06 Jan 2015 Pulling Back the Curtain on Sharpton’s Activism and Obama’s Regulations

The following post was written by National Center staff member Bethany Whitlock:

It seems that Al Sharpton and President Barack Obama’s true colors are coming out – revealing that neither of them are really who they have pretended to be.  As National Center executive director David Almasi said in a recent interview, however, “It’s not something we haven’t seen before” with others from the liberal wing of American politics.

David appeared during the first segment of the 1/5/14 edition of “The Rick Amato Show” on the One America News Network.  Leading into the segment, Amato made an interesting comment: “Racism pays off.”

In his interview, David explained what Amato meant, saying:

The New York Post printed an article where they talked about how [Al Sharpton] was getting money from… a plethora of America companies, and sometimes there appears to be a quid pro quo – other times it seems that they’re paying him off to get the protests to stop.

While the intention behind the rallies, protests and other civil disobedience acts may have been for a real cause, the Post report indicated, the goal of Al Sharpton and his supporters differed.

As Project 21 member Lawrence B. Jones said last December: “Al Sharpton seems to have one agenda, and that’s garnering money and influence for himself within the liberal establishment.”

Obama also seems to be showing the public who he really is when it comes to regulations.  As he approaches the end of his presidency, he told NPR that he sounded somewhat liberated from campaign duties and free from political obligation to colleagues seeking reelection during an interview with NPR.  As a result, it  appearsobvious that he plans to spend the next two years pursuing a policy of regulating, using his pen for executive orders and making phone calls in pursuit of policy regardless of Congress.

But David said this strategy may still come at a political price over the long-term for other liberal politicians.  He explained:

[Obama] can be the radical leftist that he’s always wanted to be, because he doesn’t have any politicians that he really feels beholden to anymore… He does that at his peril, at least for his political party, because someone’s going to be running in 2016 to replace him, [who] will have to deal with his legacy…

The new regulatory burdens that David noted include coal emissions, water and property rights, e-cigarettes and tobacco products and crude oil transported by train.  Ironically, Warren Buffett, one of Obama’s staunchest allies, has a substantial investment in the freight train industry. In 2010 Berkshire Hathaway bought out Burlington Northern Sante Fe LLC, the second largest railroad network in North America.

Unfortunately, 2015 is shaping up to be an expensive year for businesses in America, and a disappointing one for those true believers participating in Al Sharpton’s crusades.