Donald Trump has offered President Barack Obama $5 million to
the charity of his choice if Obama opens his college records. Obama
has until 5:00 Wednesday afternoon to respond. Trump should expect
nothing. Not only does Obama not want us to see those records, but
he could care less about the $5 million in charity. Obama, after
all, gives very little to charity. For Obama,
like many liberals, “charity” is forced
government redistribution; they coerce money from the likes of
Trump (and those of far lesser incomes) to be redirected to others
with less money — from the
makers to the takers.
A telling illustration of Obama’s personal lack of charity is
the situation with his half brother, George Obama. George is
interviewed in
Dinesh D’Souza’s film “2016: Obama’s
America.” As D’Souza shows graphically, George lives in a shanty
house in Nairobi, Kenya, surviving on a few dollars a month.
George apparently took a liking to D’Souza. Remarkably, he
recently phoned D’Souza from Kenya. It was an emergency. Obama’s
brother needed
healthcare. He explained to D’Souza that
his child was in the hospital, ailing from a “chest condition.” He
needed a quick $1,000 for the medical bills.
“Since George was at the hospital I asked him to let me speak to
a nurse,” says D’Souza, “and she confirmed that George’s son was
indeed ill.” D’Souza immediately sent the money via Western
Union.
And here’s the kicker: As D’Souza relates, “Before I hung up, I
asked George, ‘Why are you coming to me?’ He said, ‘I have no
one else to ask.’ Then he said something that astounded me,
‘Dinesh, you are like a brother to me.’”
That’s touching. In fact, however, Dinesh D’Souza is not a
brother to George Obama. Barack Obama is. And Obama is a
millionaire. Why didn’t George go to his real brother for support?
Better, why doesn’t Obama go to him?
But, alas, there’s more. This whole sorry thing is actually even
worse. Consider:
As president, Barack Obama has not been shy about invoking his
faith — and with no protest from liberals
who went wild every time George W. Bush even mentioned
God. Obama has invoked his faith in support of
everything from “Obamacare” to
gay marriage. Most of all, Obama constantly
uses the phrase “my brother’s keeper.” It has become the signature
line for
his public expression of faith. My colleague,
Dr.
Gary Smith, author of the authoritative Faith
and the Presidency: From George Washington to George W. Bush,
reports that Obama has used the phrase 57 times. The
Presidential Papers reveal 17 instances of Obama using the
phrase over the last 12 months, 11 of them at fundraisers.
“I am my brother’s keeper,” said President Obama in Atlanta
recently. “Each of us is only here because somebody somewhere was
looking out for us. It started in the family, but it wasn’t just
the immediate family…. Our story has never been about what we can
do alone. It’s what we do together.”
For Obama, this is
an exhortation to help one another, from
our literal brothers to our brothers in the wider community and
world.
To be sure, the “brother’s keeper” passage is an odd choice. It
comes from the Old Testament remark of Cain after he murdered his
brother Abel. God asks Cain where his brother is. Cain replies, “Am
I my brother’s keeper?”
It is a bad moment. Given the roots of the phrase — the first
murder, of a sibling no less — it’s a strange formulation for
making the case of helping our brother, or our neighbor, or the
needy. A phrase like “love thy neighbor,” a favorite of George W.
Bush, is far more preferable, and certainly derived from an
infinitely better source.
But here’s the kicker:
Who is Obama’s brother’s keeper? That is, who is George Obama’s
keeper? Well, it certainly isn’t Barack Obama. Lately, it’s Dinesh
D’Souza. Or, more specifically, it’s all of us, you and me —
everyone but Barack Obama.
For those who find this hypocritical of Obama, they should
understand it’s actually not all that inconsistent. Barack Obama is
from the “social
justice” Religious Left (see
here,
here, and
here). Many religious liberals link
“compassion” and even “charity” not to individual action but
government action. Obviously, that’s totally
misguided.
The parable of the
Good Samaritan is an excellent
illustration. Consider: What did the Good Samaritan do when he
encountered the wounded traveler? He picked him up, treated him,
transported him, paid the innkeeper, and pledged to follow up. He
gave his own time and resources. Note that he didn’t shout for
governing authorities to come help the wounded traveler. Certainly,
Jesus didn’t employ the parable as a call for a single federal
collective
to handle all poverty.
Really, Barack Obama’s ignoring of his brother’s plight is no
surprise. Obama’s view of social justice is based not on personal
charity but big government and wealth distribution. He favors what
the late economist Hans Sennholz called “the Transfer Society.” And
so, he’s pushing the problem of his brother to the rest of us.
Obama sees us as his brother’s keeper. We are the
ones expected to help Obama’s brother. You are Obama’s
brother’s keeper.
And so, Donald Trump can expect his Wednesday afternoon deadline
to pass in dead silence. His offer provides no incentive to Barack
Obama. I suggest that Trump instead donate the money to the
families of the victims of the Benghazi attack — or to a
healthcare fund for Obama’s brother, George. After all, Mr. Trump,
you, too, are Obama’s brother’s keeper.
