It is not just sad but DEPRESSING that you are claiming that a GOVERNMENT MANDATED MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE is the basis for an economic boom. (Psst – wasn’t there a recent wage increase? Is there a boom now – in your judgment?)

I must let you in on a secret brother Webber – I not only make the MINIMUM WAGE I also make a LIVING WAGE. It is not from GOVERNMENT FIAT but from marketable skills that I bring to the market place to SELL to a “labor consumer”

[quote]
As for the economic boom of the late 90s, I give credit to technology companies that innovated
[/quote]

This does not seem logical. Did they STOP “INNOVATING” and thus we had a recession? OF COURSE NOT. How about looking at the FINANCIAL MARKETS that FUNDED these High Tech firms? THEN you will find your answer. IPOs, Venture Capitalists, Web Based stock trading allowing millions more Americans to participate in the market than ever before THIS is the source of the boom.

[quote]
“Prosperity Party for Blacks,” when the truth of the matter is that blacks in that party are mere tokens[/quote]

Could you point to any of my posts in which I have claimed that the GOP is the “prosperity party for Blacks”? Why are you loath to tell us what the Democratic Party WHICH NOW HAS about all of the representation in Majority Black voting district IS to Black people? (Is it a universal trait of the Black Quasi-Socialist Progressive Fundamentalist Racism Chaser to spend the bulk of their time talking about the guy who has no traction WITHIN the Black community rather than the people who ACTUALLY DO and who preside over these communities and their schools?)

[quote]
America needs policies which are race neutral[/quote]

I don’t believe that you said this. You KNOW that you don’t believe this.

[quote]
I invite you to study Barack Obama’s position on these issues…You might be impressed.[/quote]

Mr. Webber I HAVE studied Mr. Obama’s positions very thoroughly. The more that I learn the more that I am convinced that I would NOT vote for him. It is almost as if someone took a list of my positions and they put together confounding positions and called it Barack Obama’s platform. Besides – the array of people who I most oppose in my debate support him so this alone details the unlikelihood that I would have the “audacity” to vote for this man.

I am still puzzled as to why the Black community continues to OUTSOURCE our hopes upon the electoral success of ONE MAN.

It goes without saying that if indeed Ms. Clinton wins the primaries that the daggers that you now throw toward Ms. Clinton will turn into a chariot that you hope to carry her onto victory in November 2008.

Don’t you tire of having such a gap between your racial hopes and the actual outcomes? Maybe the problem resides in the METHODOLOGY?

I would like to have a President not named Clinton or Bush for awhile. And I plan on reading that Book, because for the last few years, I blamed Gore for distancing himself from Clinton when he ran for office. Since then, I’ve had time to analyze his run, and realize that Donna Brazile wasn’t savvy enough to put people in their place and run Gore’s campaign – not to mention that Clinton’s obsession with his wife winning her Senate Seat resulted in Gore not having Clinton at his back in the campaign. As a result, the Clintons’ ego gave us an incompetent in the White House, and her six years as a Senator has done nothing but to further the interests of the incompetent White House.

Hillary = another DLCer in the White House. Like you, Jack, I’m not buying – even if she wins the primary, for the first time in my voting life, I might have to write in my own candidate rather than vore for the Borg Queen.

Yeah, Bill’s charming but as you say, infidelity is not sexy, especially if you’re the one being cheated on.

When it takes 10 years to get an increase in the minimum wage and you wonder why illegal immigrants are overrunning cities across the USA, that’s all the republican’s fault.

As for the economic boom of the late 90s, I give credit to technology companies that innovated rather than a president who got caught with his pants down (further distracting the country from more important issues).

And lastly, I wouldn’t hide behind republicans as being the “Prosperity Party for Blacks,” when the truth of the matter is that blacks in that party are mere tokens. Colin Powell=Token, Condoleezza Rice=Token, Clarence Thomas=Biggest Token since Uncle Tom. You don’t have to be a genius to see it.

Constructive, I’m not in the business of making excuses for the black community, We face issues of poverty, drugs, crime and escalating HIV-rates.

