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Voting Rights Advocates Score a Huge Win in North Carolina

by Renate60Xaoeqq Posted on July 29, 2016

Mother Jones

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A federal appeals court struck down a restrictive voting law in North Carolina on Friday, ruling that the state legislature acted with the intent to limit African American voting in enacting the measure. The law, which took effect in March, contained provisions that created new ID requirements, eliminated same-day voter registration, reduced early voting by a week, blocked a law that allowed 16 and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote, and prevented ballots cast in the wrong precincts from being counted.

The law, originally passed in 2013 after the US Supreme Court gutted a key section of the Voting Rights Act, was immediately challenged by a lawsuit but was upheld at the district court level in April. Friday’s decision reverses the lower court’s ruling.

“In holding that the legislature did not enact the challenged provisions with discriminatory intent, the court seems to have missed the forest in carefully surveying the many trees,” wrote Judge Diana Gribbon Motz for the unanimous three-judge panel. “This failure of perspective led the court to ignore critical facts bearing on legislative intent, including the inextricable link between race and politics in North Carolina.”

The court’s decision notes that North Carolina’s law was initiated by state Republicans the day after the Supreme Court gutted a key portion of the Voting Rights Act in 2013. That decision, Shelby v. Holder, ruled that the mechanism used to determine which states needed pre-clearance for voting law changes due to a history of racial discrimination was outdated. This ruling cleared the way for states like North Carolina—which previously had to have all voting law and procedural changes reviewed by the US Department of Justice or a federal judge—to enact any voting changes they wished.

Marc Elias, one of the lawyers who fought the law on behalf of a group of younger voters in North Carolina, told Mother Jones Friday that the decision represented a strong rebuke of race-based voting legislation.

“The Fourth Circuit decision is a milestone in the protection of voting rights,” Elias said. “It is a great day for the citizens of North Carolina and those who care about voting rights. Significantly, the court put down an important marker against discrimination in voting when it wrote, ‘We recognize that elections have consequences, but winning an election does not empower anyone in any party to engage in purposeful racial discrimination.'”

Rick Hasen, a national expert on election law, wrote Friday that the decision reversed “the largest collection of voting rollbacks contained in a single law that I could find since the 1965 passage of the Voting Rights Act.” Hasen noted that this was the third major voting rights victory of the past two weeks. On July 19, a federal court weakened Wisconsin’s strict voter ID law; the next day, a panel of federal judges ruled that Texas’ strict voter ID law violated federal law.

The state of North Carolina could now seek to have the case reheard before the entire Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, or it could appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

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Voting Rights Advocates Score a Huge Win in North Carolina

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Sanders Delegates to Bernie: You’re Not the Boss of Me

by AmyPalacios Posted on July 27, 2016

Mother Jones

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At a press conference held on Tuesday by the Bernie Delegates Network, an outfit independent of the Sanders campaign, none of the speakers indicated they had any knowledge that dozens of Sanders delegates later that day would walk out of the convention, stage a sit-in in the media workspace, and join a protest mounted by Sanders supporters outside the Wells Fargo Center. On Wednesday morning, Karen Bernal, a Sanders delegate who co-chairs the large and boisterous Sanders delegation from California, explained how that demonstration transpired. It was an organic action, with Sanders delegates deciding spontaneously to express their discontentment with a dramatic gesture. The protest signaled that some Sanders delegates were not looking for unity and had rejected Sanders’ request that his delegates not stage such actions during the convention. The message from these delegates to Sanders: You’re not the boss of me.

At the Wednesday morning briefing conducted by the Bernie Delegate Network, it was clear that Sanders was not in full control of his delegates. The group noted that the previous day, it had polled the 1,846 Sanders delegates on two questions. The first query: Did listening to the speakers on the first night of the convention (which included Sanders, who made a strong pitch for Hillary Clinton) make you more or less enthusiastic about the Clinton-Tim Kaine ticket? Of the 311 delegates who responded, only one-fifth said the night had juiced them up. Fifty-five percent said they were less enthusiastic. The second question: How much had Sanders’ message—work for Clinton in order to stop Donald Trump and don’t disrupt the convention—influenced you? Of the 276 who responded to that query, 43 percent said considerably, 30 percent replied somewhat, and 27 percent said that Sanders’ request had no influence on them.

Put that all together and here’s the picture: There is a noisy and substantial portion—perhaps a minority—of Sanders delegates who do not want to go quietly into the good night of a Hillary-Rah-Rah convention. And they’re not listening to the guy who brought them—or whom they brought—to the party.

