Barack Obama Part Nine

Obama Meets with Sharpton Regarding Police Department Reform

On December 1, 2014, President Obama met with Al Sharpton at the White House to discuss matters related to the Michael Brown shooting and police-department reform. News reports indicated that Obama would demand $263 million from Congress to put 50,000 body-worn cameras in U.S. police departments and train local officers in the  proper use pf surplus military equipment. Brown's parents had pushed for the use of cameras as one way to reduce distrust between police and nonwhites. In August, the administration had said that it agreed with the idea in principle, writing: "We support the use of cameras and video technology by law enforcement officers, and the Department of Justice continues to research best practices for implementation."

Al Sharpton Has Become Obama's Chief Advisor on Racial Issues

In August 2014, Politico.com published a feature story titled, “How Al Sharpton Became Obama's Go-To Man on Race.” The piece stated that “Sharpton not only visits the White House frequently, he often texts or emails with senior Obama officials such as [Valerie] Jarrett and Attorney General Eric Holder.” It quoted Jesse Jackson saying, “I’ve known Al since he was 12 years old, and he’s arrived at the level he always wanted to arrive at, which is gratifying. He’s the man who’s the liaison to the White House, he’s the one who’s talking to the Justice Department.” Sharpton himself, meanwhile, offered his own assessment of how he had bonded with Obama: “The relationship evolved over time.... The key for him was seeing that I wasn’t insincere, that I actually believed in the stuff I was talking about.”

In a subsequent New York Times piece, Obama was quoted as having said of Sharpton: “You can do business with that guy.”

Obama Sees Racism As the Cause of Opposition to Immigration Reform 

In an August 2014 interview with The Economist, President Obama derided "the dysfunction of a Republican Party that knows we need immigration reform, knows that it would actually be good for its long-term prospects, but is captive to the nativist elements in its party."

Obama Says Racism in America Is "Deeply Rooted"

In a December 2014 interview with Black Entertainment Television, President Obama said that racism “is something that is deeply rooted in our society, it’s deeply rooted in our history.” He added: “When you’re dealing with something as deeply rooted as racism or bias, you’ve got to have vigilance but you have to recognize that it’s going to take some time, and you just have to be steady so you don’t give up when we don’t get all the way there. This isn’t going to be solved overnight.”

Obama Cites the Continuing "Legacy of Slavery"

In an October 2014 New Yorker article, President Obama was quoted saying thatthe biggest issues concerning race are “rooted in economics and the legacy of slavery,” which have created “vastly different opportunities for African-Americans and whites.” He added: “I understand, certainly sitting in this office, that probably the single most important thing I could do for poor black kids is to make sure that they’re getting a good K-through-12 education. And, if they’re coming out of high school well prepared, then they’ll be able to compete for university slots and jobs. And that has more to do with budgets and early-childhood education and stuff that needs to be legislated.”

Obama Discusses Society's Continuing Racism

In A December 2014 interview with People magazine, Obama said: "The small irritations or indignities that we experience are nothing compared to what a previous generation experienced. It's one thing for me to be mistaken for a waiter at a gala [an alleged incident that Mrs. Obama had just recounted to the interviewer]. It's another thing for my son to be mistaken for a robber and to be handcuffed, or worse, if he happens to be walking down the street and is dressed the way teenagers dress."

Obama also told People: “There’s no black male my age, who’s a professional, who hasn’t come out of a restaurant and is waiting for their car and somebody didn’t hand them their car keys.”

The President also said that he and Mrs. Obama had often encouraged their daughters to reflect on racial stereotypes, particularly "how they think they should have to act as African-American girls." "Around the dinner table," he added, "we're pointing out to them that too often in our society black boys are still perceived as more dangerous, and it will be part of their generation's task to try to eradicate those stereotypes."

DIVIDING AMERICANS BY GENDER

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Obama Falsely Claims That Women Are Underpaid

“For every $1.00 earned by a man, the average woman receives only 77 cents,” said an Obama campaign publication in 2008. “A recent study estimates it will take another 47 years for women to close the wage gap with men.” To rectify this, said the campaign, “the government needs to take steps to better enforce the Equal Pay Act, fight job discrimination, and improve child care options and family medical leave to give women equal footing in the workplace.”

