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If you were a fly on my wall during the Bush administration you would have heard that I did not think ill of Bush.
I am an independent and honestly I felt Bush was a decent, mediocre president, same as Obama. If it hadn't have been for the Iraq war and the Patriot Act I would have thought him better than Obama. Even though he was more conservative than I am, he was not as crazy as the new crop of Tea Partiers in my eyes who do not understand that compromise is necessary for government to work.
I remember gas prices were higher under Bush than they are now. Where I live they were nearly $5 a gallon in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina, but I did not blame him for that, just as I don't blame Obama for the $3 something gas that I am paying now.
Also black unemployment, especially black male unemployment, has normally always been twice that of white unemployment in this country. I really don't see how the president is involved in that as well, he cannot make people hire other people. Of course he can be more open to the needs of business economically on the federal level, but honestly I don't see evidence of or buy into the stance of staunch conservatives who believe that he is bad for businesses. I'm sure now that I mention it, someone will come on and go list a barrage of things they feel are bad for business that he supports, but I don't agree with them.
Also, though I am not personally for rendition aka to you as torture, I can understand why it is employed and I do feel that both Bush and Obama are doing what they feel are necessary to keep our country safe in this regard (like I said, I am an independent, not a liberal dem). I have no problem with having GITMO still open. I would rather suspected terrorist not be in our country at all. I still do not agree with the Patriot Act though and it is one of the things I am disappointed in Obama about. I also do not like the mandate for healthcare, I feel that if we are going to have a mandate, we might as well have universal healthcare (like I said I am independent, also want to note due to my support of universal healthcare I consider myself a left leaning independent). The bombing in Libya were not all that troubling to and honestly I don't consider it a "war" like what is going on in Afghanistan and what went on in Iraq. I do see it as meddling and I would rather have our president and government spend money here at home versus overseas so I am not in full support of the president doing these things in Africa, but all of these items I disagree with him on, and there are more, have nothing to do with me being a black person or that I need to hold him accountable for something specifically to do with black people.
I have a better job now than I did before the president took office, my family has more income and we get along just fine. I live very close to my work and my kid's schools so I only spend MAYBE $20 a week on gas. Because I know that the price of most everything never goes down, I decided to save money by moving closer to the places I frequently travel to, so the high gas prices do not bother me. If they go up to where I don't want to buy gas anymore, I will get my butt on a bike and bike to work/school. I could use the exercise.
But on a final note. I didn't mind Bush that much at all. I thought he was personable and hilarious actually. I would have loved to meet him. And believe me, many people I know who are staunch democrats used to get angry with me for defending him and making them stop all their hysterical rhetoric (like that in the OP) because of their political dislike of him so that is what you as a fly on my wall would have heard.
Then I've found my first "fair-minded" person on these boards. Congrats!
Folks wondering how to reduce the unemployment, esp. among AAs (Younger ones?)---just step back about 60+ years and realize that AAs had a higher employment rate than their w. counterparts. Minimum wage was an abomination upon God, it messed the lowest-skilled up.
Folks wondering how to reduce the unemployment, esp. among AAs (Younger ones?)---just step back about 60+ years and realize that AAs had a higher employment rate than their w. counterparts. Minimum wage was an abomination upon God, it messed the lowest-skilled up.
Last time Unemployment was lower for black people than for white people was actually over 100 years ago, and it's mostly because most black people lived in the south as farmers, who were never really unemployed. The gap grew as black people moved out of the Jim Crow south, and began living in northern and western cities, where employers discriminated against them. What's more, the gap persisted even in professions where people earned far more than minimum wage, so blaming the minimum wage makes no sense.
Why do blacks have to hold Obama accountable, why can't all of us hold him accountable, sometimes it seems like on this forum that all blacks are accountable for each other, do people realize thats different blacks hold different standards. Black people are individuals like white people, just because some blacks voted for Obama because he was black I bet twice the number of whites voted for McCain because he wasn't black.
Last time Unemployment was lower for black people than for white people was actually over 100 years ago, and it's mostly because most black people lived in the south as farmers, who were never really unemployed. The gap grew as black people moved out of the Jim Crow south, and began living in northern and western cities, where employers discriminated against them. What's more, the gap persisted even in professions where people earned far more than minimum wage, so blaming the minimum wage makes no sense.
100 years is stretching it. I would say before 1950, give or take 20 years off that.
Did you miss the part where I said min. wage hurts "the lowest skilled"? That's hardly profession. What gap are you talking about? If employers discriminated against them, why did AAs continued moving north? Maybe you meant the unions discriminated against them.
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