America needs policies which are race neutral…we help our poor w/o regard to race, we treat our sick w/o regard to race, we enable businesses to hire the best workers in the world (by creating an education system that rewards teachers who sacrifice in hardened-inner city schools).

I invite you to study Barack Obama’s position on these issues…You might be impressed.

Rule #1 of politics: “Look out for your ‘own’ people.”[/quote]

“Look out for your own people”?
I thought this is what the political machines that ran Detroit, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Cleveland SAID they were doing for the past 30 years. It is “THEIR PEEPS” who have caught the most hell from their policies.

[quote]Bush’s “own” people are corporations and wealthy tax brackets who want the lowest tax rate possible.[/quote]

You men the JOB CREATORS that have moved away from the Rust Belt? After the dust settled Webber it is clear that they were “the Labor’s people” as well. Not the enemy that they were painted to be when organized labor had the megaphone broadcasting at them. You know WHEN THEY HAD ACTUAL JOBS back int he day.

[quote]
When Clinton was pushing NAFTA through the Congress, he swore to build a bridge (through education) for those “in the rust belt” who needed it. The problem is that the bridge was not built to withstand 12 years of Republican-congressional rule or and 6 years of bush.[/quote]

Hummmm. So you are telling us that it was the REPUBLICAN CONGRESS that has hurt the worker over the past 12 years? Bless your heart. I bet that you attribute the economic boom of the late 1990s to the Democrat Clinton though.

The key questions for you Webber is – what part do YOU BELIEVE the Black community plays in our own prosperity, politics be damned? The Asians who are obtaining a growing share of urban retail each year seem to be immune to partisan politics. Maybe YOU should study them more if you are interested in Black progress rather than Democratic party progress?

You are talking but not saying much.

Yet Hillary always had an undercurrent of competition with Al Gore that burst into the open from time to time. One day, when Gore and his team presented their plans for improving government efficiency, Bill asked so many questions that the meeting ran a half-hour too long.

####

Actually, Gore’s plan to bring efficiency to the government was to contract most of the government functions to private contractors. Clinton was NOT convinced. Not to worry, though, Bush was able to do this with no problem. Wonder if this has to do with the CDC and FDA unable to have enough employees to do their job of protecting the US citizens?

Whom ever wins the New Hampshire and Carolina primaries, and speak to a “real plan” for rebuilding Americas urban cities with limited gentrification gets my vote.

Again great post!

Melody

why must we be so “black and white” about NAFTA & FreeTrade? We could have a long, academic argument about it, but the truth is that itz just another Clinton-Mess.

Rule #1 of politics: “Look out for your ‘own’ people.”

Bush’s “own” people are corporations and wealthy tax brackets who want the lowest tax rate possible.

When Clinton was pushing NAFTA through the Congress, he swore to build a bridge (through education) for those “in the rust belt” who needed it. The problem is that the bridge was not built to withstand 12 years of Republican-congressional rule or and 6 years of bush.

So the bridge was weak…it was wishy-washy, like “don’t ask, don’t tell” or “mend it, don’t end it,” and people got burnt.

If the republicans had written the legislation, it would’ve been packed with provisions, loop-holes, and booby-traps that looked out for “their” people.

By playing both sides so aggressively, Bill Clinton doesn’t really have a “people.”

Neither does Hillary…all they have is political expediency…trying to be all things to all people.

America deserves a fresh start. America needs Obama.

Mr Webber

Mac:

Why is it that you can articulate more about the “Destruction of Jobs” from NAFTA than you are able to do so about the loss of jobs as PROGRESSIVE politicians and the labor left began to control the areas that are now called the “Rust Belt”?

Do you happen to notice that in the rhetoric of the left there is always an “anti-corporate” spin and claims that you all will put them in check when you are in power? Why is it not logical to analyze the results from the perspective of what happened when the JOB CREATORS sought out more favorable business environments where THEY were not the enemy?

Do you not notice that the majority of the new auto manufacturing plants built in the USA over the past 20 years are in the “Confederate South”? They beat their employees and they employ kids as they are non-union – RIGHT?

