Remember the video, released the night before last week's debate, from June 5, 2007? The one where Obama alleged to a black audience that the federal government had not waived the Stafford Act requirements for New Orleans after Katrina like they did for New York after 9/11 or for Florida after Hurricane Andrew? The implication was obviously that this was because the federal government doesn't care as much about New Orleans or its "predominantly black" inhabitants.
Thomas Sowell clears up a bit about the president's then, ahem, "confusion" on this matter in his latest piece at Townhall:
"If you want to know what community organizers do, this is it -- rub people's emotions raw to hype their resentments. And this was Barack Obama in his old community organizer role, a role that should have warned those who thought that he was someone who would bring us together, when he was all too well practiced in the arts of polarizing us apart.
Why is the date of this speech important? Because, less than two weeks earlier, on May 24, 2007, the United States Senate had in fact voted 80-14 to waive the Stafford Act requirement for New Orleans, as it had waived that requirement for New York and Florida. More federal money was spent rebuilding New Orleans than was spent in New York after 9/11 and in Florida after hurricane Andrew, combined.
Truth is not a job requirement for a community organizer. Nor can Barack Obama claim that he wasn't present the day of that Senate vote, as he claimed he wasn't there when Jeremiah Wright unleashed his obscene attacks on America from the pulpit of the church that Obama attended for 20 years.
Unlike Jeremiah Wright's church, the U.S. Senate keeps a record of who was there on a given day. The Congressional Record for May 24, 2007 shows Senator Barack Obama present that day and voting on the bill that waived the Stafford Act requirement. Moreover, he was one of just 14 Senators who voted against -- repeat, AGAINST -- the legislation which included the waiver."
Not only was the Stafford Act waived by Congress two weeks before Barack Obama went all Kanye West in this speech in 2007, but Barack Obama voted against the bill that waived it. ........................"