Opinion
September 29, 2012 - October 5, 2012, The Afro-American
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A President who has earned our support In the blur of competing presidential campaigns and debates, some citizens could become confused by the Republicans’ claim that President Obama has not accomplished much during his first term. I chaired Barack Obama’s Maryland campaign 4 years ago – and again this year. I know President Obama to be a brilliant and decent man, a President we are fortunate to Rep. Elijah have at our nation’s helm. Cummings I also know that our opponents have been fighting us on almost every initiative he has advanced to help our country. They have said “No” to almost every proposal for 4 years, and now they are arguing that the President does not have the capability – or the courage – to lead our country. The Republicans are wrong about these claims. Allow me to briefly refresh their recollection about some of the critical issues that Americans face – beginning with our economy and the cost of health care. The Republicans want us to forget that, in the days before Barack Obama was sworn in as President, America was losing more than 700,000 American jobs every month. President Obama squarely faced that economic hemorrhaging – investing billions of dollars into America’s (and Maryland’s) economy during our darkest hours. As a result, we were able to keep hundreds of thousands of teachers, police officers and fire fighters on the job. We began to make our bridges safer – including those on the Beltway and on the Harbor Tunnel Throughway – and we saved the American auto industry from collapse, preventing the loss of another 1.4 million American jobs. We are not yet where we want to be. Yet, with this “federal stimulus” as a foundation, America’s private sector is
rebounding, creating or saving 4.6 million jobs during more than 30 consecutive months of private sector job growth. We can be proud of these accomplishments. Yet, the President and I both know that we must continue the work of building a stronger, more sustainable 21st century economy. Every American who is willing to work hard should be able to earn enough to raise a family. We should be able to send our kids to college, own a home, and still be able to put some money away for our retirement days. President Obama and I believe that these simple goals should not be beyond our reach in the most powerful and affluent country in the world. The Republicans are fighting us, but the path to achieving these everyday goals is not rocket science. We need only follow the “politics that are at the center of people’s daily lives,” as former Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) once advised. This, precisely, is what President Obama has been doing. With his leadership, we made college more accessible to hundreds of thousands of additional students by ending billions of dollars of federal subsidies to the banks – and using those savings to pay for double funding of the federal Pell Grant Program. We have begun making substantial investments in clean energy manufacturing to jump-start good American jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. The last Democrat-controlled Congress passed - and the President signed into law - Wall Street Reform to better protect Americans from unfair lending practices and rein in the excesses that drove our economy into the ditch. We are fighting to close tax loopholes to ensure that millionaires and billionaires don’t pay less in taxes than those of us in the middle class. This is President Obama’s straightforward and effective strategy to build a stronger economy and restore the American “social contract” of shared opportunity and shared sacrifice. We also have witnessed our President and congressional Democrats fighting to improve our health care system so that no American dies prematurely – or goes broke paying medical bills. When we hear the Republicans’ complaints about
American Christians, Please Help Me Understand It has come to a place where I need to understand if God has a scale for which sin is more grievous than the other? For those who believe that Jesus suffered and shed innocent blood for the redemption of mankind, have we considered what that death really meant? Being a Christian who believes one hundred percent in the word of God and the completed work of Christ I have an understanding about what God expects from those who claim to follow him, regardless of gender, color, ethnic background, denomination affiliation or societal status. The Bible’s message can be summarized to be of compassion, reconciliation-(forgiveness) and justice. We are called to be God’s ambassadors in changing our world which means taking action. At the same time, God does not like the superficiality. He told Isaiah, if His people remain corrupt in their hearts or in their intentions, they should not expect their prayers to be answered. For a while I have been bewildered by the time and energy we spend identifying individual sins which are only symptoms of the underlying problem within the Body of Christ. What is taking place in this election is a measuring rod of the Christian faith. How much do we really know what breaks God’s heart? During Jesus’ time. His strongest denunciations were never directed to unbelievers but to faith leaders. Can we assume it could be the same today?
Nicku Kyungu Mordi
In a Sept. 16 Associated Press article titled “AfricanAmerican Christians Waver Over Vote” AP religion writer Rachel Zoll refers to the debate that is going on across the nation over President Obama’s May 10 statement affirming same sex-marriage. Indeed, many people were upset and I was very upset, too. I took action and wrote the President to express my disappointment. (Also, I wrote to the church to take action for God’s glory.) However, when I read that some clergy are telling their congregations to stay home on Election Day because they do not understand how a true Christian could back same sex marriage I was perplexed! It is clear the enemy found what can divide the church by defeating and not achieving God’s intention for this great nation. The issue at hand is only the tip of the iceberg. If God could diagnose the conditions of our hearts as individuals or as Christians in the American community, what will be visible? If we are honest within ourselves, we must admit that we simply talk, condemn what is right or wrong according to our own denomination or religious perception and not according to God’s view. In fact I could add we judge according to our associations, status quo, even according to the color of our skin and not according to the blood that has redeemed us. As Christians who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, we have access to the power of God and the ability to forgive as we are being forgiven daily. Can we really afford to stand before God and say, “Yes, I did not vote because President Osama affirmed same-sex marriage?” Some
“Obamacare,” we should remember these two fundamental facts: At least 25,000 Americans die each year because they could not afford health insurance. At the same time, the staggering increases in health insurance premiums are threatening to break the bank. If we want to continue to have a world-class health care system, we must keep insurance premiums affordable. That is why the Affordable Care Act now requires insurance companies to justify rate hikes – and pay us back if they don’t spend at least 80% of premiums on our care, not profits, marketing or overhead. We must expand the insurance pool so that everyone is covered and prevent insurance companies from “cherry picking” only the healthiest among us - casting others aside to government programs or no care at all. This is what the Affordable Care Act does for 32 million Americans - assuring coverage for those with pre-existing conditions and shrinking the Medicare prescription drug “doughnut hole.” We are making progress building a better America – but our job is not yet done. In Barack Obama we are blessed with a brilliant, decent and determined president – a man who has earned our support. Congressman Elijah Cummings represents Maryland’s seventh congressional district in the United States House f Representatives.