Nine days after his inauguration, President Obama honored one of his campaign pledges by signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a law making it easier for women to sue employers for pay discrimination. Said the President: “It is a story of women across this country still earning just 78 cents for every $1 [that] men earn, women of color even less, which means that today in the year 2009, countless women are still losing thousands of dollars in salary, income, and retirement savings over the course of a lifetime”

Obama Speaks at White House Event on Women and the Economy

At an April 6, 2012 White House event on women and the economy, President Obama said: “When more women are bringing home the bacon, but bringing home less of it than men who are doing the same work, that weakens families, it weakens communities, it's tough on our kids, it weakens our entire economy.”

Obama Speaks about the Need for “Pay Equity”

On April 17, 2012, President Obama stated that “women who worked full-time [the previous year] earned only 77 percent of what their male counterparts did.” “The pay gap was even greater for African American and Latina women,” added Obama, “with African American women earning 64 cents and Latina women earning 56 cents for every dollar earned by a Caucasian man.”

The “Gender Pay Gap” Is a Fiction

President Obama's claim that women were underpaid (in comparison to men) by American employers was untrue. As longtime employment lawyer William Farrell, who served as a board member of the National Organization for Women from 1970 to 1973, explains in his 2005 book Why Men Earn More, the gender pay gap can be explained entirely by the fact that women as a group tend, to a much greater degree than men, to make employment choices that involve certain tradeoffs; i.e., choices that suppress incomes but, by the same token, afford tangible lifestyle advantages that are highly valued.

For example, women tend to pursue careers in fields that are non-technical and do not involve the hard (as opposed to the social) sciences; fields that do not require a large amount of continuing education in order to keep pace with new developments or innovations; fields that offer a high level of physical safety; fields where the work is performed indoors as opposed to outdoors (where bad weather can make working conditions poor); fields that offer a pleasant and socially dynamic working environment; fields typified by lower levels of emotional strife; fields that offer desirable shifts or flexible working hours; fields or jobs that require fewer working hours per week or fewer working days per year; and fields where employees can “check out” at the end of the day and not need to “take their jobs home with them.”

Moreover, Farrell notes, women as a group tend to be less willing to commute long distances, to travel extensively for work-related duties, or to relocate geographically in order to take a job. In addition, they tend to have fewer years of uninterrupted experience in their current jobs, and they are far more likely to leave the work force for extended periods in order to attend to family-related matters such as raising children. During the course of their overall work lives, men accumulate an extra 5 to 9 years on the job as compared to their female counterparts, and each of those additional years translates to approximately 3 or 4 percent more in annual pay.

When all of the above variables are factored into the equation, the gender pay gap disappears entirely. When men and women work at jobs where their titles and their responsibilities are equivalent, they are paid exactly the same.

Obama Himself Has Paid His Female Staffers Less than His Male Staffers

The women who worked on Obama’s Senate staff during 2007-2008 earned 78 cents for every dollar his male staffers were paid (annual salaries of $44,953.21 for the women, vs. $57,425 for the men). These data, however, did not take into account such variables as job position, experience, or education—all of which are factors that could influence pay. Thus the raw numbers did not constitute evidence that the women were being discriminated against—though by the (invalid) standard which Obama had applied to all other American employers, the numbers were indeed indicative of discrimination.

According to the 2011 annual report on White House staff, female employees in the Obama White House earned a median annual salary of $60,000, approximately 18% less than the median salary for male employees ($71,000).

“The War on Women”: Obama Supports Georgetown Law Student Sandra Fluke's Demand that Insurance Providers Cover the Costs of Contraception and Abortion

On February 23, 2012, Sandra Fluke, a third-year law student at Georgetown University and an experienced women's-rights activist, testified about Georgetown’s policy on contraception during an unofficial hearing that was led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Fluke argued that birth control should be covered by health insurance policies, even at religious institutions that objected to contraception on moral grounds. After radio host Rush Limbaugh harshly criticized Miss Fluke for her comments, President Obama called the young woman to express his support. In an interview with CBS News, Fluke reported that Mr. Obama had thanked her for “helping to amplify the voices of women across the country,” and had expressed concern “that I was okay.”

This incident laid the groundwork for the Obama administration and the Democratic Party to accuse the Republican Party of waging a “war on women,” a hallmark of which was Republicans' refusal to mandate that all health insurance plans cover the cost of women's contraception and abortion services.

In January 2012, the Obama administration issued an edict mandating that religious hospitals, schools, charities and other health and social service providers provide “free” contraception, abortifacient pills, sterilizations, and abortion services in their insurance plans—even if doing so violated their moral codes and the teachings of their churches.

