Obama and the 1965 Voting Rights Act - Civil Rights

The White House: Has released the following statement by POTUS on the revoking of section 4 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, " I am deeply disappointed with the Supreme Court’s decision today.  For nearly 50 years, the Voting Rights Act – enacted and repeatedly renewed by wide bipartisan majorities in Congress – has helped secure the right to vote for millions of Americans.  Today’s decision invalidating one of its core provisions upsets decades of well-established practices that help make sure voting is fair, especially in places where voting discrimination has been historically prevalent.  As a nation, we’ve made a great deal of progress towards guaranteeing every American the right to vote.  But, as the Supreme Court recognized, voting discrimination still exists.    And while today’s decision is a setback, it doesn’t represent the end of our efforts to end voting discrimination.  I am calling on Congress to pass legislation to ensure every American has equal access to the polls.  My Administration will continue to do everything in its power to ensure a fair and equal voting process. ".

Lets Get Real:

This is tricky for President Obama, he is the 1st African - American President, and one of the major Acts of the 1960s Civil Rights movement has been gutted, section 4 set out the conditions for section 5 that stated that on the whole Southern States would need Federal okay to change voting rules, by revoking section 4 the US Supreme Court has in effect revoked section 5, there is not great pressure on Republicans to give Democrats anything, the South of 21th Century is not the racist South of the 1960s, how ever much the Democrats want to go on about the subject, in fact in some States more African Americans are registered to vote that whites, thus in many respects the Act is dated, and the US Supreme Court has had the courage to revoke an out of date Act.   Lets see the political results if any, this blog has reservations, but lets see what happens, the South is not suddenly going to go back to being racist, things change folks, those that live in the past do not see future and in many respects do not want to see, they are blind by their own negative background. 

Reagan and the 1965 Voting Rights Act - Reagan Era

Lets see what President Reagan thought of Section 4 of the 1965 Act, in a letter to his Attorney General in 1981 the President stated the following, " I am sensitive to the controversy which has attached itself to some of the Act's provisions, in particular those provisions which impose burdens unequally upon different parts of the nation. But I am sensitive also to the fact that the spirit of the Act marks this nation's commitment to full equality for all Americans, regardless of race, color, or national origin. Because my Administration intends to maintain that commitment, the question before us in the months ahead will not be whether the rights which the Act seeks to protect are worthy of protection, but whether the Act continues to be the most appropriate means of guaranteeing those rights. ".*  Thus the above can be read two ways, 1.  Reagan would not have approved the move by the US Supreme Court to revoke section 4, 2. Reagan would have understood with the passing of time the context of the US had changed, the Act did not take that in to account, when the Act was granted an extension in 1982 the President stated the following in a Statement, " Voting is one of the most cherished of our birthrights as American citizens. When practiced, it enriches our democracy; when threatened, it must be protected. Today's responsible action by the Senate sends a strong, bipartisan message: No American's vote shall be defiled, diluted, or denied. The Voting Rights Act, and the amendments added to it in 1975, have significantly contributed to the achievement of full constitutional and political equality for black Americans, and for other minorities, especially Mexican Americans. I strongly believe there has also been a good-faith effort by the great majority of our people, in all regions, to ensure the provisions of this act are fully respected. ".**  One can postulate folks that President Reagan would have had moral and political reservations by this move by the US Supreme Court, but its guess folks, what do you think folks. 

* " Letter to the Attorney General Directing an Assessment of the Voting Rights Act June 15, 1981 ".The Public Papers of President Ronald W. Reagan.  Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

** " Statement on Senate Approval of the Extension of the Voting Rights Act June 18, 1982 ".The Public Papers of President Ronald W. Reagan.  Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Immigration Reform and the Republican House

The Washington Post: Has the liberal line on the chances of the Immigration reform passing the Republican House, the article notes the following, " ..that House Republicans may kill reform on behalf of a GOP base that can’t accept it. ".

Lets Get Real:

This is a tricky problem for Speaker Boehner, he wants to see a Republican in the White House in 2017, thus the Republican Party needs to get more of the vote from those than consider Immigration a deal breaker, on the other hand in the 2014 Mid Terms he needs the Party base to come OUT to VOTE, those on the right of the Republican Party see the latest reform idea as a blanket amnesty to those in the US in an illegal context.   On this issue the Speaker should stand up to his base, its right when looked on as a morel issue, and its right when it comes to the politics, so it is time for Speaker Boehner to show leadership, if the Gipper can do it, then Boehner can take a stand, lets see what matters more to the Speaker, his job or the Republican Party, in this case they are not the same thing folks. 

