The West Effect

Posted by Mary Mancini on September 3, 2005 under Uncategorized |

The debate over Kanye West’s statements last night during the Concert for Hurricane Relief, rages on here and here.

But the point that Kanye (and others who voice the same sentiment) is missing is that President Bush doesn’t “hate” black people, he “hates” poor people. And by “hate” I mean he doesn’t understand them nor does he care to help them. President Bush’s disregard for the poor is absolute while he worships at the altar of supply-side economics (hat tip: Bradley Whitford). The majority of the people suffering in New Orleans were left behind by this country a long time ago. They live in abject and systemic poverty.

The Bush administration’s decision to focus on tax cut after tax cut (let’s just watch and see if the debate on the estate tax continues this week in congress) while chopping at the budget for programs meant to help the poor is the debate to focus on…after we get the Red Cross the money they need to help, of course.