After reading the president’s book, “The Audacity of Hope”, listening to his speeches and presentations I have come to the following conclusions.
President Barack Obama really understands the meaning of class warfare. His father deserted his mother. She was left to struggle with the challenges of survival for Barack and herself in the challenging world of Hawaii. It was his grandparents that helped with the financial challenges that he and his mother faced. Given the large group of wealthy people living and visiting Hawaii, Barack Obama learned the meaning of working class family vs. wealthy. Is it any wonder that he sees the need to increase the opportunities for those of us not born into a wealthy family? Many of us can relate to his view that our society has given an unfair advantage to the rich at the expense of the rest of us.
His view of how our nation functions now and how it ought to function is obviously the driving force behind his push for a stimulus package, an enlarged national budget, a new health care system, and the many other programs he has proposed. He is trying to remake much of the system that makes our society function. This is a tall order. He may not be successful. He apparently believes that reaching his goals is more important than a second term in office.
Obviously many people will oppose his objectives. It will not only be Republicans. Many Democrats will aslo see his ideas as un-American and foreign to our history. Many people reading this column will see his ideas of remaking America as socialist, communist, or some other form of government that they find offensive. They are wrong. His ideas are to make Amercan society more just for everyone. That is the reason I call President Obama’s ideas class warfare.
The warfare is evident in the today’s outrage over the multi million dollar bonuses given to AIG managers. Merrill Lynch managers were given bonuses just prior to Bank of America’s acquisition of that firm. It is obvious that will hear about other bonus packages given to other banking and Wall Street companies. Those people receiving the bonuses and their friends see nothing wrong with the wealth and power they have. They are in a financial class that most of us will never know. That is the reason we are going to see more class warfare. Will the wealthy and powerful win or will it be the rest of us? Stay tuned.
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