Commentary; the Black State of the Union

Summary

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The most recent authoritative analysis of the president's status is contained in a January 18 Washington Post poll; it contains enough "disapprovals" to fill a room. For example, people disapproved of [George Bush]'s handling of many of the most important issues facing the country: the economy (52 percent), Iraq (58 percent) and Social Security (55 percent), health care (51 percent), and the federal budget deficit (58 percent). These are not just Black people, this is a sample of the entire country.

In a few days, the Bush administration will roll out a series of cuts in the domestic side of the federal budget to pay for the Iraq war and for tax cuts. Bush will propose deep cuts in the community health budget, in the home ownership program, in community economic development projects at HUD, and in many of the other programs that serve poor and disadvantaged people disproportionately. He has no mandate to do that, but it is a necessity because of the skewed agenda he is following that he will attempt to legitimize by his flawed election.

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Commentary; the Black State of the Union

Now is the time to make an assessment of the State of the Union and in the coming weeks, you will hear a president claim a sweeping mandate for his policies. He ...

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