Obama's Statement of His View of Wealth-Redistribution Before He Arrived in the U.S. Senate.

Gary North

November 5, 2008

This was recorded in 2001. Hooray for YouTube!

You may have seen this already. I offer a new take on it.

That Obama is in favor of Federal wealth distribution comes as no surprise. But notice how guarded his language is. He speaks like a lawyer. That's because he is one.

This man is not a revolutionary. He is a radical, but a radical of a special kind. He is a follower of Saul Alinsky. I first studied Alinsky's methods 25 years ago. He avoided violence. He analyzed the weakness of the opposition and then exploited this in a nonviolent way. He was a disciple of Gandhi's political methods.

Obama has mimicked Alinsky. He avoids direct confrontations. He avoided every vote in the U.S. Senate that might have created too much controversy.

He will push his agenda, but the key will be Nancy Pelosi. She will be the ramrod. Without her, he could not achieve much. He is no Franklin Roosevelt, another lawyer.

Obama has been vetted by the Powers That Be. The process began at Harvard Law School. This is the major institution for screening the best and the brightest who did not go to an Ivy League school. He passed the test. He was not a threat to the system. He was a team player when he was editor of the Harvard Law Review, the crown jewel in a Harvard Law School degree. He appointed one radical to the Board of Editors and three Federalist Society members.

He will be cautious. If things go well, he will be too cautious. The Los Angeles Times has referred to this.

He wants a middle-class tax cut. I do, too. He wants to hike the capital gains tax from 15% (which expires in 2010) to 20%, minimum. That is a mistake. It taxes capital. It is bad for the economy. But he has the votes if he pushes this. I think he will. In any case, he need only do nothing to get a rate hike in 2010.