Obama Embraces Bush's Faith-Based Corruption

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford.

Broadcasters and others who desire an MP3 copy of this commentary should visit our Black Agenda Radio Archive page via the link at left.

"Obama has become a convert to Bush's kind of evangelism: bribery on a huge scale."

Barack Obama has wracked up a shocking number of betrayals of progressive ideals in the last several weeks, but his latest foray into the sewers of rightwing ideology puts him at the very heart of strategies developed by George W. Bush's presidency. By embracing so-called faith-based public policies, Obama has aligned himself with the most rightwing forces in American society.

First, a brief history of what Bush called his "faith-based initiatives." Early in his presidency, Bush adopted two schemes developed by the Far Right Bradley Foundation, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. One would allow churches and other religious organizations to use public money to take over public services to the poor, while at the same time cutting funding to public sector services in disproportionately Black, poor constituencies. The other Bradley Foundation project that became Bush administration policy was to provide public funds to private schools, through vouchers. Many if not most of these schools would be run by churches.

Together, private school vouchers and church-based social services became the central domestic policies targeting Black America under President Bush. Vouchers and faith-based services were the Bush regime's tools of political outreach to African Americans. It would be more accurate to say that the two initiatives were designed to carve out a Black Republican constituency for Bush where none had previously existed, by offering billions of dollars in public funds to Black preachers. In a word, Bush would build a Black Republican base through bribery.

"Bush's lavish use of public funds to solicit greedy ministers created grave divisions among Black clergy."

To a large extent, it worked. Bush's faith-based initiatives and private school vouchers dangled unprecedented billions of dollars in the faces of the Black preacher class, and many were eager to cash in. The scheme was especially effective among previously nonpolitical Pentecostal clergy, many of whom suddenly became aggressively right-wing - in pursuit of federal dollars. It is widely believed that Bush garnered record-breaking numbers of Black votes in states like Ohio in 2004, based on mobilizations of Black ministers tied to faith-based Republican money. As should have been expected, Bush's lavish use of public funds to solicit greedy ministers created grave divisions among Black clergy, revealing a deep corruption in ministerial ranks.

Now Barack Obama has again shown himself to be a rank opportunist, eager to use George Bush's corrupt scheme for his own benefit, as he seeks to attract voters deep in right-wing circles. In the process, he will further the "split" in the Black church and the African American body politic as a whole, with the inevitable result that the progressive Black tradition will be battered and weakened. Once again, Obama has proven that he isn't about change - at least not change for the better. He has become a convert to Bush's kind of evangelism: bribery on a huge scale, under the guise of religious faith.

For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.

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