Comments on: President Obama: Closing Minority Business Development Offices.

By: Roger Clegg

Roger Clegg — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 18:43:35 +0000

Why do race or ethnicity need to be considered at all in deciding who gets awarded a contract? It’s good to make sure contracting programs are open to all, that bidding opportunities are widely publicized beforehand, and that no one gets discriminated against because of skin color or national origin. But that means no preferences because of skin color or what country your ancestors came from either–whether it’s labeled a “set-aside,” a “quota,” or a “goal,” since they all end up amounting to the same thing. Such discrimination is unfair and divisive; it breeds corruption and otherwise costs the taxpayers and businesses money to award a contract to someone other than the lowest bidder; and it’s almost always illegal—indeed, unconstitutional—to boot (see 42 U.S.C. section 1981 and this model brief: http://www.pacificlegal.org/page.aspx?pid=1342 ). Those who insist on engaging in such discrimination deserve to be sued, and they will lose.

By: DG

DG — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:03:22 +0000

James, I agree with much of what you say. But a job creation plan starts with a small business creation plan. I am not sure if we are disagreeing or not because it was hard to follow your response.

My point in relation to Obama is that all net new jobs have been created by stage 2 growth companies and below. There has been a net job loss by stage 3 companies and above over the past half decade.

Black unemployment rate is nearly 2x the national average, and research still shows that Blacks are predisposition more so to hire Blacks and white’s to hire whites.

So from my standpoint we need to be less about “job creation” and more about Black business creation. This is why Obama closing these centers is a terrible idea.

I agree with much of what you said though in your follow up comments.

By: TheTruthNow

TheTruthNow — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 18:50:17 +0000

If this is true and there is no substitute agency that will take on the issues of Black businesses then Obama should be held to the carpet for his actions.

By: James Davis

James Davis — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:24:01 +0000

DG,
You have to read my whole response. If we as a people are going to better ourselves, we don’t abandon our leadership, we attempt to make adjustments. We do what the Black Caucus is attempting to do. The Payroll Tax Reduction Bill ended with the head of the Black Caucus, Cleaver and 13 other Caucus members voting against Mr. Obama. There is an indication that some of these co-opted politicians are jumping off the Obama wagon. They too have reached the same conclusion many of us well informed brothers and sisters have, that this President in many instances is not working in the best interest of our community. Our objective as I indicated should be to use whatever influence we have to articulate a new direction for the Black community,separate from the Obama Administration. A direction that will create jobs and foster small businesses. Ultimately, Mr. Obama has to be brought into the mix. These guys are ambitious politicians, they want to be re-elected, we want jobs. What is happening, as I see it, Mr Obama does not think the two objectives can be realized simultaneously. The two objectives of actually pulling the Black community up out the abyss of these high unemployment numbers and getting him re-elected. We must convince him and his gang our objectives are not exclusive to each other. We don’t do this by getting angry, but by using our heads.

By: DG

DG — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:11:40 +0000

James, jobs are created by small businesses, how does closing these offices by Obama improve job creation? Particularly by Black and other minority firms. This is a terrible, terrible decision.

By: lewis orr

lewis orr — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:17:33 +0000

I understand the reasoning of your comments,is there any stated reasoning for President Obama closing these offices? I haven’t heard of any successful Black Businesses, could this be why the President is choosing to close these offices? I need to know more of the Presidents reasoning.

By: James Davis

James Davis — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 12:23:55 +0000

No, I do not agree that we should reconsider our support for him, although his performance is not working for me either!

We have got to band together. Hear me out! Our greatest need as a group of people is a national job creation plan. This is consistent with what the larger population needs. There has been a split in the leadership of the Black Caucus on the recently passed Reduction in the Payroll Tax legislation. “Read my upcoming article on this site, about that.” We, and I mean you and the writer of this article and every one within the sound of my voice should now use that opening to convince the 14 Congressional Black Caucus members who were co-opted by the Obama Campaign to join our effort in calling for a national job creation plan. Such a plan is at http://www.sslumpsum.com. You say, I am, in recommending this approach serving my own best interest. Sure I am, but in serving my interest, I serve the interest of our objective to pull our community of this dismal downturn, which is decimating our middle class. You see, if my plan is not adopted, and that is okay with me, we would have succeed in changing the conversation of this campaign. You can’t start a conversation without having something to offer or talk about. And my plan fills that bill. We can force the conversation to once again be about us and our needs!! This President is nothing more than a politician. If we will stop looking at him as a “messiah,” we can still pull victory from the jaws of defeat. http://www.sslumpsum.com

By: Lonnie Radcliffe

Lonnie Radcliffe — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 05:19:47 +0000

I’m outraged by the callous and unforgivable betrayal of the entire black community by this president. Couple this unbelievable betrayal with the lack of any black participation on the 9 member “Team Obama” which is charged with setting the course for his second term in office, and his wanton abandonment of Troy Davis despite the worldwide petition to spare this young man’s life leads one to the only logical conclusion that we should expect nothing from the Obama administration.
He will continue to suck up all of the oxygen in the room from the rest of us.
So much for gratitude and fairness.

We all need to reconsider our support for this man.