Living History

MLK stated he hoped there would come a time "when people shall not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." I pray that this will be so! And to honor the content of MLK's dream, the media must quit splashing around in the superficial redundancy "1st black president" and concentrate on the content of this person rather than his persona. This inaguration can only become symbolic when content and character are judged today; when tomorrow the skin color or gender of an office holder no longer elicits curiosity or fascination. Then, and only then, will this day become a true benchmark in history. Change is incremental but it must be progressive in order to become a continuum. For this, I pray wholeheartedly.

MR PRESIDENT. MR PRESIDENT. MR PRESIDENT. MR PRESIDENT. MR PRESIDENT. MR PRESIDENT. MR PRESIDENT. MR PRESIDENT. MR PRESIDENT. MR PRESIDENT. MR PRESIDENT. MR PRESIDENT. MR PRESIDENT. MR PRESIDENT. MR PRESIDENT. MR PRESIDENT. MR PRESIDENT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA.

Comment: "...no injustice...can compare with how it has treated black men and women." Have we forgotten Native Americans or that the first slaves here were Caucasion? Slavery, unfortunately, has been with us longer than written language and no one has the market cornered on suffering. Let's own up to the past and let it go. It could be a bright future.

I am outraged every time I hear someone echo Ms. Quindlen's trope that "...no injustice or prejudice brought to bear by this country against its own people can compare with how it has treated black men and women." I reject this statement totally. Aside from the fact that human suffering is not a contest, as the statement implies, I would argue that it was worse for the American Indian tribes. Slavery and Jim Crow were beyond reprehensible, of course, but in all of my historical studies I have never encountered the use of bayonettes against African slave children, the giving of small-pox infected blankets to African slave communities, the institutionalized kidnapping of African slave children to "Americanize" them in Christian schools, nor the waging of outright war against the slaves. All of these, and much more, were committed against the Indian tribes. They are all episodes in the larger picture that modern scholarship now calls "the American Holocaust." By all means, repudiate the evils and tragedies of the past, but please do not emphasize some at the expense of others.

Scott Phipps
Thibodaux, Louisiana

I was also perturbed reading Anna Quindlen's statement saying: "No injustice or prejudice brought to bear by this country against its own people can compare with ... Though this is true, it is rather incomplete. What about Native-Americans? It seems to me that native-Americans are completely ignored and what they suffered and still endure is just swept under the rug again and again. The election of Obama is a wonderful achievement for the USA but the native-American genocide can't be just ignored. I'd like to read more papers about Native-Americans more often in Newsweek. Who really knows that Native-Americans were granted citizenship only in 1924?

Quindlen is wrong. "No injustice or prejudice brought to bear by this country against its own people can compare with how it treated" Native Americans. Ethnic cleansing and genocide done to them was orders of magnitude greater than what was done to African Americans.

Chris Matthews shows his true colors. Talk about an ongoing free pass!:
Matthews: "I Want To Do Everything I Can To Make This...New Presidency Work"

matthews_11-6b.jpgChris Matthews appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe this morning to discuss Rahm Emanuel's decision to announce he has not yet accepted President-Elect Barack Obama's offer for White House Chief of Staff and other Obama-related stories.

But after some questioning by co-host Joe Scarborough, Matthews said, "I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work."

"Your job as a journalist is to make this presidency work?" asked Scarborough.

Scarborough, co-host Mika Brzezinski and guest Richard Stengel continued the conversation about a journalist's role with Matthews throughout the interview. Stengel described the "constitutional responsibility" of journalists to "hold his feet to the fire."

I'm sorry to say this, but when in this election, people pretended to think that Obama's tax proposals were on the gross, not the net (as I saw numerous times on various web discussion boards) I had to say: surely you know better, and are deliberately trying to sow confusion and fool voters. Gary N.

Jasen,

Since the operative word is "make," that would have to mean net income, not gross. If your business has total revenues of $1,000,000 and it costs you $900,000 to operate your business, then you only "make" $100,000 and will qualify for the Obama tax cut. If part of that $900,000 expenditure went toward hiring three new employees, then you'll get an additional tax break of $3,000 for each of them. And since each of them also will get a tax cut, more cash will be flowing into the economy as they spend their paychecks.

If you are fortunate enough to clear over $250,000, then good for you! Not only will you enjoy a higher standard of living than 90% of us do, but you'll be contributing more both toward the common good in the short run and in helping us all control America's national debt for the long term, for which your great-great grandchildren and mine will be grateful.

President-Elect Obama is intelligent, well-educated, steady, calm, cool and collected, speaks eloquently, inspires and raises people up to see new possibilities, and fills us with hope. He has a playful sense of humor and three happy females who keep him on track as loving husband and father. He surrounds himself with bright people, brilliant in their fields of specialty. He would have been elected even if he were white, with the above qualities he possesses!

Anna, a very eloquently written Last Word regarding the US presidential campaign of 2008.

It was a year that the young US Senator from the Land of Lincoln traveled across the nation and abroad to spread his inspirational messages of Hope to the American people to seek support for his vision of Change You Can Believe In. His determination and hardwork paid off as his messages resonated with America's middle-class families of all races, as he was decisively elected the 44th US President of the United States of America. President-elect Obama befttingly returned home to his home state of Illinois to give his historic acceptance speech before a sea of 200,000 people gathered in a beautiful Chicago park, named after yet another Civil War era President from Galena, IL, Ulysses S. Grant.. Barack Obama's campaign journey began in the midwestern Illinois capital city of Springfield and concluded in the President-elect's home town of Chicago, Illinois. God Bless America.

Hi Jason the Mason--I also was thinking Obama never defined net or gross. As I was reading your post it occurred to me he probably does not know there is a difference because all he has ever been paid is what he gets on his paystub and he probably does not know what a Schedule C is.

Most Democrats do not know what a Schedule C is, as I think about it. Because they are all employees. And then Biden says it's $150000 and then someone else close to Obama said it was $120000.

I think all of you Democrats who think we business people are selfish should study the IRS code and Scedule C so you have at least some idea of what we business people have to go through. If you think you can absorb all the rules and regulations -state, federal, city, and county are easy to know about try it sometime.

The business rules governing small business do not end either with just federal, city, county, and state tax laws. Then you have to worry about licensing fees and continuing education to keep the license and OSHA regulations and ERISA regulations and whether or not you have fiduciary liability for someone's retirement money....we have to provide some advice, but not partisan advice and if we provide too much advice or too little advice we can get in trouble. Then think about employees who may be unhappy about something. We try to keep them happy and we try to follow all the rules but if small business does one small thing wrong we can get fined.

Now consider that Obama wants small business to be forced to have a union boss come in and sign up the employees for a union whicn can set wages (maybe the small employer just plain can't afford it) so Obama wants there to be "open ballots". I'm not going to explain it all here, but go read about it. It will give you some idea of why small business is terrified.

Take me for example-I would like to hire another person right now, but I won't. I will do the work myself at night and weekends. I don't know what Obama will do but I know he does not like businesses and I know from what he has said he doesn't understand them. You can hear on the news there is the highest unemployment claims this month in 25 years. And if you think this is all from President Bush, you are way wrong. Bush is the friend of businesses. The combination of Obama and the economy is overwhelming. Good luck finding a job. Don't hate use for this. I don't care to work 16 hour days but it's better than getting sued for something I could not control.