It’s bad enough that the plan some liberals envisioned for adding Barack Obama’s kisser to Mt. Rushmore never materialized, save for a rough draft using sand as the medium at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
But now the unkindest cut of all comes with the news that his adoptive home state, Illinois, has voted down a measure to make his birthday a state holiday.
According to the Associated Press via CBS News:
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Legislation to make the 44th president’s Aug. 4th birthday a state holiday fell six votes short Tuesday. Chicago Democratic Rep. Sonya Harper says it would honor a man who adopted Chicago as his home and served in the Illinois State Senate.
But Rep. Steven Andersson of Geneva suggested it be honorary. The Republican floor leader says even Mr. Obama wouldn’t want the cash-strapped state to give state workers another paid day off.
Considering the size of Obama’s ego, I wouldn’t lay money on that supposition.
As for the vote, which came out 54 to 47, Obama should feel rightly dissed, in view of all he did for his home state during his presidency. His unrelenting attack on law enforcement almost certainly had an impact on the rampant lawlessness and increase in gun violence in Chicago. By his last year in office, the murder rate had soared to 762 as compared with 459 in his first year.
He also presided over a dramatic rise in unemployment in the Windy City, which reached 12.6% by 2010.
At least not all is lost. The procedure used by the House allows another vote later. Besides, in the meantime, a plaque designating the spot in Hyde Park where Obama and his future wife exchanged their first kiss was dedicated in 2012.