A pro-Clinton convention/infomercial is just too hard for these delegates to swallow. “They’re accustomed to healthy granola,” said Norman Solomon, a coordinator of the Bernie Delegates Network, “and they get into the convention and they hear puffy white bread. It’s a shock to their system.” It certainly did not ease any of their concerns, he pointed out, that Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a longtime pal of the Clintons, said on Tuesday night that he was sure that Hillary Clinton would reconsider her opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal if she were to become president. As Solomon noted, his group’s survey of Sanders delegates found that the opposing the TPP is their paramount issue.

Speaking at the Bernie Delegate Network, Bernal explained that the Sanders delegates spoiling for a fight—or a protest—at the convention are beyond Sanders’ control and are not an organized force. “No one organized yesterday’s quiet walk-out,” she said. “It was Occupy-style…It came together very organically in the most old-fashioned way. People were talking to one another.”

Bernal excoriated the Democratic establishment for not making room for the Sanders dissidents. “If you don’t allow for the space for that type of dissent within the party, you basically say we don’t have a place for you in the party,” she said. As a leader of the California Sanders delegation, she added, she could not rein in the protesters even if she wanted to (which she does not). “It is not a top-down affair,” she said. “We feel that we are not willing to go along with being extras in a scripted production.”

The delegates who walked, she said, were upset by the Kaine pick and remain angry about numerous slights directed at the Sanders crowd by the Democratic powers that be. “We’re still fighting an establishment orthodoxy we have pledged to fight against,” Bernal explained. “This is our one shot of doing that. We’re doing what we were elected to do.”

Solomon and Bernal both said they accept Sanders’ analysis that Trump must be defeated and that means Sanders people should support Clinton. Asked whether walk-outs and protests during the convention are in sync with this mission of thwarting Trump, Bernal responded with a long explanation about how the Democratic Party must respect and incorporate the Sanders wing:

It is a big experiment. The Democratic Party is being tested with our actions on how they will respond…We don’t start out with a plan of agreement. If you’re negotiating with an adversary…you don’t start out with below your bottom line…If they don’t provide that kind of space, the rank-and-file Bernie delegates say there is no place in this party for me.

Sanders has declared that he and his delegates did succeed in winning victories during the deliberations over the party platform and the party rules governing future presidential contests. Yet Bernal said she and other delegates were still upset that they lost platform fights on several matters: fracking, single-payer health care, TPP, and Middle East policy. And she was not satisfied with the rules change that will diminish the influence of superdelegates in future elections. She explained passionately that it was hard for many Sanders delegates to sit through the roll-call vote the previous night that included superdelegate votes that heavily favored Clinton and “skewed” the overall count. The roll call, she said, “spat in the faces” of the Sanders delegates.

Repeatedly, Bernal noted that a slice of Sanders delegates will not heed Sanders. “Sanders has a job to do,” she said. “He’s in a difficult position. We have a different job.” But, she added, she thinks that Sanders is actually delighted to see delegates upset the order of the convention. “I have to believe that deep down, secretly, he’s happy about some things,” she said. He had the motto during the campaign: ‘Not me, us.’ And some of the Bernie delegates have taken this to heart.”

A reporter asked Bernal if Sanders had started a fire that he no longer controls. She quickly replied, “He was never in control of it.” She then added, “We haven’t gotten much instruction from the Sanders campaign at all. And that silence speaks volumes.”

Yet Sanders, with his direct messages to his delegates and his speech to the convention, has been clear that he wants his base to join the party to elect Clinton. But Bernal shows that there is a band of Sanders delegates who embraced his crusade but who now believe they have a better strategy than he does. She said she had no idea what this group might do on the final nights of the convention. (Will they disrupt Kaine’s address on Wednesday night? There could be disorder. Or maybe not.) Their version of the Bernie revolution is not organized at this moment. The Sanders campaign empowered them, and now they are using that power on their own.

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Sanders Delegates to Bernie: You’re Not the Boss of Me

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Trump asks Russia For Help Beating Hillary Clinton

by jaymegrover9 Posted on July 27, 2016

Mother Jones

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Donald Trump reaches out to his buddy Vladimir Putin for help:

Just another day in Trumpland.

