You Can Take the Organizer Out of Chicago, But...
May 6, 2009 - 23:59 ET
President Obama's new health care plan rolled out on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. HHS Secretary Sebelius talked about creating a government health insurance plan to compete with private insurers and "leveling the playing field" between them.
Government health care: great, they are coming to save you.
But here's the one thing no one else is going to say: We have elected a former community organizer as our president who is helping to orchestrate a power grab of industry, energy, health care and taxes — he wants to control it.
Let me explain through two stories in the news right now:
First community organizers — what do they do? Take the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — better known as ACORN — for example. ACORN says they are, "committed to social and economic justice" and they "those who have historically been locked out become powerful players in our democratic system."
Remember, President Obama say he wants his Supreme Court nominee to have empathy and understand social justice.
Anyway, what they neglect to mention is that one technique for accomplishing those things is fraud. ACORN is facing fraud charges in Nevada. Another way is intimidation. How many times has Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson threatened to bring their groups to the streets to "bring to justice" anyone they perceive as a threat? Who organized the bus tours of the homes AIG executives so they could protest and scare their children?
To groups like ACORN, it's not really about helping "those who have been locked out." It is about helping those who help them. This is a power grab. They work to get the people into office that can continue to feed them — and it's a great strategy. They've reportedly received $53 million in federal funds since 1994.
So, now we've elected a community organizer to the White House, what do you expect him to do? Well, you can take the organizer out of Chicago, but you can't take the Chicago out of the organizer. By including ACORN and groups like them in the stimulus package, we've guaranteed them billions of dollars to buy more votes for the party.
Just as this is seed money for Democratic votes, the auto bailout will help the party flourish for years to come.
First take a look at Obama's "car czar," Steve Rattner. A top Democratic fundraiser, he served as finance chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2006 — during which the DNC raised approximately $600 million.
Since 2000, Rattner has personally given over a quarter of a million dollars to Democratic candidates and organizations. So it is safe to say the guy knows how to play the game. And, as any Democratic fundraiser knows, the auto unions are huge contributors. In the last election the United Auto Workers donated over $2 million to Democrats — that's 99 percent of their contributions. Since 1990, the UAW gave over $25 million to Democrats — that's 99 percent of all contributions.
So how would unions make out with fundraiser-turned-"car czar" Rattner orchestrating the money? Take a wild guess.
Let's look at Chrysler for example.
In the proposed bankruptcy deal, the banks first in line would get $2 billion — about 29 cents on the dollar. Cerberus Daimler owed $2 billion — they would get zero. Taxpayers owed $4.3 billion, it's not certain what they will get. But the unions owed $10.6 billion would get 43 cents on the dollar and an equity stake — the best deal, by far, of anyone.
The Democrats know the unions need to be rebuilt, re-strengthened and revitalized. They need the union donations and community organizers to keep them in office.
The auto unions need the Democrats in office to get their money and maybe more members — that number has been dropping from 1.5 million members 30 years ago to about 430,000 today.
