyone who remotely pays attention to politics knows well that Obama's agenda isn't what we would describe as pro business or pro-Wall Street, though he took the latter's money by the truckload in campaign contributions when he was running for president. He took their money, and now he's attempting to put the screws to them at every turn.

That's evidenced by a financial reform bill the Congress will entertain this year. Authored by outgoing Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, the financial reform bill in question is being sold as a tool to rein in Wall Street and the practices those nasty Wall Street barons employed which supposedly played a role in the financial meltdown we witnessed in í08.

Make no mistake -- the financial reform bill represents nothing more than a politically motivated effort to create a campaign issue for Democratic candidates. It's a wise move for Democrats, too.

The other politically motivated effort that's being utilized to aid Democratic candidates concerns race.

Aided and abetted by their friends in the mainstream media, Democrats have found it to be politically expedient to label stiff opposition to anything advocated by Obama as racially motivated. In other words, if you oppose Obama, you must be a racist, which is as ludicrous as suggesting that Sarah Palin represents the future of the Republican Party.

Hollering racism is what we call a wedge issue, or an issue that's employed to drive a wedge between the American people. It can be effective in politics if utilized properly.

Though our friends in the Democratic Party may interpret this piece as a ringing endorsement of the GOP, it's not. Far from it, in fact.

If by chance the Republican Party regains control of the Congress this fall, the country will be no better off thereafter if Republicans govern in a manner reminiscent of their moment in the sun, so to speak. That moment in the sun occurred from 2001-2007 when the GOP controlled the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Remember? It was an utter failure in more ways than one. It was a failure for the most part because Republicans abandoned their core principles -- smaller government, less taxes and a strong national defense.

Yet, that's why we conduct campaigns every two years in America. We offer voters an opportunity to remove elected officials from office who we believe do not represent our views or who may be acting in a manner that's detrimental to our best interests, or the country's best interests.

For Republicans to be successful in 2010 they must repeatedly remind voters what has transpired on Capitol Hill over the past three years and hope voters don't remember what happened the last time the GOP was calling the shots.
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