Doesn't President Obama Understand

that the most important issue facing this country is jobs? You would think as an African American he would at least sympathize with the plight of many of the people who voted for him, but it appears he cares more about taking care of those who channeled major bucks into his successful election campaign, i.e., Wall Street.

A generation ago, such reactionary nonsense would have been met with wholesale denunciation in Black political circles. But as we begin the second decade of the 21st century, a Black Democrat in the White House can get away with speaking like Ronald Reagan, while Black members of Congress are compelled to present moral justification for seeking redress of economic injustices.

Forty years ago, a Republican president, Richard Nixon, would have felt quite comfortable agreeing with the Black Caucus' concerns about economic fairness. Yet today, the nation's first Black president bristles at every suggestion that gross racial inequalities call for executive and legislative action.

Richard Nixon, for all of his flaws, would be seen as a liberal today or even as a progressive. That's how far to the right public discourse has gotten over the past forty years.