December 2. 2009
Page A4
O pinion
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Job Losses Pose Danger for Obama
Wave of
discontent
sweeps nation
by
R on D aniels
There is a rebel­
lion against Wash­
in g to n b rew in g
across the land,
and th a t's bad
new s for P re si­
dent Obama and the Democrats.
Unemployment is 10.2% and
climbing. According to a recent
poll, some 30 percent o f Ameri­
can families are feeling the pain
o f the dramatic downturn in the
economy, which has produced
the highest level o f joblessness
in decades. Never mind that the
devastating economic collapse
was in h erited by P resident
Obama; what people care about
is whether they see the govern­
ment addressing th eir pain,
whether any visible actions are
being taken that give them hope
that their job opportunities will
improve in the near future.
While growing joblessness is
the issue u pperm ost in the
minds of millions o f Americans,
what they are w itnessing in
Washington is a protracted and
divisive struggle over health
care reform. And, on Wall Street,
people are flabbergasted to see
the stock market rising, bank
and investment company prof­
its soaring and monstrous bo­
nuses for employees o f the very
companies whose reckless be­
havior precipitated the eco­
nomic crisis. Meanwhile, hun­
dreds o f thousands o f people
continue to lose their homes as
the depression in the mortgage
industry continues.
It is not that health care re­
form is irrelevant. In a nation
where nearly 50 million people
do not have health care and the
prices o f premiums continue to
skyrocket, health care reform
unquestionably must be a ma­
jor national priority. Indeed,
President Obama is correct to
argue that the long term well
being o f the econom y d e­
pends on bending the cost
curve for health care dow n­
w ard. The p ro blem is that
people are less concerned about
health care reform when their
families and communities are
being ravaged by joblessness.
In this regard, there appears to
be a dangerous disconnect be­
tween the Obama administra­
tion and Main Street.
Unfortunately, the brewing
rebellion is yet another conse­
quence o f the timidity o f Presi­
dent Obama in dealing with the
huge crisis he inherited from the
Bush-Cheney administration.
Some argue that he has his pri­
orities backward because the
economy does not appear to be
at the top o f the agenda. For
those who hold that view, it may
be useful to rem em ber that
health care reform was not the
first issue President Obama tar­
geted for action/resolution; it
was the economy. The first
months o f his administration
were devoted to rolling out a
new economic stimulus pack­
age and bail out packages de­
signed to rescue the ailing fi­
nancial, auto and mortgage sec­
tors of the economy. But as Paul
K rugm an has re p e a te d ly
pointed out, President Obama's
stimulus package was too small
to achieve the kind o f job gen­
eration required to ameliorate
the pain around the country.
Now President Obama is in a
terrible bind. An inadequate
stimulus package is "stimulat­
failure to produce something,
no matter how modest, would
be disastrous. The R epubli­
cans, who are determined to see
him fail, are getting traction by
howling about the lack o f re­
Never mind that the devastating
economic collapse was inherited
by President Obama.
ing" far too slowly to reverse
the tide o f joblessness spread­
ing across the country at a time
when he is compelled to push
through some form o f health
care reform legislation. After
months o f investing major po­
litical capital in this effort, the
sults o f the stimulus package,
the growing deficit and expan­
sion o f government. Sensing a
political opening with the 2010
mid-term elections approach­
ing, they are opportunistically
tapping into and fueling the
rage boiling across the country
M arian W rig ht E delman
I'm deeply disturbed
that after a decade o f de­
cline, the number o f fire­
arm deaths among chil­
dren and youths has in­
creased for the second
year in a row. A recent report
reveals that almost nine children
and teens die from gunfire ev­
ery day-one child death every
two hours and 45 minutes.
When people from other in­
dustrialized dem ocra­
cies learn o f America's
c h ild g u n sh o t death
rates, they're equally
troubled.
Based on the most re­
cent data from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), the report states that
3,184 children and teens died
from gunfire in 2006, a six per-
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cent increase over 2005. A n­
other 17,451 were victims o f
non-fatal firearms injuries, a
seven percent increase from the
previous year.
A m ajor reason for these
tragic young deaths is the pro­
liferation o f guns. Americans
own more than 270 million pri­
vate firearms-the equivalent o f
nine guns for every 10 men,
w om en and c h ild re n . The
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20 Years Lending Experience
Dr. Ron Daniels is president
o f the Institute o f the Black
World 21st Century and Dis­
tinguished Lecturer at York
College City University o f New
York.
