What are the years in grades in america?

Does america fail its minorities?

• Years from now, historians may regard the 2008 election of Barack Obama as an inscrutable and disturbing phenomenon, a baffling breed of mass hysteria akin perhaps to the witch craze of the Middle Ages. How, they will wonder, did a man so devoid of professional accomplishment beguile so many into thinking he could manage the world's largest economy, direct the world's most powerful military, execute the world's most consequential job? Imagine a future historian examining Obama's pre-presidential life: ushered into and through the Ivy League despite unremarkable grades and test scores along the way; a cushy non-job as a "community organizer"; a brief career as a state legislator devoid of legislative achievement (and in fact nearly devoid of his attention, so often did he vote "present"); and finally an unaccomplished single term in the United States Senate, the entirety of which was devoted to his presidential ambitions. He left no academic legacy in academia, authored no signature legislation as legislator. True, Obama himself was never troubled by his lack of achievements, but why would he be? Obama was told he was good enough for Columbia despite undistinguished grades at Occidental; he was told he was good enough for the US Senate despite a mediocre record in Illinois; he was told he was good enough to be president despite no record at all in the Senate. All his life, every step of the way, Obama was told he was good enough for the next step, in spite of ample evidence to the contrary. What could this breed if not the sort of empty narcissism on display every time Obama speaks? In 2008, many who agreed that he lacked executive qualifications nonetheless raved about Obama's oratory skills, intellect, and cool character. Those people -- conservatives included -- ought now to be deeply embarrassed. The man thinks and speaks in the hoariest of clichés, and that's when he has his teleprompter in front of him; when the prompter is absent he can barely think or speak at all. Not one original idea has ever issued from his mouth -- it's all warmed-over Marxism of the kind that has failed over and over again for 100 years. And then there is the matter of his troubling associations: the white-hating, America-loathing preacher who for decades served as Obama's "spiritual mentor"; a real-life, actual domestic terrorist who served as Obama's colleague and political sponsor. And in any case, what did such ancient history matter when he was also articulate and elegant and (as he himself had said) "non-threatening," all of which gave him a fighting chance to become the first black president and thereby to lay the curse of racism to rest? It is easy to imagine a future historian looking at it all and asking: how on Earth was such a man elected president? The answer is simple; Obama was given a pass -- held to a lower standard -- because of the color of his skin. This is the animating pulse of the Obama phenomenon -- affirmative action. Not in the legal sense, of course. But certainly in the motivating sentiment behind all affirmative action laws and regulations, which are designed primarily to make white people, and especially white liberals, feel good about themselves. Unfortunately, minorities often suffer so that whites can pat themselves on the back. Liberals routinely admit minorities to schools for which they are not qualified, yet take no responsibility for the inevitable poor performance and high drop-out rates which follow. Liberals don't care if these minority students fail; liberals aren't around to witness the emotional devastation and deflated self esteem resulting from the racist policy that is affirmative action. Yes, racist. Holding someone to a separate standard merely because of the color of his skin -- that's affirmative action in a nutshell, and if that isn't racism, then nothing is. And that is what America did to Obama.

• Answer:

  Immorality causes most societal failures. When the government condones and protects immorality, the decay happens much faster. I can make a good case for thinking the intent of all social programs is to break up the family. Those who partake of social programs can expect economic, political, and moral depravity as the outcome You ask - "How, they will wonder, did a man so devoid of professional accomplishment beguile so many into thinking he could manage ..." The answer is he led them to believe they could get something for nothing. Sloth and avarice. You are absolutely right about his previous career as being the ultimate elevation of mediocrity. The ultimate example of the Peter Principle. You say: his supporters thought they could finally "lay the curse of racism to rest" Yet Obama and his supporters played the race card from the bottom if the deck openly and often. Daring us to accuse them of cheating. They are deliberately dividing the United States into easily intimidated factions. They are deepening the feelings of mistrust between people of different skin colors. There is only one race - The Human race. I wish Obama would join it.