Why should blacks appreciate Bush?
Please tell me I was dreaming.
Did syndicated columnist Mona Charen actually pen a column titled "Blacks should praise Bush?" And did my trusted Daily Herald actually run this story?
In this day of partisan politics and partisan journalism, nothing I read rarely stops me in my tracks. Well, Ms, Charen's column stopped me cold. I forced myself to read this only because I found the title so incredible.
Even by Ms. Charen's ultraconservative standards, this was far beyond the realm of reason.
Her two examples used to illustrate Bush's "unrequited love for blacks" were the president's No Child Left Behind initiative and his efforts to provide aid to AIDS victims throughout Africa.
Bush's No Child Left Behind program while well-intentioned has enraged most educators with its draconian requirements and has yielded mixed results at best. Spend a few minutes talking with an inner-city teacher or administrator about No Child Left Behind and you'll hear a litany of grievances.
As to the AIDS initiatives, it's hard for even the president's harshest critics to question his focus on this scourge and he's to be admired for his aggressive attempts to fund AIDS relief and research. Sadly and cynically, Ms. Charen characterizes AIDS as a black person's disease.
That said, here at home, Mr. Bush's domestic fiscal and social policies have hardly championed the working class much less poor minorities, especially blacks. Tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent of the country; education, social service and medical coverage cuts for the poorest among us.
A record number of black men and women are unemployed and imprisoned.
Oh yes, black America, it's time to pull yourselves up by those trickle down bootstraps and praise Mr. Bush. God save us.
Dave Crost
Prospect Heights