Obama and the IRS Part 2 - 2nd Term Blues

Guardian: Reports on the latest developments on the IRS scandal, " ..lists used by screeners to find groups to examine included terms 'Israel', 'progressive' and 'occupy' ".

Lets Get Real:

Why is this blog not surprised that we suddenly find that left and liberal wings groups were also targeted, when was this done, and how many groups came under close inspection, this smells folks, like someone saw a scandal coming and added these groups to give them cover, just something this blog would do, cover one scandal with another and cause confusion, so Chicago politics.   Lets recall hundreds of Tea Party groups came under close inspection, did these SUDDEN left wing targets reach in to the hundreds, one has doubts.   This sounds so phony folks, the Republican House needs to check if is a major league Chicago con, sounds and smells folks, its the Chicago way folks. 

Obama Poll DIVE - 2nd Term Blues

Gallup: Reports that POTUS has a 45% Approval rating for his job performance, while his Disapproval rating stands at 49%.

Lets Get Real:

This is not good for the Oval folks if he wants to get his Agenda through the Republican House, the next big bill to hit the House will be Immigration Reform Bill, that allows those in the US illegally to start on the road to becoming US Citizens.   The Bill is over a 1000 + pages folks, its hard to call the result in the House, the Republican House was elected to STOP the Obama Agenda, on this Bill the House should approve the measure and get his off the table, 1. It the right thing to do, your not going to throw out nearly 12 million illegals and their families, 2. Its good on the political front, allows the Republicans to show they understand and can show compassion to their fellow man.   On the other hand after ObamaCare there is not much trust in the Obama Administration, thus it might go down because the Oval does not have the political juice to get through, politics is a hard business folks, 50/50 on the Bill folks. 

Obama and the World Stage

BBC News: Reports on the critical reaction from the White House to the State Department by the fact that Hong Kong ( China ) and Russia have did not have not taken the US traitor US Edward Snowden in to custody.

Lets Get Real:

This is what happens folks when you have a weak President, lets recall what happened to Jimmy Carter in 1979, the new Iranian Government took US diplomats hostage for 444 days and the then USSR went in to Afghanistan, you might ask why bring up these historical cases, lets see, Obama wants a deal with Iran on its nuclear plans, not going to happen folks, Tehran sees Obama as weak and easy to roll over, then we come to Afghanistan, the Oval wants talks with the Taliban as to give the Oval a fig leaf to leave Afghanistan with honour, not going to happen, the Taliban just have to wait in till 2014 when NATO leaves, the US plans to leave a small force inside Afghanistan to go after Al Qaeda, this would be a mistake, they would be target from day one to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, the above is due to a weak President, when a US President is weak and out of his depth the enemies of the US will roll him, that is why Obama = Carter folks. 

Obama and the IRS - 2nd Term Blues

The White House: Here is the latest paper statement by the Oval on the IRS scandal, " The President was briefed this afternoon by Secretary Lew and Principal Deputy Commissioner Werfel on today’s report. The President appreciates the effort put into reviewing operations within the IRS, and most importantly, making sure that agency moves quickly to restore the public’s trust.

As the President has made clear, the misconduct identified in last month’s Inspector General report is unacceptable. He will not tolerate inappropriate behavior in any agency and the President believes that IRS personnel must operate with absolute integrity, fairness and neutrality.

The President believes Principal Deputy Commissioner Werfel’s report is an important step in ensuring accountability for any staff that acted inappropriately, identifies the failures in their systems that allowed the misconduct to happen, and takes a forward-looking systemic view at the agency’s management.  The Administration is committed to making sure the IRS continues to reform itself with the goals of providing the highest quality service and reflecting the principles of fairness and neutrality.  ".

Lets Get Real:

Quite funny and cynical by the White House, as stressed in red above by this blog its down to the  " systems that allowed the misconduct to happen, and takes a forward - looking systemic view of the agency's management ", therefore the Oval has decide that is the system fault first, not a people fault, the same people running ObamaCare, the IRS scandal has gone quite of late, so has Libya, press investigations and the State Department, lets see if any of them has legs, to keep a story current and in the minds of the people the Republicans have to have more people before Congress, even better if they take the 5th.  The Republicans have to recall that the liberal press are not their friends, the liberal press will try to divert to any other story, so keep the heat on the Oval Republicans, this is THE Chicago political mob, there is always something there, unlike POTUS, there is no there with Obama, there never was as Berlin shows, and his failure to get Hong Kong and Russia to hand over Edward Snowden shows how weak Obama REALLY IS, a weak US President gets rolled by its enemies, just look at Jimmy Carter.