Freedom to Criticize

Freedom to Criticize

by Mark Luedtke

I can't imagine how black Americans must feel about Barack Obama's inauguration. I won't know how black Americans feel when Barack Obama takes the oath of office as the President of the United States. But I have no doubt that moment will be one of the most joyous moments in American history, and I'm going to revel in it.

It's a shame that the greatest debate during this presidential campaign was whether or not America was ready for a black president. Most Americans realized that race wouldn't play a significant factor in a presidential election and that no American would be denied the presidency because of race. But many Americans hadn't realized that yet. Now every American understands that race does not disqualify a candidate from the highest office in the country. In that very real sense, Barack Obama has united the nation, and that can never be taken away from us.

But the Democrat primary provides scary insight into what might happen after inauguration.

The race and gender prejudices that dominate liberal ideology almost ripped the Democrat party apart during the primary. Displaying outrageous disrespect of the black community, writers warned of rioting in the streets if Obama didn't win the nomination. Women threatened to boycott the election if Hillary lost. Supporters of Obama immediately labeled critics as racists and released their media hounds on any non-supporter who even mentioned race, including the first “black president". Democrats were exposed as a fragile, volatile alliance.

Few on the right mentioned race during the regular campaign, but Democrats and their mainstream media attack dogs couldn't quit talking about it and attacking based on it. New York Gov. Patterson accused McCain of playing the race card every time he mentioned Obama's work as a community organizer. Attack dogs blasted anybody who brought up Obama's connections to ACORN or Bill Ayers as racists. Susan Estrich wrote that the only way Obama could lose is because of racism. She wasn't very original. Dozens of similar articles appeared in newspapers.

During the campaign, Obama portrayed himself as the Messiah who would heal the planet and stop the rise of the oceans. The media projected an image that Obama would not only stop the rise of the water, but would walk on it. Peggy Joseph thinks she won't have to work to put gas in her car or pay her mortgage since Obama was elected. Obama and the media set expectations so high that he can't possibly meet them. Now that reality has set in, his speeches on his whistle-stop tour seem specifically designed to lower expectations.

Right now Obama's getting a free ride. In 2005, the press attacked George Bush for spending $43 million on his inauguration. But they revel in Obama's $150 million inauguration during a recession. Worse than the amount is that it's 3 times higher than the original budget of $50 million. Obama raised record levels of cash during his campaign, but he spent it even faster. They blasted Bush's deficits but welcome Obama's. Fiscal irresponsibility doesn't bode well given our economic problems, but not a peep from the media.

But that honeymoon can't last. America is drowning in debt. Debt, public and private, and government interference increasingly damage our economy. George Bush was the most financially irresponsible president since FDR, but Obama promises to be even worse. Obama's policies aren't new, they've been tried in one form or another around the world for centuries. We don't have to guess how they will affect the country. We know Obama's policies are going to impoverish America.

Despite a $1.2 trillion deficit for 2009, Obama proposes $815 billion in new spending under the guise of economic stimulus. But this is no stimulus - it's nothing but earmarks. And since every dollar government spends must be paid for by taxpayers, that means $815 billion in new taxes. To start. The country cannot get wealthier by paying higher taxes. Modeled after the New Deal, which turned a typical recession into the Great Depression, Obama's new New Deal will harm America and has the potential to turn this typical recession into a new Great Depression.

In a time when we need increased production to create wealth and jobs, Obama promises to use cap and trade policies to shut down coal mines and coal power plants. We get half of our electricity from coal, until Obama bankrupts the industry. Cap and trade policies are designed to increase the cost of energy and destroy wealth. Americans will have less money to spend on other things. That means less production, less wealth creation, and more lost jobs.

But only the most radical liberals will support Obama as our economy tanks. At some point Obama's attack dogs will turn on him. The knee-jerk response of the radical left will be to call anybody who criticizes Obama, even more moderate liberals, a racist. Liberals have called conservatives racists for so long that it's meaningless, but when liberals start calling each other racists again like they did in the primary, the country will either rise above knee-jerk accusations of racism and accept harsh criticism of Obama at face value or the Democrat coalition will disintegrate. Or explode.

Hopefully the country will unite in accepting criticism of Obama as it accepts criticism of any president – with robust and informed debate. If that happens, Obama will have succeeded in uniting the country in a second way, and we'll have taken another huge step in healing the racial divide.