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Trump asks Russia For Help Beating Hillary Clinton

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Prosecutors Drop All Remaining Charges Against Officers in Freddie Gray Case

by AOZSilkepxfuwi Posted on July 27, 2016

Mother Jones

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Maryland prosecutors announced Wednesday morning that they are dropping all charges against three officers still awaiting trial for their involvement in the death of Freddie Gray, bringing to an unsuccessful close a legal saga that has become a focal point for the Black Lives Matter movement. The decision comes after a judge acquitted three other officers of all charges and the trial of a fourth officer ended in a mistrial. Gray died after suffering a spinal cord injury during a ride in the back of a police van last April.

Prosecutors announced the decision in a pre-trial hearing for Baltimore police officer Garrett Miller, who would have been the fourth of six officers to stand trial on charges related to Gray’s death. The case that ended in a mistrial in December, against officer William Porter, was due for another hearing, and charges were also pending against Sergeant Alicia White. Charges against all three are being dropped.

Judge Barry Williams acquitted officers Edward Nero, Caesar Goodson, and Brian Rice in May, June, and July, respectively. Several officers have sued Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby for defamation, claiming she damaged their reputations by prosecuting officers in the case on what they say is little evidence.

Legal experts had speculated that the prosecution would be a tough one for Mosby, and her decision to bring charges against all six officers involved in Gray’s arrest and transport last April was seen as a bold move. She received criticism for what some observers called an apparent bias against the officers. “I hear your calls for ‘no justice, no peace,'” she told Black Lives Matter protesters at a press conference announcing charges against the six officers last May. At the Republican National Convention last week, audience members cheered as Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke criticized the “malicious prosecution of activist State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby.”

Throughout the earlier trials, prosecutors argued that officers had acted negligently and ignored their training by failing to buckle Gray’s seatbelt after placing him in the back of a police van, handcuffed and shackled at the legs—a situation that ultimately resulted in his death. In explaining his rulings, Judge Williams repeatedly said prosecutors had failed to present sufficient evidence that officers intentionally sought to harm Gray. The decision to drop charges would appear to be a concession by prosecutors that their evidence would likely not have produced convictions had these three remaining cases gone to trial.

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Prosecutors Drop All Remaining Charges Against Officers in Freddie Gray Case

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Don’t Expect Bill Clinton to Follow the Script Tonight

by RobbinNunes3 Posted on July 26, 2016

Mother Jones

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Former President Bill Clinton will address the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night, and if history is any indication, expect him to go off script. Like, a lot. Four years ago, the aspiring First Man ad-libbed much of his speech endorsing President Barack Obama, forcing the teleprompter to freeze for minutes at a time as he skillfully walked the audience through Obama’s economic agenda. Clinton’s real-time edits, viewed alongside the original text, displayed a keen editorial sense of what works and what doesn’t.

But Clinton is also a hands-on editor when it comes to drafting his remarks too. Old presidential records at the Clinton Library offer a behind-the-scenes look at how Clinton (and his speechwriters) composed major addresses during his administration, scribbling in the margins in ballpoint pen and often rewriting long passages by hand. Incidentally, one of the best examples in the collection is a convention speech—from the 1996 convention in Chicago. That’s the one Clinton delivered the famous line, “I still believe in a place called America.”

You can read his full markup starting below:

dc.embed.loadNote(‘//www.documentcloud.org/documents/2998898-Clinton96speech/annotations/310273.js’);

View note

The meat of the speech, full of policy details—including a defense of his welfare reform law—received a lighter editing touch. But Clinton zeroed in on the opening, offering a blizzard of tweaks:

dc.embed.loadNote(‘//www.documentcloud.org/documents/2998898-Clinton96speech/annotations/310279.js’);

View note

And continued with a series of re-writes on the second page:

dc.embed.loadNote(‘//www.documentcloud.org/documents/2998898-Clinton96speech/annotations/310280.js’);

View note

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Don’t Expect Bill Clinton to Follow the Script Tonight

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Bernie Delegates Ease Up on Protest Plans

by IvaGabbard Posted on July 26, 2016

Mother Jones

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On Monday afternoon, Bernie Sanders sent a message to his delegates requesting that they not disrupt the convention by mounting protests inside the Wells Fargo Center. He followed up that evening, on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention, with a forceful speech declaring that to advance the progressive revolution he has championed, his supporters should work fervently to elect Hillary Clinton. Now the Sanders delegates who came to Philadelphia disappointed, angry, and looking to express their dissatisfaction with Clinton, the Democratic Party, and the whole damn political process are grappling with what to do.

