In a speech on job creation and taxation inequality on September 24th before the Congressional Black Caucus, President Obama made a slip and compared the taxes paid by billionaires to the taxes paid by Jews. In addition to this comparison, Obama further enlarged the racial divide by calling for blacks in American to gear for war, and follow him 'into battle' for jobs and opportunities.
“Do you want poor folks to pay more? Give me a break. If asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew, err as a janitor, makes me a warrior for the working class, I wear that with a badge of honor.” – President Obama speaking at Congressional Black Caucus
In a fiery summons to an important voting bloc, President Barack Obama told blacks on Saturday to quit crying and complaining and "put on your marching shoes" to follow him into battle for jobs and opportunity.
Obama's speech to the annual awards dinner of the Congressional Black Caucus was his answer to increasingly vocal griping from black leaders that he's been giving away too much in talks with Republicans -- and not doing enough to fight black unemployment, which is nearly double the national average at 16.7 percent. – Associated Press
Jobs and employment in America is not a racial issue, and should never be compared as such. The current unemployment rates of 9% and 17% reflect all Americans, not simply a racial sector, and the segregation of those statistics to appeal to a particular audience is one of the primary reasons why American continues to be a divided nation, pitting culture against culture, and race against race.
The President of the United States is to represent every man and woman in the country, and should not use different words to different people to stimulate emotions that separate class distinction or race. Jobs and unemployment are issues that affect all Americans, and should be created with equal access based on skill, experience, and merit, not through promises that appeal to diversity over equality.
As the President continues to go on the campaign trail to get support for his job action plan that lies before Congress, the focus should be on the job creation aspects themselves, and not upon comparing economic status to race (as he did between billionaires and Jews), or separating the employment plight of blacks versus the same employment plight of whites and other Americans.
President Obama is creating racial divisions amongst all Americans by using race to compare economic or socio-economic paradigms that exist in the job markets today, and with class distinctions based on wealth. At a time when all Americans desire to come together to help rebuild the production capacity of America, and create the job environment we had just a decade ago, the class warfare and racial arguments that President Obama is fueling have no place in helping accomplish this, and get people working.
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