As his term in office winds down, President Barack Obama is enjoying a positive approval rating, and taking advantage of every opportunity to remind the American people that his Presidency was a tremendous success. Obama likes to mention a 4.9 percent unemployment rate and 70 plus consecutive months of positive growth. He also pardoned 78 convicted felons and commuted the sentences of 153 others. Pardons and commutations are the prerogative of every outgoing President; Obama focused on drug offenders with his act of legislative forgiveness. Ever since President Bill Clinton chose to pardon political ally Mark Rich and to commute the sentences of sixteen Puerto Rican terrorists, I try not to pay much attention to this odd tradition. Obama seems to be enjoying the last few weeks of his Administration, and his last minute decision to outlaw any new offshore drilling will certainly please the ecological fanatics who constitute a loyal part of the Democratic Party. I am in favor of allowing the departing President to leave office with dignity and promote a needed sense of continuity from one Administration to the next, but I am beginning to get annoyed by the daily revisionist review of Obama's Presidency as disseminated by the mainstream media.
It is beyond disingenuous to publicly claim that the unemployment rate is 4.9 percent. Our economy is stagnant, and threatening to fall into recession. The 4.9 figure includes only those persons who currently apply for unemployment. Persons who have been unemployment for many months or even years no longer are included in this percentage. I don't live in New York, Los Angeles or Washington DC, so I can't say if the job markets in those cities are healthy. I can tell you that in the parts of the country of which I am familiar, jobs are scarce, and companies are not growing or posting profits. Obama is correct when his states that the economy has grown over the past 70 odd months, but the amount growth has almost always been under 2.0 percent. Economists will tell you that our economy isn't actually growing anymore, and certainly is in no position to provide jobs to the existing number of unemployed, let alone the never-ending number of new college graduates who enter the work force during the year. To attempt to convince the American people that the job market is healthy and that the economy is just chugging along is perpetrating a fraud. If you question my perspective as opposed to Obama's, do the research yourself.
Obama is able to stay popular with the majority of Americans, a fact which is difficult for me to comprehend. But he isn't only popular stateside. He continues to receive rave reviews throughout Europe and Latin America. One of the most fascinating dichotomies of our time is Obama's ability to remain a figure of reverence in Paris, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Rome, Santiago, and London, while the United States remains resented more than ever. Actually, the explanation isn't that complicated. Obama has built a cult of personality for himself, and part of the effort included trashing his own country and its heritage. It all began with the Apology Tour at the beginning of his Presidency, and has continued unabated ever since. As Obama's international popularity increases, the United States as a World Power and instrument of positive change in the world seems less respected now more than ever. From the first day it was all about Obama.
If I had the opportunity to ask the outgoing President one question, I would inquire about the twenty trillion dollar national debt. Its a subject that never comes up in any of his rare Press Conferences or public speaking appearances. If I could sneak in another question, I would want to know why he never addressed the national threat of gang activity in our inner cities. I believe Black Lives Matter, and what occurs everyday in Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia and Washington DC is nothing short of a threat to our national security. The fact that on average ten to fifteen young black men are shot every day in Chicago, and it has never been considered important enough to convene a national conference of community leaders and law enforcement, is a disgrace. The people living in our inner cities aren't able to play golf every week with one famous personality after another, nor are they getting dressed by the nation's most expensive fashion designers. Heck, maybe they don't care about golf or fashion, but they do care about living. They have just as much right as every other citizen to a threat-free living environment, and President-Elect Donald Trump will earn my respect if he addresses this issue early on in his Administration.
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