WUI (Writing under the influence)

The president has been accused numerous times of not carrying about black people. Most recently when he didn't pray hard enough to stop the hurricane Katrina from hitting New Orleans. But one doesn't have to care about one particular group of people to care about that group of people as well. Sometimes, good policies, like cutting taxes, result in robust economy that lifts all people, including blacks.

The economy grew 3.5 percent last year despite the war on terror, sky-high oil prices, and hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. For those with lower incomes, the bottom tax rate is now 10 percent rather than 15 percent. Meanwhile, higher-level tax-rate reductions leave more money in black middle-class pockets.

At this writing, the unemployment rate is 4.7 percent, its lowest level since July 2001. The bad news is that black unemployment is 8.9 percent. The good news is that it is down from a 10 percent average under President Clinton.

Meanwhile, with white unemployment at 4.1 percent, there is a 4.8 percent gap between white and black joblessness. That gap averaged 5.5 percent under President Clinton and 6.9 percent over the last 30 years. So, despite howls of Democratic protests, Bush's tax cuts have helped create the best black employment picture in a generation.

There are many more examples of why blacks should consider themselves more fortunate under Bush than under Clinton, and why they have been slowly moving to the right in their voting patterns since 2000, and why the trend may continue despite what has been said about what happened in New Orleans (including AP's levee fiasco.)

But some dead-end Clintonistas will insist until their graves that Clinton was so much better because he felt everyone's pain.

Compare the response of Bush to that of Clinton when Tim McVey blew up the building in Oklahoma. Oklahoma is very definitely R territory. But, when I think of that event, Clinton comes to my mind as someone who really cared. I think they and the country felt his sincerity.

The only thing I remember from Oklahoma was Clinton biting his lower lip. I wonder what he really felt when those children were burning in Waco...