{"id":2033,"date":"2011-08-19T12:48:14","date_gmt":"2011-08-19T16:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dcdistrictdiva.com\/?p=2033"},"modified":"2011-08-19T12:48:14","modified_gmt":"2011-08-19T16:48:14","slug":"dear-cbc-tavis-cornel-have-some-seats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/dear-cbc-tavis-cornel-have-some-seats\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear CBC, Tavis & Cornel: Have Some Seats"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m beyond over the ridiculous criticisms that President Obama has faced in his less-than-three years of office. The ridiculous<\/em>\u00a0criticisms, mind you, not the justified ones — such as his upsetting\u00a0appointment of the top legal adviser to radical Tea Party wing-nut Senator Mike Lee to a U.S. attorney position<\/a>. Um…what?!<\/em>\u00a0 But Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornel West wrapping up their “See What Happens When You Don’t Invite Me to the Party<\/a>?!” bus tour today and the Congressional Black Caucus’ “anti-Obama selective outrage<\/a>” about the dire unemployment rate for minorities, are two examples of unfounded criticisms of our President.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr. West & I in happier (dorkier) times<\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve been ignoring all of their tantrums for some time now. But today I was forwarded this\u00a0awesome letter<\/a>,\u00a0written by a constituent to the chair of the CBC, Rep. Barbara Lee, that I had to share.<\/p>\n

Joan Ruaiz criticizes the CBC for engaging in the latest Republican political strategy du jour: turning Black folks against the President. She writes:<\/p>\n

“The well-paid professional propagandists don\u2019t ask African-Americans to lay the blame for \u00a0 the lack of employment at the feet of the business world\u00a0(which is hoarding up a couple of trillions in their rainy-day fund)<\/a>, or to consider the fact that governors everywhere are cutting down on the public sector workforce\u00a0(comprised of\u00a0 large numbers of black Americans per capita<\/a>), or to holler at the Republican-dominated House, which has blocked most of the job-creating programs introduced by Democrats. Instead, they want us to aim our fire solely at our President and to blame him for 30 years of white men\u2019s policies.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Now, moreso like this...<\/p><\/div>\n

She goes on to list all the things that President Obama has actually done to benefit the Black community:<\/p>\n

Considering 2.7 years as the current timetable of his accomplishments, I would note that President Obama has reformed the health care system, which will provide\u00a0subsidies for lower-income individuals who may not currently be covered (many who are AA)<\/a>, and also\u00a0provides funding for badly needed community clinics<\/a>, while\u00a0 doing away with pre-existing condition restrictions such as\u00a0diabetes<\/a>,\u00a0high blood pressure<\/a>, and\u00a0coronary heart disease<\/a>,\u00a0 all ailments suffered in alarming rates by members of the black community.<\/p>\n

In addition,\u00a0women will soon get birth control free of charge if insured<\/a>, which means that women who were previously going to\u00a0Planned Parenthood<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 because, even with insurance, they couldn\u2019t afford the price of contraceptives \u2013 won\u2019t need to anymore. This leaves women who are uninsured more resources to get birth control via Planned Parenthood. Plus,\u00a0the stimulus saved the biggest health care provider to the black community, the various state Medicaid programs.<\/a>\u00a0As well, the President closed the\u00a0Medicare donut hole in prescription drugs<\/a>,\u00a0reduced seniors\u2019 prescription prices by 50%<\/a>\u00a0through the use of generic drugs, and sent\u00a0$250 payments to seniors to make up to the lack of a COLA increase<\/a>for two years now.<\/p>\n

Further, the President literally, by his lonesome,\u00a0saved the auto industry\u00a0<\/a>(while being criticized for it all the while), and in so doing saved many jobs held by African-Americans in the Midwest. No less, the\u00a0Cash for Clunkers program<\/a>\u00a0provided needed cash to those with clunkers permanently parked or about to stop running.<\/p>\n

Benefiting young people who are attempting to afford rising college tuition, President Obama\u00a0increased Pell grants<\/a>,\u00a0supported funding community colleges<\/a>\u00a0at unprecedented levels, and\u00a0reformed the private student loan programs<\/a>\u00a0to eliminate the middleman, thereby reducing loan interest rates. He also revamped the actual\u00a0repayment of loan programs, reducing them to not more than 10% of income<\/a>, while providing incentives to those who would choose community service careers. His\u00a0credit card reform bill\u00a0<\/a>stopped the predatory practice of credit card companies gifting young people with the ability to ruin their credit at an early age (something that hits our community harder than most).\u00a0 He is also\u00a0cracking down on for-profit educational enterprises<\/a>, some of which charge outrageous fees for inferior post-secondary education. These same young people are now able to stay\u00a0insured under their parents\u2019 health insurance until the age of 26<\/a>, whether they are enrolled in school part-time, full-time or not at all.<\/p>\n

For the younger children, President Obama is responsible for signing a\u00a0bill insuring\u00a0 healthier meals are served in our nation\u2019s public schools<\/a>, thereby addressing the issue of\u00a0childhood obesity<\/a>, a subject that affects more children in the African-American community than in others. Michelle Obama\u2019s\u00a0\u201cLet\u2019s Move\u201d campaign<\/a>\u00a0is also addressing this serious issue. And we shouldn\u2019t forget that early in his term, President Obama provided healthcare to\u00a011 million additional children via the CHIP program previously vetoed by President Bush<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As states cut funding for public education, President Obama recently allowed waivers to states to do away with\u00a0strict requirements set by No Child Left Behind<\/a>, requirements which would have marked many of the public schools in low-income neighborhoods for closure.\u00a0 He has also invested in the development and replication of successful\u00a0charter school<\/a>\u00a0programs, again focusing on low-income communities, whilerewarding teachers who plan to teach in such areas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

President Obama has assisted all Americans, which includes African-American workers, by providing a payroll tax reduction (beneficial to workers who may or may not pay income tax), extended unemployment benefits, kept income tax low for the working class, and signed\u00a0financial reform into law<\/a>\u00a0(which benefits our community largely because\u00a0minorities were especially hard hit by the subprime mortgage crisis<\/a>).\u00a0 There is also the up and coming\u00a0\u00a0Consumer Financial Protection Bureau<\/a>, which promises to be on the side of consumers, and we as black people are certainly that!<\/p>\n

I cannot forget that the first black president\u00a0increased military pay and improved veterans\u2019 health care<\/a>,\u00a0 is\u00a0drawing down troops in Iraq<\/a>, and has set a\u00a0timeline for our departure from Afghanistan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lastly, President Obama instituted reform of\u00a0crack cocaine sentencing<\/a>, and the deadly killer,\u00a0the tobacco industry<\/a>. And \u2013 lo and behold \u2013\u00a0black farmers were recently finally awarded their long awaited settlement<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Ruaiz makes great points in her letter. I hope the CBC, Tavis & Cornel all read it — and then have some seats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m beyond over the ridiculous criticisms that President Obama has faced in his less-than-three years of office. The ridiculous\u00a0criticisms, mind you, not the justified ones — such as his upsetting\u00a0appointment of the top legal adviser to radical Tea Party wing-nut Senator Mike Lee to a U.S. attorney position. Um…what?!\u00a0 But<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28],"tags":[739,851,913,1024,1039],"class_list":["post-2033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tricks-are-for-kids","tag-president-obama","tag-side-eye","tag-tea-party","tag-what-has-obama-done-for-us","tag-wing-nuts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7nB6F-wN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}