Obama’s “Constituency Groups” Checklist Offers No Options For Whites Or Men… Because they’re evil. Via CNS News: Fresh off his reelection, President Barack Obama is asking his supporters to complete a survey that asks the people being polled to check off which “constituency groups” they identify with – there are 22 groups listed but not one for “whites” or “men.” The post-election survey, distributed through www.barackobama.com to “take this organization forward,” includes the question, “Which constituency groups do you identify yourself with? Select all that apply.” It then lists 22 groups. But whites and men are not on the list – women are, as are African Americans, Arab-Americans, Latinos and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender). Other “constituency groups” include “Educators,” “Environmentalists,” “Labor,” “Students,” “People with disabilities,” and “Youth.”
Rahm Emanuel’s Solution For America’s Problems: Run The Entire Country Like Chicago… So he wants to turn America into a corrupt war zone? Via Rahm Emanuel, WaPo: Too much post-election analysis has focused on voter demographics and campaign mechanics, leaving Democrats in danger of drawing the wrong lessons from our electoral success. Demographics alone are not destiny. There is nothing in this year’s election returns that guarantees Democrats a permanent majority in the years to come. President Obama and the Democratic Party earned the support of key groups — young people, single women, Latinos, African Americans, auto workers in the Rust Belt and millions of other middle-class Americans — because of our ideas. But we cannot expect Republicans to cede the economic argument so readily, or to fall so far short on campaign mechanics, the next time around. So, instead of resting on false assurances of underlying demographic advantages, the Democratic Party must follow through on our No. 1 priority, which the president set when he took office and reemphasized throughout this campaign: It is time to come home and rebuild America. In Chicago, our initiative of “Building a New Chicago” adopts a similar view, with improvements to areas as varied as education and physical infrastructure. While infrastructure improvements have been neglected on a federal level for decades, Chicago is making one of the nation’s largest coordinated investments, putting 30,000 residents to work over the next three years improving our roads, rails and runways; repairing our aged water system; and increasing access to gigabit-speed broadband. We are paying for these critical improvements through a combination of reforms, efficiencies and direct user fees, as well as creating the nation’s first city-level public-private infrastructure bank. Democrats should champion these kinds of innovative financing tools at a national level.