Affirmative Action ruling triggers the Obamas

FPI / July 2, 2023

Following Thursday's Supreme Courts ruling which said it is unconstitutional to consider race in university admissions, Ivy League alumni Barack Obama and Michelle Obama were quick to jump on the outrage bandwagon while ducking the question of how they benefited from affirmative action.

Before the Left's messaging machine could get into gear, however, Justice Clarence Thomas delivered a powerful concurring opinion where he praised American exceptionalism, derided victimhood, and even took a shot at fellow Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson’s dissent.

Thomas wrote:

“The great failure of this country was slavery and its progeny. And, the tragic failure of this Court was its misinterpretation of the Reconstruction Amendments, as Justice Harlan predicted in Plessy. We should not repeat this mistake merely because we think, as our predecessors thought, that the present arrangements are superior to the Constitution.

“While I am painfully aware of the social and economic ravages which have befallen my race and all who suffer discrimination, I hold out enduring hope that this country will live up to its principles so clearly enunciated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States: that all men are created equal, are equal citizens, and must be treated equally before the law.”

Thomas saved his sharpest words for Justice Jackson, writing that the “race-infused world view falls flat at each step. Individuals are the sum of their unique experiences, challenges, and accomplishments. What matters is not the barriers they face, but how they choose to confront them. And their race is not to blame for everything — good or bad — that happens in their lives. A contrary, myopic world view based on individuals’ skin color to the total exclusion of their personal choices is nothing short of racial determinism.”

Thomas continued: “Jackson then builds from her faulty premise to call for action, arguing that courts should defer to ‘experts’ and allow institutions to discriminate on the basis of race. Make no mistake: Her dissent is not a vanguard of the innocent and helpless. It is instead a call to empower privileged elites, who will ‘tell us [what] is required to level the playing field’ among castes and classifications that they alone can divine…Then, after siloing us all into racial castes and pitting those castes against each other, the dissent somehow believes that we will be able — at some undefined point — to ‘march forward together’ into some utopian vision…Social movements that invoke these sorts of rallying cries, historically, have ended disastrously.”

Barack Obama only wrote three sentences about the ruling: "Like any policy, affirmative action wasn’t perfect. But it allowed generations of students like Michelle and me to prove we belonged. Now it’s up to all of us to give young people the opportunities they deserve — and help students everywhere benefit from new perspectives."

Michelle Obama wrote in a statement: “So often, we just accept that money, power, and privilege are perfectly justifiable forms of affirmative action, while kids growing up like I did are expected to compete when the ground is anything but level. So today, my heart breaks for any young person out there who’s wondering what their future holds — and what kinds of chances will be open to them.”

In 2008, The Gateway Pundit cited a Newsweek report where Michelle Obama's mother told the outlet she had trouble taking tests and that "Some of her teachers told her she didn’t have the grades or test scores to make it to the Ivies."

So, how did Michelle Obama make it to the Ivy League?

Her older brother, Craig Robinson, was the fourth-leading scorer in Princeton basketball history and a two-time Ivy League Player of the Year.

"A campaign spokeswoman says she had an edge getting into Princeton not because of affirmative action, but because her older brother was there as a scholar athlete," the 2008 report said.

Former President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post: "This is a great day for America. People with extraordinary ability and everything else necessary for success, including future greatness for our Country, are finally being rewarded. This is the ruling everyone was waiting and hoping for and the result was amazing. It will also keep us competitive with the rest of the world. Our greatest minds must be cherished and that’s what this wonderful day has brought. We’re going back to all merit-based — and that’s the way it should be!"

Joe Biden also seemed to speak about the court's decision, saying, multiple times: "Discrimination still exists in America."

Liberals reeling from Thursday's decision took another devastating blow on Friday when the Supreme Court struck down Biden's student loan forgiveness program.

The Obamas have not spoken on the court's student loan decision, but then both have paid off their student loans.

(Read the Supreme Court's Thursday ruling on affirmative action in full here.)

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