Lost Black History
By Don Valentine
In the brief six years since our Union’s first Black President left office, a prodigious amount of his accomplishments and attributes have been forgotten. The day Obama took office, the Dow closed at 7,949 points. Eight years later, the Dow was 21,414. General Motors and Chrysler were on the brink of bankruptcy, with Ford not far behind. Obama pushed through a controversial, $8o billion bailout to save the car industry. The federal deficit dropped from 9.8 percent of GDP in 2009 to 3.2 percent in 2016. He got the Affordable Care Act passed. Obama has been faithfully married for 31 years. Laudably, his children have the same mother. There has never been any record or accusation of extramarital affairs. The Obama administration had two full terms with no indictments, accusations of scandals or embarrassment to the country.
President Biden is clearly proud of these accomplishments and one more accolade of President Obama that is omitted from the resume is his fierce loyalty. Biden, in a poignant CNN interview said, “His love of family and my family, and my love of his family … it’s personal. It’s family.” Biden made a decisive announcement to the global press in that CNN piece. His emotional revelation was covered by every major news outlet including the NY Times, Washington Post, Associated Press and Reuters, to cite a few of the services.
“My concern is if Beau resigns there is nothing to fall back on, his salary. But I said I worked it out, Jill and I will sell the house and we’ll be in good shape,” Biden said. “(Obama) got up and said: ‘Don’t sell that house. I’ll give you the money. Whatever you need, I’ll give you the money. Don’t Joe, Promise me. Promise me.’”
The magnanimous generosity of this gesture is not attributed in academic teachings, but it should be recognized. None of the Presidents in our lifetime were that benevolent to their VP. In fact historians note that most of those pairings did not originate, or blossom into friendships. After the 12th amendment was passed in 1804 the pair were picked by the party. A Time Magazine article noted, “When the party chose the Vice President, then the chances of you finding a life-long buddy were much less,” says Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian.”
Ford pardoned Nixon, but that was not because of friendship. That agreement made Ford, no fan of Nixon, POTUS. President 45, acquiesced to letting VP Pence be hung in the gallows. President Johnson despised the Kennedey brothers. History should not ignore the devoted loyalty of the first Black President. Author Elbert Hubbard said, “If put to the pinch, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness.”
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