Obama’s $10,000 Bets

After doubling down on his support of Planned Parenthood, unions, and other liberal causes over the years, President Obama makes a symbolic statement by betting with the teachers’ unions.  He achieves this by ending school funding for poor students in his own backyard.

What do you call: 1) an increase in funding for education bureaucrats; 2) an increase for eclectic car buyers to support the American automakers: and 3) a decrease for poor kids in Washington, D.C. ?

Status quo.

So much for “Hope and Change.”

Many folks will willingly overlook and deny the fact that it would be different if the shoe was on the other foot.  That is, if a Republican president repeatedly proposed cuts to a program annually championed by the opposing party, one that offers better educational opportunities for hundreds of poor students otherwise stuck in a failing school system there would be outrage within the Black community.

Still, others will gladly make excuses for this president, noting that this is a time of much-needed austerity to avoid the issues facing Europe and, thus, cuts are tragic, but necessary. Of course, they will probably make that argument blissfully ignorant to the facts or loathsomely loyal to this White House, denying what amounts to 0.00000376% of the overall proposed 2013 budget really is. In the wake of their rueful oversight or blind loyalty, they will advocate the simultaneous continuance of the status quo for bigger projects including Planned Parenthood funding (nearly$300 million proposed) and subsidizing buyers of Chevy Volts and other new-technology vehicles.

In everyday terms, President Obama has made it clear that he is doubling down on his own set of $10,000 bets. The Campaigner-in-Chief is counting on the $10,000 bet the Obama Administration is making on potential electric car buyers (a 33% increase from its current level concerning the poorly-selling vehicle) as well as the multi-million dollar bet on the progressive pro-Planned Parenthood lobby – a collection of bets worth almost $400 million via the 2013 proposed budget. Sadly, he is willing to cast his political dice in hoping that they provide more of a return than the symbolic investment of a fraction of that amount that would yield a heaping more of moral authority.

Politically, it is a shrewd maneuver, as $10,000 potentially aiding many 2012 voters in key states in Michigan and other swing states means more for his campaign than $8,000 to 1,600 poor underage (i.e., non-voting) students in Washington, D.C.: a city without statehood, no representation in the U.S. Senate, and 3 scant electoral votes in November.

Oh, and look at that: it’s also 50% African American.

Proposing to again cut the D.C. Voucher Program – as Mr. Obama submits within his 2013 Budget – also keeps the teachers’ union happy with him as a candidate. Yet, it further hollows President Obama’s image as a leader who engages in genuine populist banter, not merely class warfare tactics. Like he did 3 years ago to the NAACP, it is hard for President Obama to continue preaching about the need to advance education for the poor immediately when making these continued small-minded, symbolic moves concerning the poor.

There’s an old saying: Fool me once, shame on you – fool me twice…

And if you get fooled by the president’s rhetoric explaining the meaning of this proposed budget, then, shame indeed.

This is not the first time that the Obama Administration has targeted meager but life-enabling programs that aid poor students in need while continuing a pattern of funding abortion service providers both internationally as well as domestically.  It is a pattern initiated within the opening moments of the 44th president’s term.  And it is not the first time that the Obama Administration has blatantly shifted budget money with the intent of priming the campaign coffers in time for 2012, with this instance just in time for usage by a friendly Super PAC aiding his cause. However, this proposed move is even more brazen than those initially advanced in 2009 and it has deeper meaning than just re-election politics.

LENNY MCALLISTER is a senior contributor to Politic 365 that can be found every Saturday with Democratic pundit Maria Cardona on “CNN Saturday Morning” at 10:30 AM Eastern (9:30 Central / 7:30 Pacific.) He is regularly featured on CNN’s “Early Start” weekdays between 5:00 AM – 7:00 AM Eastern as well. Catch the radio show “Get Right with Lenny McAllister” live on LMGILIVE.com at 11 AM Eastern weekdays and re-broadcast on Politic 365.

Lenny McAllister is the host of the radio show “Get Right with Lenny McAllister” found on LMGILIVE.com and often re-broadcast on Politic365. He appears weekly on “CNN Saturday Morning” with host Randi Kaye and former DNC Communications Director Maria Cardona at 10:30 AM Eastern Time. He also regularly appears weekdays on CNN's "Early Start" at 5am - 7am and "CNN Newsroom" at 12:30pm Eastern. He also appears as a political commentator on multiple outlets including Sirius-XM Radio, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC Radio in Australia, and Chicago Public Radio. Lenny has written previously for a number of publications including Rushmore Drive, Global Grind, and The Chicago Defender. In 2009, McAllister was a panelist at the 10th Annual State of the Black Union and the CNN panel discussion Young & Black In America: Empowering the Next Generation of African American Leaders. In 2010, Lenny was featured in the Studio 360 series “American Icons” in the episode, The Autobiography of Malcolm X. He was also featured in the November 2010 Essence Magazine roundtable discussion “Race (Still) Matters” that featured the Rev. Al Sharpton, NAACP President Ben Jealous, and CNN’s Soledad O’Brien.

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