WASHINGTON RUMORS

The White House

 Commentary by Greg Thrasher, VOD Washington Bureau

Greg Thrasher

October 24, 2012

Now that the theatre of the presidential debates is behind us here in the nation’s capital, there is an eerie sense outside the beltway that Obama is a one-term president. The DC region, unlike many regions in the nation, has not suffered from the destructive aspects of the recession. In this region over 30% of the entire expenditures of the federal budget are spent here.

Medicare for seniors would be threatened under a Romney administration.

Locals and business interests including the defense industry do not want a Romney/Ryan administration which seeks to reduce the fiscal spending of the federal government. The specter of a Romney presidency is a financial nightmare for the fortunes of Black government workers not to mention seniors and others who depend on Medicare and the entitlement programs.

In America, a place where the original “illegal aliens” and domestic “terrorists” were the pilgrims and puritans, the experiment of having a Black man in the White House in the eyes of the vested interests is over. The devastation of a Romney presidential tenure for the white blue collar class and parts of the middle class is not enough. This voting bloc will still vote against their interests where race matters.

Despite the fact that Obama’s presidency as a person of color was history-making, and proof that a majority-white nation like America could be led and governed by a non-white, it had a short shelf life. White America simply can no longer stomach Obama calling the shots.

The post narrative now is that we have given “negroes” and “colored folks” a chance and that is all they get. Never mind of course that the tenure of Obama was full of global crisis events, from two wars overseas, to a collapse of our financial system, to those patriots who practiced treason against our president by claiming he was not even an American.

In the vision of many whites including white progressives and white liberals Obama did not deliver as promised. In America a Black person has a short lease on anything from a job toownership of a business. The mantra has always been calibrated in the metrics of race. Black folks, even the president, do not get the benefit of doubt nor the chance of a long term commitment.

Protester at rally against poverty.

Here in the bubble of DC the realities of the rest of the world are irrelevant. What matters here in DC is not the everyday issues which confront people in the streets and factories of America. What matters is  how one postures for the media and chatter class. For Black Americans, we are on the edge of survival and this truth does not matter to those in the ruling class. In all of the debates between Obama and Romney there was not one utterance or discussion about the plight of Black Americans.

The debates lacked any serious interests in topics about urban development, or the plight of the health of our nation’s poor. Instead of a candid discussion about the poor and the lower class, we got endless rants about the middle class and how this bandwidth of Americans is more important than any other segment of America.

This election has revealed yet again how the ruling class both the Democrats and Republicans are truly not interested in the plight of the poor. Both Obama and Romney are not conduits of the poor and those under siege in our streets. Yet we must select one of them to be our president. Despite all of the blind spots and shortcomings of Obama it is clear and beyond doubt he is the best option for the future of America. We cannot go where Romney wants to take the country. Going backward and in reverse is never the right way.

Contact Greg Thrasher at greg_thrasher@msn.com.