President Obama Has Not Helped His Basic Constituents

President Obama's Problem

As we have reported, President Obama was repudiated in the midterm elections of 2010. As a matter of fact, it was the worst mid term election for any President in American history. There is about an even chance that President Obama will not get reelected. The President's problem is with the very people who elected him in the first place.

President Obama has failed the very constituencies he promised to help. The President campaigned as the champion of the underprivileged, the poor and unemployed, the minorities, and unionized workers. He promised the most transparent and fair administration in American history and said he was on our side and against the special interests and their lobbyists. These constituencies and those who were looking for basic fairness propelled him into the White House. Let us take a look at the record to see how he has failed these voters.

The Minorities

Afro-Americans made the decisive difference that put President Obama in the White House. They turned out in record numbers and voted for the President over Republican Senator John McCain by an incredible margin of 95 to 5 percent. It was the largest margin of victory in American History. Unfortunately, President Obama has not significantly improved the situation for Afro-Americans and there relationship is strained.

At this point in his presidency, the unemployment rate for Afro-Americans is 15.9 percent which is nearly double their fellow white citizens. This staggering unemployment rate has led the Congressional Black Caucus to conduct job fairs in predominately black communities. Representative Conyers (D-MI) wants the President to demonstrate that he is on their side, to be their chief advocate, and not merely to watch and wait to see what happens. Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) describes the President's leadership as tired and frequently questions the rationale for his decisions.

The Unions

In 2008, the unions banded together and spent about $400 million to help President Obama get elected. They had high hopes that Obama would advance their agenda. They are obviously disillusioned and the AFL-CIO is running their own grassroots campaigns and ignoring the President and the Democratic Party. He has not made a serious attempt to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. He has angered the two largest teachers unions in the country as he supported Rhode Island's decision to fire their teachers, and he advanced his Race To The Top Program. The teachers unions are so upset that the President was not asked to speak at their summer conference, and neither was Arne Duncan, his Secretary of Education.

Fairness and Transparency

Many people voted for Obama as they believed he would be a new type of politician who would be fair and transparent and not cave in to the special interests. The President has also failed those people. President Obama has continually advocated higher taxes for the rich and for corporations. Rather than being transparent the President suffers from an obvious double standard. General Electric is one of his biggest supporters and they owed no taxes on $14 billion in profits, and its CEO enjoys a seat on President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

The Poor The Unemployed and The Underemployed

People struggling in these categories rushed to Obama in the last election as he offered them a ray of hope. As usual, he has failed to deliver and has not improved their plight. He passed a massive stimulus package that was supposed to stimulate the economy, and put these people back to work. The program was a giant smoke screen as most of the money went to state governments to keep them solvent and to allow these state governments to support some of the key programs of the Democratic Party.. There was not enough money to help private industry and these people remain hopelessly out of work.

Source: Paul Stebbins Junior, Obama has not been of help to those who got him elected, The Citizens' Voice, September 16, 20111.

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