On Monday, some Sanders delegates appeared to be looking for a fight. Organizers of the Bernie Delegates Network—an outfit independent of the Sanders campaign—talked of convention floor protests or walkouts and even the possibility of nominating a vice presidential candidate to challenge Tim Kaine, whom some Sanders supporters view as too centrist. Sanders delegates at breakfast meetings jeered Clinton. And when Sanders addressed his delegates that afternoon and urged them to support Clinton against Trump, he was met with a wall of loud boos and seemed unnerved by the fierce reaction.

But by Tuesday morning, there was a shift. Clinton delegates reported that the anti-Clinton mood of many Sanders delegates had seemed to soften. Mitch Cesar, a Democratic Party official in Florida and a Clinton delegate, recalled, “I watched the Bernie people’s reaction very carefully as the evening went on, with Michelle Obama, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie speeches. There was a slow warming. I saw the Bernie delegates becoming more energized and enthusiastic in reacting to Clinton. It was incremental but continuous. It’s a process. And we’re just looking for progress.” And though some Sanders delegates had booed references to Clinton at the start of the day’s proceedings, the booing did diminish over the course of the first night.

At a Tuesday morning briefing held by the Bernie Delegates Network, no one was discussing protests or walkouts. Norman Solomon, the co-chair of the group, told reporters that an effort to challenge Kaine had failed after a Sanders supporter went to a Democratic National Committee office in search of the forms needed to file such a challenge and was not provided with the necessary paperwork. He claimed the DNC had thwarted this move in an unfair manner. Solomon said the anti-Kaine Sanders delegates had recruited a known “genuine progressive” to run against Kaine in what he acknowledged would be a symbolic endeavor. But Solomon refused to identify this progressive. Reporters protested that he was not being transparent. But Solomon insisted that the progressive who had offered to take on Kaine had agreed to do so on the condition that he or she would remain anonymous until it was clear this challenge could actually occur.

The press conference grew a bit heated, as incredulous reporters pressed Solomon for the name and he insisted the issue was “moot” due to the supposed DNC shenanigans. At one point, a reporter requested that Solomon text the person and ask if he could disclose his or her name. Solomon and his fellow Sanders delegates at the event did not identify any other organized actions that Sanders delegates might conduct to express their discontent with Kaine, Clinton, or the Democratic Party. But one delegate from New Mexico, Teva Gabis-Levine, who is a whip for his state’s Sanders delegation, noted that on Monday when he received instructions from the Sanders campaign to tamp down the booing, he did not pass that guidance to his delegation. He said he wanted Sanders delegates to “speak their mind as they see fit.”

At the event, Donna Smith, executive director of Progressive Democrats of America and a Sanders supporter, said she couldn’t stop crying during Sanders’ convention speech: “There’s a great deal of heartbreak surrounding listening to Bernie Sanders…A feeling of a moment history passed.” She asserted that there remained a need to allow Sanders delegates to “have a voice.” Though Sanders and pro-Sanders speakers at the convention noted that they had achieved concessions from the Clinton campaign in drafting a progressive platform and implementing a rules change lessening the influence of superdelegates, Solomon contended that the Clinton camp and the DNC has not done enough to achieve party unity: “The onus rests in the hands of Hillary Clinton and the DNC.” But he did not present options for the Sanders delegates.

Smith and Solomon did note that Sanders was right regarding the threat posed by Trump. “It’s essential to defeat Donald Trump,” Solomon said. But it appeared that he and Smith—and perhaps other Sanders backers—are having a tough time resolving what may be conflicting impulses: how to continue the Sanders’s anti-establishment revolution while supporting the establishment candidate who can keep Trump out of the White House. As Solomon said of Sanders, “he’s making the best of the box he’s in.”

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Bernie Delegates Ease Up on Protest Plans

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Video: Rep. Alan Grayson Freaks Out on Politico Reporter

by TeodoroFuhrmann Posted on July 26, 2016

Mother Jones

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Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) clashed with a Politico reporter following a DNC event in Philadelphia on Tuesday afternoon, threatening to report the journalist to the Capitol Police and saying he hoped the reporter would be arrested. Grayson, currently running for the Democratic Senate nomination in Florida, had shown up to an event on tech in politics hosted in Politico‘s DNC event space, sitting in the front row, on the very same day that the publication published a detailed examination of a history of domestic-abuse allegations leveled against Grayson by his ex-wife.

Following the event, Politico reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere tried to question Grayson about the article, and things quickly turned hostile.

