State of President Obama’s Union, November 2011

By Raoul Lowery
Contreras

“Along day of mostly peaceful protest in Oakland descended into chaos after midnight. Masked vandals shattered windows, set fires and plastered downtown businesses with graffiti before police moved in, dispersing crowds with tear gas and flash-bang grenades and making dozens of arrests. Buildings that had windows smashed early today around City Hall included…the headquarters of the police internal affairs division…” San Francisco Chronicle President Obama’s comments on the Oakland rioters the next day from Cannes, France:Nada… November 4, one year before the Presidential election, the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced the U.S. economy produced a net 80,000 jobs nationally in October.
The national official unemployment rate fell from 9.1% to 9%.White men and women unemployed was 8%. Black unemployment dropped slightly to 15.1% and Hispanic unemployment stayed at 11.4%. Riots, demonstrations and record unemployment…Is this the “hope and change” Barack Obama promised in 2008? At this new-job rate, the United States will never return to employment levels of George W. Bush, according to BLS’ director. Never! Hope: Black unemployment is almost twice that of Whites and 26% higher than Hispanics. Despite this economic calamity for the Black community orchestrated by mostly White Harvard-educated Obama bureaucrats, 95% of Blacks continue to support Obama. This political solidarity (or pride) is astounding albeit race based. Can anybody challenge that observation? There is, however, a fissure in the solid Black Phalanx supporting Obama; Herman Cain is his name. Black Herman Cain is running for the Republican nomination for President to run against half-white Obama. He’s a political amateur with little money, small staff and no real policy background.
Nonetheless, many Republicans like and support him in early polls. He doesn’t have any chance of winning the Republican nomination, for the Party learned its lesson in 1940 when it blew a possible victory over two-term Franklin Delano Roosevelt by nominating an inexperienced Wall Streeter named Wendell Willkie.Republicans lost in 1948 by nominating a colorless and uncharismatic experienced New York Governor, crime-busting Tom Dewey. On the one hand, Republicans have an inexperienced likable business man in Cain and on the other hand, we have experienced politicos: Newt Gingrich (perceived as mean and arrogant), intellectually deficient Texas Governor Rick Perry, and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney totaling about 70% of the Republican primary vote and a gaggle of lesser candidates.
All are vying for the opportunity to run against an incompetent President the likes of which makes former President Jimmy Carter look brilliant and accomplished. Which of the Cain, Romney, Perry, Gingrich foursome is best suited to run against President Obama? Who can combine some personality and experience into a coherent campaign based on massive unemployment, four trillion dollars of deficits, robbery of and the slow destruction of Medicare? There is also the decimation of the Black and Hispanic working class. Who has the vision of how to pull us out of the “ditch” Obama ran us into after George W. Bush saved the financial backbone of the country and the automobile industry? That man is not the sexually harassment plagued Herman Cain or Rick Perry of Texas with a trail of cozy business and political relationships based on campaign cash and lucrative real estate deals.
It is not Newt Gingrich no matter how brilliant he is – and he is. That leaves Mitt Romney, the son of the late Mexican-born George Romney, a great Michigan governor and business executive. His 60s vision of gas-saving compact cars is finally here. He, too, ran for President but flamed out early with an ill-informed mouth. Mitt Romney it is. He has political defects, of course. One appeals to true-blue bigots — Romney is a Mormon, a religion some call a “cult.” As Massachusetts governor he sponsored a medical care mandated insurance program that resembles the hated Obamacare that many call socialized medicine. He once stood for “Free Choice” the propaganda words for pro-abortion but changed to the “Pro-Life” position he now holds. He has changed his public policy positions on some issues but they are unimportant in the universal scheme of things. Ask Ronald Reagan who changed his mind many times regarding withheld taxes, regulations and signed a California abortion bill that legalized abortion before Roe v. Wade did… One issue he needs to change back to his previous position to be a great President – is immigration reform. His father being Mexican-born should help him reject racist assertions and institutions that issue falsehoods about illegals from Mexico. Romney’s staff has ignorantly adopted these lies for him. If he doesn’t moderate on this issue, he will lose. Riots in the streets, unemployment, public employee pension scandals, incompetence and Obamacare are the Obama Experience. Competence and real vision of the future should do it for Mitt Romney a year from now. That’s hope, 2012. Contreras’ books are available at amazon.com