Topic: Why Barack Obama Is a Classic Underachiever

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Why Barack Obama Is a Classic Underachiever

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
     
LIZ PEEKThe Fiscal Times
December 12, 2013

President Obama is no Nelson Mandela.

While Mandela famously renounced the politics of revenge in favor of guiding his country towards a prosperous and united future, President Obama has cynically encouraged and stoked resentment among the less fortunate in our country. South Africa’s beloved former leader had every reason to sew bitterness and discord, but he understood that his country would thrive only if all its citizens pulled in the same direction.

Obama’s priorities are different. He wants to exploit politically the hardship suffered by Americans left behind by the forces of modernization and globalization. President Obama has pursued any number of policies that have retarded our recovery – most notably the health care reform bill, which has spurred uncertainty and dampened hiring – but none has been more cynical and damaging than his insistent harangue about income inequality.

Cynical, because his own administration has widened the wealth and income gap through the Fed’s bold (and some say reckless) quantitative easing program; damaging because Mr. Obama presents the yawning divide as evidence of a “stacked deck.” What could be more demoralizing to the nation than hearing from our own president that our cause is hopeless, that the rules are unfair, that our society is, at its essence, corrupt? Unlike Mandela, Obama has raised victimhood to a whole new level. Shame on him.

The facts are clear. In the past several decades, the United States has indeed seen a rising portion of income flow to our top earners. But, instead of checking that trend, Obama’s policies have exacerbated it. Under Clinton, some 45 percent of income growth went to the top 1 percent; during the expansion under Bush (2002-2007) the figure is 65 percent. Under Obama, 85 percent of income growth has been claimed by the nation’s top 1 percent. Since a strong offense makes for a great defense, Obama has the temerity to call this skewing of our fortunes the “defining issue of our day” and one he is determined to address.

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