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Video: Rep. Alan Grayson Freaks Out on Politico Reporter

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Those Freedom Kids Who Performed at a Donald Trump Rally Are About to Sue Him

by CandiceKauper Posted on July 26, 2016

Mother Jones

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Back in January, a trio of young girls known as the “USA Freedom Kids” performed at a Donald Trump rally in Pensacola, Florida. The routine, which involved the girls whirling in flashy American-flag dresses and singing a song that denounced the other presidential candidates as sworn enemies, was roundly mocked on social media, where viewers likened the video to performances honoring North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

Now Jeff Popick, the creator behind the patriotic trio and father of the youngest member in the group, says he plans to sue Trump, alleging his campaign violated several verbal agreements and subsequently stiffed the group of proper monetary compensation.

From the Washington Post:

It started in Pensacola. When Popick first reached out to the Trump campaign about performing, he spoke with various people including former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. His understanding from the campaign was that the Kids would make two appearances in Florida, where Popick lives. The first event didn’t come to fruition, and Popick says he asked for $2,500 in payment for the second performance, in Pensacola. The campaign made a counter-offer: How about a table where the group could pre-sell albums?

According to Popick, no table ever showed up—and the incident was the first of a series of broken promises and unreturned phone calls that went on all the way to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. There, Trump’s team allegedly offered Popick a consolation prize and promised that the girls could perform because of all the previous disappointments. That performance never materialized either and now he says he’s planning to file suit. He wouldn’t specify how much he’d sue for, but he explained that it wasn’t a “billion-dollar lawsuit” and suggested a performance at a Trump venue similar to the RNC one could also work.

“He might still be the best candidate as president of the United States—or not,” Popick told the Post.

Popick’s experience fits squarely with the narrative of many others who say they were ripped off by the real estate magnate for a variety of broken contracts. For more, head to our regular feature “The Trump Files.“

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Those Freedom Kids Who Performed at a Donald Trump Rally Are About to Sue Him

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Bernie Feels the Bern of His Anti-Clinton Delegates

by CyrilKNFxe Posted on July 25, 2016

Mother Jones

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On Monday afternoon in a cavernous ballroom at the Philadelphia Convention Center, Bernie Sanders delivered a rousing speech to the nearly 1,900 delegates backing his late presidential bid. He hit all the thematic high points of his campaign: end big-money politics, restore the middle class, stop trade agreements, continue the revolution. And his supporters cheered wildly for their man. But when Sanders told them that they must now band together to defeat the “bigotry” of Donald Trump by electing Hillary Clinton, he was drowned out by a chorus of boos and anti-Clinton chants. Just hours before the official opening of the convention, Bernie Nation was not willing to follow Sanders’ lead on this key point.

Sanders spoke after speeches by some of his biggest backers, including rapper Killer Mike, former NAACP President Ben Jealous, and actress Rosario Dawson. When Dawson mentioned Clinton, the room broke into loud boos. Dawson told the crowd that Clinton “is not a leader, she is a follower.”

When he spoke, the senator from Vermont made the case that his presidential campaign had been a historic success and that it would continue to be a vehicle for political revolution. Volunteers handed out registration forms for Sanders supporters to hold organizing meetups in late August, to kick off a new step in this progressive crusade. Sanders received big cheers when he praised his supporters’ contributions to what he called “by far the most progressive platform ever written” and an ovation when he noted the departure of Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, which he suggested might open up an opportunity for a more Bernie-friendly leadership in the party.

But when he tried to rally the delegates on behalf of Clinton, his audience became restless. “Immediately, right now, we have got to defeat Donald Trump, and we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine,” Sanders said. His delegates shouted their protests and booed, forcing Sanders to pause before continuing in his remarks. Sanders called Trump a “bully and a demagogue” who “has made bigotry the core of his campaign.” Still, the boos continued. “She does too!” delegates shouted. Others yelled, “Only you! Only you!”

Sanders declared that Trump poses a danger to the country’s future, but he could not win over the crowd. “She has ruined communities!” one woman shouted. “She has ruined countries!” Sanders pointed out that Trump “does not respect the Constitution of the United States.” Delegates kept on chanting: “Not with her!” and “We want Bernie!”

Sanders did not confront the booing delegates directly. He did not use this opportunity to address their anger and disappointment. He looked a bit surprised by the intensity of the Clinton opposition. He moved ahead with his prepared speech. After he was done—and the crowd had chanted, “Thank you, Bernie!”—Mother Jones asked Sanders three times what he thought about his delegates fiercely booing Clinton. He did not respond and quickly left the ballroom.

