You know President Obama thinks he’s in trouble with his liberal base when he lapses into what used to be called “jive talk” before an audience of Congressional Black Caucus members. Dropping his “g’s”, the president admonished the group to “stop complainin’.” “Who’s he talking about?” a puzzled Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., asked, keeping the “g.”
Some African Americans have reason to complain. For decades they have given Democrats their votes while receiving little in return. Some have gotten government checks and a welfare system that resembles an addictive drug, dooming generations of poor blacks to a shoddy education, single motherhood, absent fathers, crime and incarceration.
This summer, the unemployment rate among blacks increased to 16.7 percent, the highest level in 27 years, almost twice the national rate. In 1984, black leaders blamed joblessness on Ronald Reagan. They are reluctant to blame America’s first black president (if you don’t count Bill Clinton), and instead have started a jobs tour to focus on the problem.
Obama’s rate of “strong approval” among blacks has declined 25 percent in the last five months, from 83 percent to 58 percent, according to a Washington Post-ABC News Poll.
This wasn’t the first time Obama has lectured his base. Exactly one year ago, the president said, “Buck up. Stop whining. And get to work.” He didn’t tell them where or how to find work if they were unemployed.
Liberal Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy, a black American, wrote, “It’s hard to see how the plight of black people could get any worse, even under a President [Herman] Cain.” The tone of Milloy’s column suggests Obama only pays attention to black people when he wants their votes.
Before the Congressional Black Caucus, Obama said, “I expect all of you to march with me and press on. Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes.”
Instead of blindly marching to the polls again to vote for Obama and other Democrats, black Americans should march out of the schools that are failing their children. They should demand from politicians who can afford to send their children to expensive private schools — like the Obamas — the same choice those “evil” rich people enjoy.
A bright future begins with a good education. Too many black Americans are being deprived of an education by their Democratic bosses who doom them to a future of welfare dependency and despair because they will not let them flee failing schools.
I would be willing to wager several mortgage payments on an experiment. Take one dozen poor minority children and allow them to attend private schools where they are loved, encouraged and motivated to do well. Take another dozen and let them remain in failing schools where drugs and guns proliferate and they live in despair without being able to spell the word.
Oh wait. That experiment is already being conducted in an increasing number of charter schools around the country and through groups like the Children’s Scholarship Fund in New York City. The academic and social results in these schools are astounding.
The keys to a successful life are already well-known: stay in school and get a good education; get married before you have children and then stay married; develop character qualities such as virtue and honesty; have a purpose for living that goes beyond yourself; avoid drugs; avoid the company of criminals and other bad influences. When children learn to value themselves, they are more likely to be motivated to do well in school and as adults, and less likely to have babies while still in their own childhood.
Disillusionment with this president has set in with many of the young people who viewed him as a messianic figure four years ago. According to an AP-GfK poll, 27 percent of young Democrats under age 45 say the president is not a strong leader.
They are already marching, but it’s away from the president.
Examiner Columnist Cal Thomas is nationally syndicated by Tribune Media.