Obama Says the Augusta National Golf Club Should Allow Women to Attend

In April 2012, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney informed the media that President Obama believed that women should be admitted for membership to the all-male Augusta National Golf Club.

Obama Campaign Urges Female Voters to “Vote Like Your Lady Parts Depend on It”

On October 2, 2012, the Obama campaign posted an e-card, targeting women, on its Tumblr site. It read: “Vote like your lady parts depend on it.” Just hours after bloggers began criticizing the ad, the campaign deleted the e-card.

Obama Mocks Romney's Reference to “Binders Full of Women”

During an October 9, 2012 presidential debate, Republican Mitt Romney described how, when he began his tenure as governor of Massachusetts in 2003, he sought to increase the number of women in his cabinet: “I had the chance to pull together a cabinet and all the applicants seemed to be men. And I went to my staff, and I said, 'How come all the people for these jobs are all men?' They said, 'Well, these are the people that have the qualifications.' And I said, 'Well, gosh, can't we find some women that are also qualified?'” This, explained Romney, led to a “concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members” of his cabinet. “I went to a number of women's groups and said, 'Can you help us find folks?' And they brought us whole binders full of women” (i.e., women's resumes).

At a campaign rally in Iowa the following day, Obama made a disparaging reference to Romney's remark: “We don't have to collect a bunch of binders to find qualified, talented, driven young women ready to learn and teach in these fields right now,” said Obama. “When young women graduate, they should get equal pay for equal work. That should be a simple question to answer.” He repeated a similar assertion later that day at a campaign event in Ohio.

Obama Says Women Are Underpaid

During his second inaugural address as president on January 21, 2013, the newly re-elected Obama emphasized his belief that female workers in America are not treated or paid fairly: “Our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts.”

Obama Laments America's Historical and Continuing Injustice Toward Women

In a December 4, 2013 speech on the U.S. economy, President Obama said: "It’s also true that women still make 77 cents on the dollar compared to men.... It’s time to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act so that women will have more tools to fight pay discrimination."

Obama Says Women Are Underpaid

During his State of the Union address in January 2014, Obama said: "Today, women make up about half our workforce. But they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment. A woman deserves equal pay for equal work."

Depicting a Supreme Court Decision As "War on Women"

On June 30, 2014, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that some companies with religious objections could avoid the Obamacare mandate requiring employers to provide their workers with health insurance plans that cover contraceptives and abortifacients.

The Obama administration responded to the decision by characterizing it as anti-woman. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said: "President Obama believes that women should make personal health care decisions for themselves rather than their bosses deciding for them. Today's decision jeopardizes the health of the women who are employed by these companies."

KEY OBAMA APPOINTEES: REFLECTING THE PRESIDENT'S RADICALISM

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Obama's Values and Political Agendas Are Reflected in the Individuals Whom He Has Appointed to Key Posts in His Administration

Alikhan, Arif (Assistant Secretary for the Office of Policy Development): When he was Deputy Mayor of Homeland Security and Public Safety for the City of Los Angeles, Alikhan was responsible for derailing the LAPD's efforts to monitor activities within the city’s Muslim community, where numerous radical mosques and madrassas were known to exist, and where some of the 9/11 hijackers had received support from local residents.

Berwick, Donald (Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services): Opposed to free-market health-care systems, Berwick favors a government-run, single-payer model. He is particularly fond of Great Britain’s government-run National Health Services (NHS) and its National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), a body of bureaucrats who evaluate the relative costs and benefits of various medical therapies in order to determine what procedures the NHS will cover. In Berwick's calculus, America's health-care system traditionally has been inferior to Britain's because of the free-market elements present in the U.S. system.

Bloom, Ron (Senior Counselor to the President for Manufacturing Policy): Asserting that “the free market is nonsense,” Bloom supports federal-government control of the American healthcare system. “We kind of agree with Mao,” says Bloom, “that political power comes largely from the barrel of a gun.”

Brooks, Rosa (Undersecretary for Defense Policy): In a September 2006 L.A. Times column, Brooks referred to President Bush as America’s “torturer-in-chief,” and she suggested that Islamist terror attacks against the U.S. were manifestations of a backlash against America’s foreign transgressions. “Today, the chickens are coming home to roost,” she said.

Browner, Carol (Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change): Browner formerly served as a “commissioner” of the Socialist International, the umbrella group for 170 “social democratic, socialist and labor parties” in 55 countries. The Socialist International's “organizing document” cites capitalism as the cause of “devastating crises,” “mass unemployment,” “imperialist expansion,” and “colonial exploitation” worldwide. Browner also worked on the Socialist International's Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which contends that “the developed world must reduce consumption and commit to binding and punitive limits on greenhouse gas emissions.”

