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Taxpayers Fund White House’s Race-based Direct Mail

By: S.E. Robinson (Diary)  |  July 16th, 2012 at 10:09 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

President Barack Obama’s delusions of grandeur, his Constitutional misconceptions and his petty racial politics mesh seamlessly in this recently uncovered letter, sent from the White House to an unknown number of recipients for rather dubious reasons.

In the letter, which bears the presidential seal and signature, Obama sings high-minded paeans to Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, but reserves his highest laudation for Cesar Estrada Chavez, co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW) and apotheosized of the American progressive movement.

To honor Chavez’s pursuit of social justice, our 44th President writes,

“NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by the virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 31, 2012 as Cesar Chavez Day.”

The foregoing proclamation, in addition to underscoring the President’s incredible hubris, reveals yet another perplexing deficiency in the former Harvard law professor’s Constitutional understanding. For nowhere in Article II of the U.S. Constitution (the part that defines and limits executive functions, professor…) is the President granted the power to declare holidays. Indeed, even our legal traditions seem to vest not the President but Congress with the authority to declare official holidays.

And if you, like me, are wondering why you did not receive this supra-constitutional proclamation from our Dear Leader, it may be because you don’t have the right skin color.

The addressee of the letter, who asked to remain anonymous, believes he received the letter because he has a Hispanic surname. If his suspicions are correct, and the letter was targeted at Hispanics, then that means U.S. taxpayers footed the bill – more than $2.29 for every letter sent – for Team Obama’s extravagant race-based direct mail campaign.

A better tribute to Mr. Chavez, perhaps, would be securing the U.S.-Mexican border, a goal that played a seminal role in Chavez’s “dream of a more just tomorrow.” Or perhaps the President could start smaller, and offer an apology to Mexico for the hundreds of Mexican citizens who have lost their lives as a result of Eric Holder’s Operation Fast and Furious.

 

COMMENTS

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  • gatorgab

    I am Hispanic – I’m cuban-born – but I am a registered Republican, maybe that’s why I didn’t get one of those darn letters. It’s a good thing too because I’ve been having trouble controlling my blood pressure lately. That Cesar Chavez/La Raza crowd and I don’t see eye-to-eye much. They always march around with those Che Guevara flags and posters – ugh! I’m sure they know the man was a mass murderer and a racist – no? He called Blacks indolent and lazy, and had some not so nice things to say about the overly proud ancestors of the Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas. But I digress. Where’s my damn letter Mr. President! My relatives in Cuba are running short on toilet paper again and they need that letter to supplement their meager substitue supplies of the Communist Party daily Granma.

    What a pandering piece of ….

  • amethyst210

    Post the entire letter so we can see for ourselves what was said. There are so many articles that are written to seem like something was said or done that really wasn’t and that is despicable.

    • gekster

      from:
      http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/23/presidential-proclamation-cesar-chavez-day-2012

      the copy:

      BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

      A PROCLAMATION

      One of our Nation’s great civil rights leaders, Cesar Estrada Chavez came of age as a migrant farm worker, witnessing the injustice that pervaded fields and vineyards across California. Facing discrimination, poverty, and dangerous working conditions, laborers toiled for little pay and without access to even the most basic necessities. Yet amidst hardship and abuse, Cesar Chavez saw the promise of change — the unlimited potential of a community organized around a common purpose. Today, we celebrate his courage, reflect on his lifetime of advocacy, and recognize the power in each of us to lift up lives and pursue social justice.

      Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other visionary leaders, Cesar Chavez based his campaign on principles of nonviolence, which he called “the quality of the heart.” Through boycotts, fasts, strikes, and marches that demanded both endurance and imagination, he drew thousands together in support of “La Causa” — a mission to ensure respect, dignity, and fair treatment for farm workers. Alongside Dolores Huerta, he founded the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), an organization tasked with defending and empowering the men and women who feed the world.

      As a tribute to Cesar Chavez’s life and work, my Administration designated the Forty Acres site in Delano, California, as a National Historical Landmark last year, forever commemorating the birthplace of the UFW. In May 2011, the United States Navy named the USNS Cesar Chavez in recognition of his service during World War II. And this month, we honor ten Americans as Champions of Change for their commitment to realizing Cesar Chavez’s dream of a more just tomorrow. Decades after his struggle began, Cesar Chavez’s legacy lives on in all who draw inspiration from the values of service, determination, and community that ignited his movement.

      On the 85th anniversary of Cesar Chavez’s birth, we are reminded of what we can accomplish when we recognize our common humanity. He told us, “We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community. Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.” As we honor his broad ambitions and expansive vision, let us pledge to stand forever on the side of equal opportunity and justice for all.

      NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 31, 2012, as Cesar Chavez Day. I call upon all Americans to observe this day with appropriate service, community, and education programs to honor Cesar Chavez’s enduring legacy.

      IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.

      BARACK OBAMA

      • amethyst210

        for posting the letter. I wonder if the mailing list is available and are there any names other than hispanic on it? Not that it matters, it’s still smells of being politically motivated and I have no doubt it was.

  • S.E. Robinson

    pic.twitter.com/1LKr6iEq

  • funwithknives

    Or Obie for America?

    I so want to be invited, to a Barry Soiree’.
    We’d have ever so much fun, and laughs up-the GaZow……..
    …and he could make all my troubles just vanish with a wave of his hand……..

  • Tbone

    the Republican Congressional Leadership. I hope they all enjoy their future in Hell.

  • AndrewHyman

    He was not a Harvard law professor. He taught at U. Chicago, after graduating from Harvard Law School. There are also lots of observances by presidential proclamation.

    If this was a cheap stunt to lure Hispanics, then of course Obama deserves to be castigated for it. And for not securing the border. And for a million other things.

  • renny

    and costs us $179,000 or more per hour per run. The RNC should sue him for this undeclared campaing contribution from all tax payers, so why shouldn’t he mail drivel to Hispanics, Estonians, women who cannot afford contraception to support their over-sexed sex lives, or any other target audience the o wants a couple votes from?

    What the big zero seems to be missing in all this “targeting” (I thought that was violent uncivil language when used by Sarah Palin) is the middle class white male vote who has been determining who wins national elections for decades and will likely determine this one as he did in 2008 when he voted for obamanation.

  • emptybucket

    TOTAL agreement. Anybody predict how many election cycles it will take to get a true majority of conservatives working in Congress. What I’m reading the freshmen tea party congressmen say is they can’t move anything, the numbers are too big against them. If that is indeed the case, just how many elections do we haveto have to turn this around?

  • edintexas

    Because the letter was a mailing with an addressee list which apparently was directed to people with Hispanic surnames, I think it probable that it was a “…cheap stunt to lure Hispanics…”. I don’t think there is any room for the if in “If it was a cheap stunt…”.

  • pjcar

    will he next appoint a horse to the senate or declare himself a god?

  • http://vikimason.com runnamuck

    …there seems to be a horses’ patoot in charge of the senate already and, if I’m not mistaken, Obie already thinks he’s a GodKing.

  • amethyst210

    I’ve been wondering that myself.