go as far as saying, a cult is better than a Black President. America, help me understand what kind of Christianity are we advocating? What kind of God are we following who says one sin is more severe than the other and one color is superior to the other? I know it cannot be the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Christianity that I follow based in the Bible deeply woven in love, reconciliation, compassion, justice and forgiveness. I have been a Christian all my life and this is what I see in the body of Christ! The problem is not with President Obama but the problem is with the church – for too long we are busy fulfilling our agendas instead of God’s mandate. Without unity we miss what God speaks in order to prepare Christians to handle whatever comes their way. To the Christians who are confused about what to do on Election Day; do not look at one issue but the whole package. If God revealed to many that an African American man will hold the highest office in the land – who am I to “unvote” him or deny him the second term! Let God be the judge and not your religious biases. The unjust steward was commended by Jesus who said, “the children of the world are wiser than the children of light.” I hope you will be wise. Nicku Kyungu Mordi is president and founder of Africa Transformation Embassy, Inc., a Silver Spring, Md. - based, non-profit organization that encourages investment in Africa.
Don’t Overlook Less Publicized Political Races During this election, most of the focus is on the top of the ticket. Can President Obama maintain, or increase his narrow lead over Republican nominee Mitt Romney? Will the deep pockets of Romney and his allies be enough to turn the tide? Recent news suggests fundraising for Mr. Romney has recently faltered. That, too, is the fodder for national news as the super-PACS decide how to spend their money. How will the debates go? Julianne What about those battleground Malveaux states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, among others? Further down the ticket are some interesting races that will, perhaps, both determine the direction of the United States Senate and allow those with progressive views a platform for their work. In Massachusetts, for example, Harvard University Professor Elizabeth Warren is challenging incumbent Republican Scott Brown for his Senate seat. Brown was elected to serve the unfilled term of Edward Kennedy after his tragic death more than two years ago years ago. Brown’s win was something of a surprise in a state that is mostly Democratic, but he faced a tepid challenger and was able to
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pull out a victory. Even in Democratic Massachusetts, it is difficult to unseat an incumbent. Still, Elizabeth Warren is doing her best. Regardless of whether you live in Massachusetts, this is a key race to watch. First of all, those who support President Obama’s agenda understand that a Democratic majority in the Senate will assist in the realization of that agenda. Brown pledged, when he was elected in 2010, to block that agenda. More importantly, is the work that Elizabeth Warren has done on consumer protection. I’d love to see her serve on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs so that she can continue the work she started when she designed director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In the wake of the home mortgage debacle that left more than a third of all Americans with underwater mortgages, consumers can certainly use some protection. In too many cases, borrowers have not fully read the fine print in their mortgage forms or contracts. Bust why is the fine print so fine? In other words, can’t consumers get documents that spell out, in plain English, what the terms and conditions of loans are? Have you ever read the three-page attachment to your credit card bill? When you do you may find a change in interest rates buried in the disclosure form. President Obama wanted Elizabeth Warren to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but she was not nominated when it became clear that should could win Senate confirmation over strong Republican opposition. Warren’s advocacy for consumers is often portrayed as hostility toward
banks, which isn’t necessarily the case unless banks are ripping their customers off. Given the number off people who have been hurt by banking chicanery, the Senate should have embraced, not eschewed Warren. It will be ironic if the Senate, now, will have to work with her as a colleague. And it will be amazing and uplifting to see Professor Warren continue her passionate advocacy for consumers. Of course, Warren can’t afford to be a one-issue candidate, which is why she is correct in point out that Senator Scott Brown opposed pay equity legislation. Brown has responded to this allegation by talking about his wife and daughters. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan also have wives and children. Obviously, being married with children does not make you an automatic advocate of pay equity. After watching both the Democratic and the Republican conventions, I got a bit tired of people trying to use biography as a substitute for public policy. The fact that someone is a “good man” does not make him a good candidate unless character is connected to a political agenda. The fact that Brown has a wife and two daughters is neither commendable nor despicable. It’s a fact, just as his vote against pay equity is a fact. This is a race to watch as closely as the presidential election because it has far-reaching implications. Elizabeth Warren, an advocate for consumers, deserves to be the United States Senator from Massachusetts. Julianne Malveaux is a Washington, D.C.-based economist and writer. She is President Emerita of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, N.C.
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