So in addition to your “NAFTA Spin” how about talking about the results of the labor left going to far and thus IN THE LONG RUN working against the INTERESTS OF THEIR LABOR BASE – who now have “union wages” but fewer jobs that they can EXPRESS THESE WAGES AT.

constructive feedback’s re-writing of history, saying NAFTA represented a decisive Bill Clinton would be laughable if it weren’t serious. Labor leaders and progressive democratic congresspersons warned him that NAFTA would result in fewer US jobs as corporations would invest in jobs overseas where labor is cheap, and unions essentially none-existent. What this really represented was the Clinton’s sellout to corporate friends and donors. Remember: Sen. Clinton was a board member of Wal-Mart, perhaps the premier beneficiary of NAFTA. Just go in there and it’ll be hard to find a product that is NOT from China.

Black and working people need to hear your perspective. Thanks

Examples:
NAFTA: This is actually a positive attribute for Bill Clinton than what I see over Obama. You see Bill Clinton made a decision that HE BELIEVED was in the long term best interests of the nation which is in a GLOBAL ECONOMY. He went against his LEFT WING BASE to do so. Obama – as you see him struggling over a clear answer on driver’s license for illegals is fearful of going against his left wing base even when it is for the good of the country. A strong leader tells people what they NEED TO HEAR rather than always what they WANT TO HEAR and thus get the applause that results.

Weak progress on energy – Please detail how YOUR “energy policy” would look like? Again – last year Obama lost me when he was accepted comfortably at a political forum in which much of the students were protesting AGAINST nuclear power. I ask that you and others map your energy policy against REALITY. In fact by all means why don’t YOU be the first to adopt your policy without any contingencies on having the GOVERNMENT to adopt it first. This is the only way that you will come face to face with your policies.

Incomplete and thus unnecessarily cruel welfare reform – Once again -”to the left to the left”. Clinton’s welfare reform was one of his best policy moves while in office. It broke the cycle of many families who had spent several generations on welfare. This and public housing reform has allowed more people to recognized the power that they have to provide for their families once many of these destructive options were removed as a fall back.

*A centrist DLC attitude which had Democrats increasingly sounding like Republicans – as a Black man I am puzzled that you are not worried about Democrats who sound just like the 9,990 out of 10,000 Black elected officials who are DEMOCRATS and who run the local governments where the bulk of our miseries are taking place as a people.

It seems to me that there is a reference to “the Republican position” and then taking the counterpoint rather than the popular Black position being in reference to WHAT HAS PROVEN TO WORK. Again – with the MONOPOLY MAJORITY control of the Political Machine that dominates Black America I am puzzled as to how a truly OBJECTIVE Black person can focus their energy on the “republican threat” than on the “DEMOCRATIC ruling reality”. Even in cities that are 80% Democrat and thus with little threat from those dastardly Republicans – where as these areas should be showcases where the Democrats could say “See Black people – we told you to stick by us and your communities would prosper” – these areas instead are some of the most hostile to ‘BLACK INTERESTS’ of

-Quality Education
-Safe Streets
-Strong Local Economic Development
-Healthy Lifestyles

Exactly when will we as a people stop taking the contrarian view and begin to MANAGE the people that we DO vote for, having them to express the benefits that have long been promised to us in exchange for our votes?

Thank you, Jack.

You’re right; nothing good will come out of a second Clinton administration. And trust, the Republicans would win back a lot of seats-hell, maybe even the majority!-in Congress if she got elected.

A good point is made about the Republicans: they’re waiting to see who the candidate will be before they rally. Hillary is so divisive that a Giuliani or a McCain (hell, maybe even Romney) can beat her.

(The above statement is nullified if Obama gets off his high horse and becomes Hillary’s VP. Won’t happen, but that ticket may be damn near unbeatable. What better way to get the “black” vote and the black vote?)

True, there may not have been an Iraq war under Gore. The Taliban may still have been in Afghanistan under Gore. But there still would’ve been a 9/11. And I don’t want a president who would rather continue to try to use diplomacy (i.e. the Clintons, Gore, Obama, insert just about any Democrat-save Liberman-here) when the time for “making nice” has obviously passed (remember, Clinton I was the person who fired missiles into al-Qaeda camps-AFTER tipping off the local government that he’d be doing it, which then tipped off al-Qaeda!). Sometimes, an ass just needs to be kicked.