Chu, Steven (Secretary of Energy): In 2008, Chu advocated steep rises in gasoline prices as a means of coaxing Americans into being more fuel-efficient and purchasing green energy cars: “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe” (i.e., approximately $10 per gallon).

Cole, James (Deputy Attorney General): After 9/11, Cole contended that prosecutions related to terrorism should be adjudicated in civilian courts rather than in military tribunals. Further, he legally represented Prince Naif Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family, in a lawsuit filed by Motley Rice on behalf of 9/11 families. Prince Naif headed the terror-aligned Al Haramain Islamic Foundation. Between 2002 and 2004, the Treasury Department concluded that 13 branches of that Foundation had ties to al Qaeda; in 2008, Treasury extended the terror designation to the entire Foundation.

Dunn, Anita (White House Communications Director): Dunn has cited former Chinese dictator Mao Zedong as one of her “favorite political philosophers.”

Emanuel, Rahm (Chief of Staff): In December 2008 it was reported that Emanuel, cognizant of the fact that the economic recession in which America was mired presented an opportunity for the Democratic Party to enact sweeping legislation under the guise of an economic recovery plan, had said the following in a candid moment: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste—and what I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.”

Freeman, Charles: (Nominated for Chair of the National Intelligence Council, but withdrew from consideration in March 2009): In a 2002 speech, Freeman said: “Saudis and other Gulf Arabs were shocked by the level of ignorance and antipathy displayed by Americans toward them and toward Islam after September 11. The connection between Islam and suicide bombing is a false connection. Kamikaze pilots were not Muslims…. And what of America's lack of introspection about September 11? Instead of asking what might have caused the attack, or questioning the propriety of the national response to it, there is an ugly mood of chauvinism. Before Americans call on others to examine themselves, we should examine ourselves.” In 2007, Freeman said the U.S. had provoked Islamic terrorism by failing to put an end to “the brutal oppression of the Palestinians by an Israeli occupation that is about to mark its fortieth anniversary and shows no sign of ending.”

Geithner, Timothy (Secretary of the Treasury): During Geithner’s Senate confirmation hearings, it was learned that he had failed to pay $43,000 in federal self-employment taxes over a four-year period. He subsequently paid the amount in full, stating that he had been guilty only of making “careless” and “unintentional” errors. In March 2009, the Associated Press reported that Geithner would soon “unveil a series of rules and measures … to limit the ability of international companies to avoid U.S. taxes.” Also in March, Geithner told the House Ways and Means Committee that President Obama intended to propose legislation to limit the ability of American companies and high earners to shelter foreign earnings from U.S. taxes.

Holder, Eric (Attorney General): Holder was deeply involved in former President Clinton's pardons of Puerto Rican FALN terrorists and Marc Rich (a fugitive oil broker who had illegally purchased oil from Iran during the American trade embargo, and had then proceeded to hide more than $100 million in profits by using dummy transactions in off-shore corporations). He also has condemned the Guantanamo Bay detention center as an “international embarrassment”; has sought to try islamic terrorists in civilian courts rather than in military tribunals; has filed suit against several states that had passed laws designed to stem the flow of illegal immigration; and has opposed efforts to purge voter rolls of ineligible names, or to enact voter-ID laws.

Holdren, John (Assistant to the President for Science and Technology): Viewing capitalism as an economic system that is inherently harmful to the natural environment, Holdren once called for “a massive campaign … to de-develop the United States” and other Western nations in order to conserve energy and facilitate growth in underdeveloped countries.

Johnsen, Dawn (Assistant Attorney General to the Office of Legal Counsel): Johnsen views the United States generally as a nation rife with all manner of injustice, including racial discrimination against nonwhites. In an April 2008 article she lamented “the devastatingly disproportionate rates of imprisonment of racial minorities.” In 2008 she characterized the War on Terror as an ill-advised brainstorm that President Bush had undertaken impetuously as an overreaction to a single act of terrorism. Moreover, she believes that nominees for the federal judiciary should automatically be disqualified from consideration if they subscribe to the concept of Constitutional originalism (as opposed to the notion that the Constitution is a malleable “living document”).

