Obama’s Precarious Double Reform

In 1850, in a hut of the Friendfield Plantation on the outskirts of Georgetown, South Carolina, the black slave Jim Robinson, whose parents were taken from Africa, was born. His life as a slave was hard. In the summer, he had to fight with mosquitoes and searing heat, and in winter deal with the harsh cold. His family of two lived in a space a horse cart could barely fit into. He did back-breaking labor from dawn to dusk.

Although in 1863 Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, little changed. Robinson and his son could not escape illiteracy. Robinson was, however, clever. He made his grandchildren frequently read the newspaper. His foresight came into fruition four generations down the line, with the birth of his great-great-granddaughter Michelle. While the wall of discrimination was still high, one thing had changed: the opportunity for education. Having graduated from Princeton University, Michelle went on to go to Harvard Law School and became a lawyer.

The story above is the family history of First Lady Michelle Obama as reported by CNN. It was the Obamas who first sought to find Michelle’s family roots during last year’s presidential election. What they found was not a pretty past, but one that could not be erased. The message Obama sought to send with his wife’s family history was the importance of education. Regardless of how strong the grip of racial discrimination is, education can conquer it. Obama himself is a living witness. It was education that put him back on track after using drugs and alcohol to deal with his inner racial turmoil. This is why his education reform received full support from the American people.

Recently his push for reform seems increasingly unstable. Reforming education alone is tough, but he is also tackling healthcare. American healthcare is infamous around the world. It is difficult for a poor person to get care at a hospital, even when close to death. Obama thinks that is why poverty and discrimination are inherited. He is trying this time for a complete overhaul of the health care system. The plan is for the government to introduce universal coverage. For the low-income class, this is welcomed news.

Yet between ideals and reality there is a chasm: money. The situation is even more difficult because the U.S. in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis. Astronomical sums of money have already been spent to save financial and automobile companies. There is no way the government coffers are in good shape. In such a situation, the next step seems clear: pick the pockets of the rich. That is the reason the Obama administration recently proposed a ‘tax bomb’ on the rich—specifically, the plan is to wring $544 billion from the richest 1.2 percent of the population in income taxes over the next 10 years.

Obama and the Democratic Party leadership clamor that 98.8 percent of the population do not need to pay any more taxes. The moment Obama divides the haves and the have-nots, he might lose something more important—the leadership of unity. Even now, the drop in his ratings is apparent. It is difficult to change the world in one fell swoop. In my opinion, just having the American public education system produce a second or third person like Obama may be enough to make him a successful president.