Democrat pollster Pat Caddell has co-authored a brilliant opinion piece for the WSJ, entitled "Our Divisive President". Mr. Caddell's bona fides as a Democrat are impeccable.
Caddell worked on the campaigns of Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale and Ted Kennedy. Which, perhaps, makes his words all the more above partisan sniping.
During the election campaign, Barack Obama sought to appeal to the best instincts of the electorate, to a post-partisan sentiment that he said would reinvigorate our democracy. He ran on a platform of reconciliation—of getting beyond "old labels" of right and left, red and blue states, and forging compromises based on shared values.
President Obama's Inaugural was a hopeful day, with an estimated 1.8 million people on the National Mall celebrating the election of America's first African-American president. The level of enthusiasm, the anticipation and the promise of something better could not have been more palpable.
And yet, it has not been realized. Not at all.
Rather than being a unifier, Mr. Obama has divided America on the basis of race, class and partisanship. Moreover, his cynical approach to governance has encouraged his allies to pursue a similar strategy of racially divisive politics on his behalf.
The Balkanization of America is accelerating rapidly under the "guidance" of Barack H. Obama. Caddell and Douglas Schoen take Obama to task for their treatment of race in America, the America that Obama's Attorney General called "A nation of Cowards". Specifically, the treatment or lack of justice accorded to the New Black Panther Party.
It is the job of the Department of Justice to protect all American voters from voter discrimination and voter intimidation—whether committed by the far right, the far left, or the New Black Panthers. It is unacceptable for the Department of Justice to continue to stonewall on this issue.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Mr. Obama's campaign emphasized repeatedly that his minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was being unfairly stereotyped because of racially incendiary sound bites that allegedly did not reflect the totality of his views. In the Gates incident and others, Mr. Obama has resorted to similar forms of stereotyping.
Even the former head of the Civil Rights Commission, Mary Frances Berry, acknowledged that the Obama administration has taken to polarizing America around the issue of race as a means of diverting attention away from other issues, saying: "the charge of racism is proving to be an effective strategy for Democrats. . . . Having one's opponent rebut charges of racism is far better than discussing joblessness."
I heard an interview with Mr. Caddell on the radio today. In addressing the "We won!" mentality of the Obama administration, he had this to say:
"Winning confers the right to lead, not to reign."
Sounds like he knows Obama Democrats!
Cross posted at Left Coast Rebel, Say Anything, Lady Cincinnatus
