Obama and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Idea

Sen. Barack Obama, like his good friend Deval Patrick, supports reparations for slavery. If mainstream news outlets like the Boston Globe-Democrat had any integrity, this would be news. BIG news.

"I consistently believe that when it comes to whether it's Native Americans or African-American issues or reparations, the most important thing for the U.S. government to do is not just offer words, but offer deeds," Obama told a race-based group of journalists.

Alas, none of the "journalists" noticed he was making news. The reason it's news, in my opinion, isn't the obvious "Jesse Jackson Shakedown" aspect of reparations that annoys America's already overburdened taxpayers. Reparations are far worse than that.

Giving money to one group of people based on race--money collected from everyone who is not in that group--would be far more divisive than the worst plot ever hatched in the fevered fantasies of the Aryan Nations. It strikes at the heart of the premise of America: e pluribus unum (which, interestingly, Obama dumped from his self-made presidential seal).

America's not perfect, and her people aren't perfect. Many people think the Great Society welfare programs were a disaster. Others think the same of the Reagan tax cuts and invading Iraq. But the premise of America is, because we all have our say, we're all in this together.

The fundamental premise of reparations is "What do you mean 'we?'"

If Sen. Obama truly wants to tear this nation apart, promote racial division and create the kind of America the Rev. Wright claims we already live in, there is no better strategy than race-based reparations.