Does Obama Care About Black People?

Photo: Chris Polk/ Getty Images

Besides taking the microphone away from Taylor Swift, Kanye West's other infamous moment was when he declared that "George Bush doesn't care about black people." What prompted West's outburst was the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Bush and West have since made peace; but, if frustration over the federal response to the flooding of New Orleans led West to conclude that Bush was a racist, what must he think of Barack Obama given his record when it comes to helping African Americans.

Progressives Are Divorced From Facts Too

The snickering and pompous air of superiority from the East and West Coasts intelligentsia can be heard and felt all the way here in good ol' Texas. Ever since Governor Rick Perry entered the presidential race, liberal pundits' sagging spirits have been lifted. Obama's "Hope and Change" turned out to be little more than a slogan. Their dream of a new progressive America far removed from the "dark ages" of the Bush administration has been smothered by reality. But all that can be forgotten now that another Texas cowboy is on the national stage to be ridiculed.

Tough Love

I certainly understand the frustration some of my friends feel when they say that they are tired of people within the GOP criticizing the party. I am one of those critics. I plead guilty. But, I honestly don't see how we are going to improve the party by just talking about Obama and his failures. Many of you are parents. If you see that your child doing something wrong, do you correct the child by pointing out how bad the other kids in the neighborhood are?

Is Perry Trading His Cowboy Boots For a Tinfoil Hat?

When Rick Perry's name first surfaced as potential candidate for POTUS, many of my out of state friends asked me what I thought about his chances. I replied that Perry would be a strong candidate for the GOP nomination but I did not think he would be a strong candidate for the general election. Somehow a white man with a thick Southern accent, who flirted with secession and constantly talks about state rights, going against the first black president is not what I would call the ideal candidate. Also, there is George W. Bush.

Intellectual Deficit

"The fact is that the major problem in American government is intellectual. It is not money. It is not will power. It is knowledge." ~ Newt Gingrich speaking at The Heritage Foundation on August 16, 2011

Unshackled from campaign consultants, Newt is back on his game. He dominated the most recent Republican presidential debate. And, yesterday, he gave an outstanding speech at The Heritage Foundation on the federal deficit. Much of the speech was a critique of the Super Committee established by the recent debt ceiling deal. While outlining his case against the Committee, Speaker Gingrich zeroed in on the largest problem affecting our government: lack of knowledge. Should Americans be surprised by Newt's conclusion? No... not really.

Are Bush Tax Cuts Worth Keeping? continued

The previous post on this topic generated swift replies. I am not an economist. So I will let Bruce Bartlett - a domestic policy adviser to President Reagan - address the effectiveness of the Bush Tax cuts:

"The truth is that there is virtually no evidence in support of the Bush tax cuts as an economic elixir. To the extent that they had any positive effect on growth, it was very, very modest. Their main effect was simply to reduce the government’s revenue, thereby increasing the budget deficit, which all Republicans claim to abhor.


It’s worth remembering where the Bush tax cuts came from in the first place. In 1999, in the midst of one of the biggest economic booms in American history, then Texas Gov. Bush convened a group of Republican economists to draft a tax plan for him. Contrary to Ronald Reagan’s 1981 tax cut, which was a simple across-the-board marginal tax rate reduction, the Bush plan was a hodge-podge of tax gimmicks designed more to win the support of various voting blocs than stimulate growth."

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Are The Bush Tax Cuts Worth Keeping?

It has become an article of faith on conservative talk radio. It has become a litmus test in Republican primaries. "Thou Shall Not Touch The Bush Tax Cuts" is now the 12th Commandment. But are the Bush tax cuts so marvelous that they are the worth fighting to keep them?

Anyone, who listens to conservative pundits "knows" that tax cuts INCREASE revenue while tax increases REDUCE revenue. Counterintuitive, right? But that is what many conservatives firmly believe. So let's test this proposition.