Afterward, Sanders delegates and supporters discussed the widespread booing of Clinton and whether they could follow Sanders’ guidance. Several said they could not bring themselves to vote for her. “She’s no better than Trump,” said one delegate, who wouldn’t provide her name.

Angela Valdes, a 37-year-old small-business owner from Portland, Oregon, who is a Sanders representative on the convention’s credentials committee, said she was nowhere close to supporting Clinton. “It is all about honesty and integrity,” Valdes said. “She has to come clean first.” Come clean on what issues? “Oh,” she remarked, “there are too many to list.” But Valdes left open the possibility that Sanders might be able to persuade her to vote for Clinton by November.

Other delegates acknowledged that Sanders was right that Clinton must win at the end of the day but said that protests against her this week in Philadelphia were worthwhile. Such actions, Elizabeth Davis, a North Carolina delegate, said, would “keep it fresh” for Clinton that she needs Sanders’ supporters to win.

So how much will Sanders do to persuade his delegates to follow his advice? In this appearance, he didn’t go beyond his prepared remarks. And Aisha Dew, a whip for the North Carolina Sanders delegation, said she has not heard anything from the Sanders campaign regarding the actions delegates should take. Earlier in the day, at a Florida delegation breakfast, Sanders offered no instructions on how delegates might conduct themselves on the floor of the convention this week.

After Sanders departed the convention center, his campaign manager Jeff Weaver remained as delegates milled about and wondered what would be next for them at the convention. What about the booing of Clinton? he was asked. “Oh,” he said, with a tone of nonchalance, “people will come around.”

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Bernie Feels the Bern of His Anti-Clinton Delegates

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18 Great Trends of the Obama Administration—And 2 Terrible Ones

by LutherA26ixxrez Posted on July 25, 2016

Mother Jones

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So how has the country been doing during President Obama’s term in office? Here’s a scattering of indicators and how they’ve changed from 2008 (the last year of the Bush presidency) to now:

  1. Unemployment rate (U3): DOWN from 5.8 percent to 4.7 percent.
  2. Underemployment rate (U6): DOWN from 10.6 percent to 9.6 percent.
  3. Violent crime rate (per 100,000 residents): DOWN from 459 to 366.
  4. Fear of crime: DOWN from 37 percent to 35 percent.
  5. Uninsured rate: DOWN from 19.7 percent to 10.3 percent.
  6. Number of illegal immigrants: DOWN from 11.8 million to 11.3 million.
  7. Illegal immigrants from Mexico: DOWN from 6.6 million to 5.6 million.
  8. Teen pregnancy rate (per thousand females): DOWN from 40 to 25.
  9. Current account balance (trade deficit): DOWN from 4.6 percent of GDP to 2.3 percent of GDP.
  10. American war deaths: DOWN from 469 to 28.
  11. Inflation rate: DOWN from 3.8 percent to 1.1 percent.
  12. Shootings of police officers: DOWN from 149 to 120.
  13. Abortion rate (per thousand women): DOWN from 19 to 16.9 (through 2011).
  14. Federal deficit: DOWN from 3.1 percent of GDP to 2.5 percent of GDP.
  15. Drug abuse: DOWN from 22.4 million to 21.6 million (through 2013).
  16. Drug abuse among teenagers: DOWN from 7.7 million to 5.2 million (through 2013).
  17. Household debt (as percent of disposable income): DOWN from 12.8 percent to 10 percent.
  18. Public high school graduation rate: UP from 74 percent to 82 percent (through 2013).

I’m not presenting this stuff because I think it will change anyone’s mind. Nor because Obama necessarily deserves credit for all of them. You can decide that for yourself. It’s mostly just to get it on the record. And it’s worth noting that none of this may matter in the face of two other statistics that might be more important than all the rest put together:

  1. Median household income: DOWN from $55,313 to $53,657 (through (2014).
  2. Americans killed in terror attacks: UP from 14 to 50+ (so far in 2016).

If you measure household income more broadly, it looks better than the raw Census figures. And household income has finally started increasing over the past couple of years. On the terror front, the absolute number of American fatalities from terrorist attacks is obviously very small. Still, the number of brutal attacks in the US and Europe (the only ones Americans care about) has obviously spiked considerably over the past year.

Are these two things enough to outweigh everything else? Maybe. Come back in November and I’ll tell you.

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18 Great Trends of the Obama Administration—And 2 Terrible Ones

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