THAT?
B ay M ortgage
a
ishing victory in the 2010 elec­
tions. A party whose philoso­
phy and policies provoked the
greatest economic catastrophe
since the Great Depression and
was repudiated by the voters
in 2008 will likely regain control
o f the House and Senate, ren­
dering the duration o f Presi­
dent O bam a's tenure m iser­
able. It is an ironic circum ­
stance which can and must be
prevented with bold leader­
ship by President Obama and
the Democrats.
FLU^f,
Loose Gun Laws Kill More Kids
by
over the issue o f jobs.
The question is how will
P re sid e n t O bam a and the
Democrats respond.
Rather than cow er and be
timid. President Obama and the
D em ocrats should seize the
moment to deliver a desperately
needed jobs initiative and edu­
cate the American public on the
importance o f government as an
employer o f last resort in times
o f crisis.
President Obama now faces
a critical moment o f truth in his
young presidency. With a re­
b ellio n b rew ing a cro ss the
country because o f m assive
joblessness, he must act boldly
or the Republicans will ride the
wave o f discontent to an aston­
All loans are subject to credit approval.
Certain fees and restrictions may apply.
United States is one o f the few
industrialized countries without
common sense controls on gun
sales. We regulate toy guns,
but not the real ones that snuff
out tens o f thousands o f hu­
man lives every year.
A m ong the young people
killed by firearms, 2,225 were
homicide victims, 763 commit­
ted suicide and 196 c . . J in ac­
cidental or undetermined cir­
cumstances. The overwhelming
m ajority, nearly 90 percent,
were boys. More preschoolers-
63-were killed by firearms than
law enforcement officers killed
in the line o f duty-48. The death
toll among black children is
growing at an alarming rate.
Black males between the ages
o f 15 and 19 are almost five
times as likely as their white
peers and more than twice as
likely as their Latino peers to
be killed by a firearm.
The destructive im pact o f
firearms affects all o f us by in­
creasing health care costs, over­
____________ THE____________
SPINACOLUMN
Destructive impacts affect all of us
$
taxing social services and de­
creasing national productivity.
Gun violence is so pervasive in
some black communities that it
co n stitutes a serious health
risk.
It's come to the point where
many o f the cases o f post-trau­
matic stress disorder in black
neighborhoods are not only o f
veterans returning from war
zones, but o f children walking
up to the corner store. Too
many o f them speak o f the fu­
ture in terms o f "If I grow up”
instead o f "When I grow up."
Regrettably, in many o f the
states and at the national level
it's an uphill fight to control fire­
arm trafficking. T hirty-tw o
states have no laws requiring
firearms sellers at gun shows
to first conduct background
checks on all buyers. This gun-
show loophole has been used
to evade laws designed to make
it harder for guns to get into
the hands o f children, criminals,
and the mentally unbalanced.
1LUS«
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Dr. Billy R. Flowers
Part 13. Shoulder Pain: Why many people
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Gun shows are a huge mar­
ket for vendors with or without
federal firearms licenses.
Ten years ago, the two teen­
aged shooters who killed 12 fel­
low students and a teacher at
Columbine High School near
Littleton, Colorado got part of
their arsenal illegally through a
gun show.
Congress must pass legisla­
tion to close the gun show loop­
hole and strengthen provisions
o f the Brady Handgun Violence
Prevention Act requiring a na­
tional instant crim inal back­
ground check system.
There's strong evidence that
background checks can be ef­
fective. Between 1994 and 2007,
background checks performed
by federal firearms licensees
resulted in more than 1.6 mil­
lion illegal buyers being denied
guns. It is also imperative that
the federal assault w eapons
ban be reinstituted. According
to the Brady Center to Prevent
Gun Violence, the ban reduced
the use o f assault weapons in
crimes by 66 percent between
1995 and 2001.
But the responsibility to keep
our children safe cannot rest
solely with our political leaders.
There are things individuals
and families can do: remove
guns from hom es, m obilize
community support to protect
children from gun violence,
stress nonviolent values and
conflict resolution, refuse to
buy or use products for chil­
dren and teens that glamorize
violence, and provide children
and teens positive alternatives
to the streets.
We must hold our legislators
accountable to implement these
c o m m o n -sen se gun safety
m easures. The safety o f our
children and communities is at
stake.
Marian Wright Edelman is
president o f the Children's De­
fense Fund and a working com­
mittee member o f the Black
Community Crusade fo r Chil­
dren.