Ken Berwitz
Tonight, President Obama will give his last State Of The Union address. Be assured he will brag about what great shape the economy is in.
New York Times\’ columnist Paul Krugman\’s latest piece – possibly intentionally timed to Mr. Obama\’s speech – is titled “The Obama Boom”, and will, if you buy into Mr. Krugman\’s reasoning, second the motion.
With that in mind, I thought I would post this exchange between Fox News Channel\’s Megyn Kelly and Black commentator/activist Tavis Smiley, from yesterday\’s show:
Megyn Kelly: On thesubject of race, are we better off today that seven years ago?
Tavis Smiley: I\’m not sure we are and I think ultimatelythe president missed a moment… On every leading economic issue, in the leadingeconomic issues Black Americans have lost ground in every one of those leadingcategories. So in the last ten years it hasn\’t been good for black folk. Thisis the president\’s most loyal constituency that didn\’t gain any ground in thatperiod.
I have a question: Suppose a Republican President and a columnist from a rightward newspaper were touting what a great economy we had, and Tavis Smiley said exactly those same words.
What do you think the Democrat Party, and the New York Times would be saying about it. What would they be calling them? How quickly and completely would they be accused of gross insensitivity toward minorities?
Allow me to end by pointing out that if you are waiting for mainstream media to do the same, or even a tiny fraction of the same, for President Obama and Paul Krugman, you should settle in. It may take a bit of time. Like maybe a week or two after the twelfth of never.