Jones, Van (Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation): In 2004 this self-identified revolutionary communist signed the 9/11 Truth Statement, which called for a federal investigation into whether President Bush had been privy to advance knowledge of—or perhaps had colluded in—the destruction of the World Trade Center.

Koh, Harold (Legal Advisor to the U.S. State Department): Koh is an advocate of transnationalism, a concept arguing in favor of “global governance” as opposed to the constitutional sovereignty of independent nation-states. This perspective holds that the world's most challenging problems are too complex and deep-rooted for any single country to address effectively on its own. The solution, says Koh, is for all members of the international community to recognize a set of supranational laws and institutions whose authority overrides those of any particular government.

Lloyd, Mark (Diversity Chief of the Federal Communications Commission): Lloyd seeks to shut down, or at least weaken, talk radio—on the pretext that doing so would promote “diversity” and the interests of “local” populations.

Medina, Eliseo (National Latino Advisory Council): Medina once served as an Honorary Chairman of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Mogahed, Dalia (Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships): Mogahed views the United States as a nation rife with discrimination against Muslims. She contends that the Western view of Sharia Law is “oversimplified,” and that the majority of Muslim women around the world associate Islamic Law with “gender justice.”

Muñoz, Cecilia (Director of Intergovernmental Affairs; Director of the Domestic Policy Council): By Muñoz's reckoning, America is a nation rife with white racism and bigotry. On one occasion, she told The Detroit News: “It gets old. We're [Latinos] tired of being treated as if we don't belong here.” Muñoz calls for immigration reform that would create a clear path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, and describes organized opposition to this agenda as a “wave of hate.”

Napolitano, Janet (Secretary of Department of Homeland Security): From her earliest days as the head of DHS, Napolitano broke with the Department’s tradition of warning the American public about potential terrorist threats. Instead, Napolitano began referring to acts of terrorism as “man-caused disasters.”

Perez, Thomas (Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division): In June 2010, J. Christian Adams, a five-year Department of Justice (DOJ) veteran, resigned to protest the “corrupt nature” of DOJ's dismissal of a case involving two Philadelphia-based members of the New Black Panther Party who had intimidated white voters with racial slurs and threats of violence on Election Day, 2008. Adams cited Thomas Perrelli (the Associate Attorney General) and Thomas Perez as the two DOJ officials most responsible for dropping the case. In July 2010, Adams gave damning public testimony about how Perez and other Obama DOJ officials believed that “civil rights law should not be enforced in a race-neutral manner, and should never be enforced against blacks or other national minorities.”

Posner, Michael (Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor): In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Posner asserted that America's treatment of Middle Easterners was akin to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Particularly appalling to Posner was the government's practice of holding suspected terrorists such as al Qaeda operatives Jose Padilla and Yaser Hamdi in military detention indefinitely and without access to legal counsel. From the time of Padilla’s arrest in 2002, Posner was deeply engaged in the defendant's case and filed the first amicus brief on his behalf in July 2003. In May 2010, Posner headed the American delegation to a “U.S.-China Human Rights Dialogue,” where he repeatedly made reference to the recently enacted Arizona immigration-law-enforcement bill as an example of America’s own human-rights failures―calling it “a troubling trend in our society, and an indication that we have to deal with issues of discrimination or potential discrimination.”

Power, Samantha (Director for Multilateral Affairs, National Security Council): Power has said that America’s relationship with Israel “has often led foreign policy decision-makers to defer reflexively to Israeli security assessments, and to replicate Israeli tactics”―thereby provoking terrorist attacks upon America from the Muslim world.

Rice, Susan (Ambassador to the United Nations): Downplaying the aggressive, faith-based intentions of radical Islamists, Rice contends that terrorism is primarily “a threat borne of both oppression and deprivation.” In the aftermath of the deadly September 11, 2012 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Rice went on five separate news programs and falsely stated that the attacks were a “spontaneous reaction” to an obscure Internet video that was critical of the Prophet Mohammed. Soon thereafter, it was learned that the American consulate in Benghazi had been attacked and threatened at least 13 times before the deadly September 11 attack, and that the Obama administration had failed to provide proper security at the facility.

Solis, Hilda (Secretary of Labor): Solis firmly embraces President Obama's class-warfare mindset. In April 2012, for example, she delivered a speech at Al Sharpton's National Action Network, where she stated that imposing higher taxes on the wealthy was justified: “It’s about fairness in the workplace; it’s about fairness in education; and it’s about fairness in terms of what services are provided by government.... [T]hose that can afford it, the billionaires and millionaires ... want to pay more because they know it’s their obligation!”

