America’s Slum Lord in Chief

posted at 10:41 am on January 16, 2010 by Howard Portnoy
[ Cronyism ]   

The people of Massachusetts have an important decision to make this coming Tuesday. Do they advance the cause of Barack Obama, whose mission — to place the government in control of as much of America’s destiny as he can — has been made unambiguous by his blatant vote-buying tactics of recent months? Or do they say, “Enough of hope and change” and elect Scott Brown to the seat vacated by the late Edward Kennedy?

One group likely not to turn out in large numbers on Tuesday is comprised of Obama’s most ardent supporters — minorities. Their absence from the voting booth will be the result of indolence. It should be the result of outrage and betrayal. This story from the newspaper of record of America’s second most liberal city, the Boston Globe, paints a sobering portrait of the champion of the underclass. Remarkably, the article was first released in June of 2008.

The article’s teaser gives a pretty good summary of the content to follow:

The candidate [Obama] endorsed subsidies for private entrepreneurs to build low-income units. But, while he garnered support from developers, many projects in his former district have fallen into disrepair.

The dateline of the piece identifies the place where these activities occurred: Chicago, Obama’s adoptive hometown. It focuses on Grove Parc Plaza, a housing development in the inner city with 504 government-subsidized apartments — none of them safe to live in. Writes Binyamin Applebaum, the article’s author:

Grove Parc has become a symbol for some in Chicago of the broader failures of giving public subsidies to private companies to build and manage affordable housing — an approach strongly backed by Obama as the best replacement for public housing.

As a state senator, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee coauthored an Illinois law creating a new pool of tax credits for developers. As a US senator, he pressed for increased federal subsidies. And as a presidential candidate, he has campaigned on a promise to create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund that could give developers an estimated $500 million a year.

How the American public, aided by most of the mainstream media, managed to overlook the realities of electing this man is a question that needs an answer if we, the people are to avoid the same mistake in the future. The people of Massachusetts are an unlikely group to take the first step toward leading the United States back onto the right track. Will the people of Boston, the city where the first Tea Party took place, pick up the banner once again? In less than 96 hours, we’ll have an answer.

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