I reiterated to my interview guest that three Obama Administration appointees have expressed their appreciation for communism. Van Jones, the former “Green Jobs Czar,” was terminated by President Obama when it was discovered that Jones once identified himself as an “avowed communist,” and White House Communications Director Anita Dunn and “manufacturing czar” Ron Bloom have both expressed their fondness for the murderous dictator Mao Tse-Tung.
And then I asked my guest, “what do you and your colleagues make of this?”
My guest was Representative Walt Minnick, the first Democrat elected to Congress from the state of Idaho in roughly fifteen years. Personally and professionally, Mr. Minnick is a respected businessman in Idaho, and is highly regarded in the Boise community.
Politically speaking, Minnick is authentically a “moderate Democrat” (he identified himself as a “Blue Dog Democrat” on my program at Boise, Idaho’s 580 KIDO radio), and, he has frequently voted against his own party. I believe him to be a good man, and I probably have more agreements with him that I have differences.
I invited Congressman Minnick to appear on my program so as to address a variety of issues, mainly the on-going debate over healthcare legislation. On that topic, Minnick bristled at my reference to “nationalized healthcare,” and noted that some of the legislative proposals could prove fiscally disastrous. He then went on to articulate what was, generally speaking, a free-market oriented approach towards “reforming” the healthcare industry.
But I also wanted to know from this respected moderate Democrat what the Democratic Majority in the House – or Democrats anywhere else, for that matter – actually think and believe about this “communism” theme in the Obama White House. Do Democrats, generally, feel the same about communism as many of Obama’s associates apparently do? Is this the “hope” and “change” that a majority of Democrats envisioned for America’s future, as they rallied to elect Barack Obama last year?
For his part, Minnick’s response to my “communism” question was quite telling. After a second of silence, the Congressman assured me that he affirmed President Obama’s right to select whomever he (Obama) wanted to be his advisors; that some of the choices had been better than some of the others; and that, in any event, Obama is no advocate of communism himself. In fact, Minnick asserted passionately that Obama believes in our capitalist economic system – that Obama both grew up in American capitalism, and is one of American capitalism’s many success stories.
For the record, I said nothing during this interview about capitalism, nor did I ask about Obama and his upbringing. I merely raised a simple question about several Obama staffers and their apparent love for communism.
And it was the Congressman, himself, who responded by “defending” Obama, assuring us that our President was both raised in, and accepting of American-styled freedom.
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