Sunstein, Cass (Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs): Sunstein's views on taxes are wholly consistent with those of President Obama. Wries Sunstein: “In what sense is the money in our pockets and bank accounts fully ‘ours’? Did we earn it by our own autonomous efforts? Could we have inherited it without the assistance of probate courts? Do we save it without the support of bank regulators? Could we spend it if there were no public officials to coordinate the efforts and pool the resources of the community in which we live?… Without taxes there would be no liberty. Without taxes there would be no property. Without taxes, few of us would have any assets worth defending. [It is] a dim fiction that some people enjoy and exercise their rights without placing any burden whatsoever on the public fisc. … There is no liberty without dependency. That is why we should celebrate tax day …”

Sutley, Nancy (White House Council on Environmental Quality): On December 15, 2008, President-elect Barack Obama appointed Sutley to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). Sutley and the CEQ came under scrutiny in 2009 when it was learned that Van Jones, President Obama’s “Green Jobs Czar” and also a member of the CEQ, was a communist with a twenty-year history of radical activism. Sutley initially had championed Jones as “a strong voice for green jobs,” but once the scandal snowballed and eventually forced Jones to resign, Sutley issued only a short statement on Jones' “hard work” and dedication to green jobs and renewable resources.

Tauscher, Ellen (Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security): When she was a congresswoman, Tauscher opposed efforts to create any new nuclear weapons and withheld funding from the Reliable Replacement Warhead program, which was designed to secure America's aging nuclear stockpile. Not only were missile-defense systems “untested,” in Tauscher's view, but they were unnecessary—because Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejiad and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden did not yet possess nuclear weapons. In March 2009 Tauscher excoriated advocates of missile defense for “running around with their hair on fire warning about a long-range threat from Iran that does not exist.” Tauscher believes that in order to discourage aggressive dictators from developing nuclear weapons, the United States should disarm itself of its own nuclear stockpiles. In February 2009 she told the Munich Security Conference: “The U.S. would, without question, be more secure in a world free of nuclear weapons. The real question is whether pursuit of such a goal is in our security interests. I believe it is.”

Trumka, Richard (Member of President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board): This powerful socialist labor leader helped rescind a founding AFL-CIO rule that banned Communist Party members and loyalists from leadership positions within the Federation and its unions. As a result, Communist Party delegates became free to secure positions of power in the Federation. The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) declared itself “in complete accord” with the “very positive” new policy. In the late 1990s, Trumka twice invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in a congressional committee investigation of a corruption and money-laundering scandal.

Warren, Elizabeth (Special Assistant in charge of organizing and establishing a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau): In 2009 Warren appeared in Michael Moore's anti-capitalist film titled Capitalism: A Love Story. In a taped interview, the filmmaker told Warren that “capitalism in and of itself, at least the capitalism we know now, is immoral, it’s not democratic, and worst of all, it doesn’t work...” Warren did not disagree, replying: “But we made up these rules, and the rules are of men, of people. We pick what the rules are. The rules have not been written for ordinary families, for the people who actually do the work. We have to rewrite those rules.” When Moore then blamed the greed of “corporate America” for allegedly having tricked people into borrowing money they could not repay, Warren said: “Its a big part of what happened, and then just layer in on top of that: 'Can we sell them more credit cards that are loaded with tricks and traps?'” In April 2012, Warren became embroiled in controversy when it was learned that during the 1990s she had falsely identified herself as part-Native American in an effort to bolster her chances of being hired by a university seeking to improve its “diversity” hiring record.

West, Tony (Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division): In 2001, West joined the legal defense team of John Walker Lindh, an American Muslim convert and a member of al Qaeda, who had taken up arms against U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 9/11. In July 2002, after Lindh signed a plea deal that would send him to jail for up to 20 years, West stated that Lindh “is not a terrorist,” but a young man of great “intellectual curiosity.” “He’s so intellectually driven,” said West, “and he has a wide variety of interests—from English literature to World History to Islamic studies. I truly believe John will have a lot to offer after his incarceration, and I believe John’s faith has led him to the same conclusion.” On a later occasion, West argued that “defending the despised,” in this case Lindh, was akin to the founding father John Adams’ 1770 defense of the British officers who had participated in the Boston Massacre.

THE DREADFUL ECONOMY

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Obama Pledges to Improve Economy During His First Term

When President Obama took office in 2009, he said that he “will be held accountable” for his actions and their consequences. “If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition,” he said.