Obama's Redistribution: What Did Frank Marshall Davis Say?

By Paul Kengor

Given my book on Barack Obama's communist mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, I'm regularly asked whether the latest Obama statement -- on economics, on wealth, on business, on the middle class, etc. -- rings of Davis. Invariably, yes, it does. Not surprisingly, I'm being asked just that in regard to the new Obama statement on "redistribution," which has just emerged in a tape recording from 1998. Does that statement likewise smack of Frank Marshall Davis? Yes, no question. For starters, Davis, a literal card-carrying member of Communist Party USA, believed in wealth redistribution. That's a central tenet of the communist faith. Generally, Davis, like Obama, favored wealth redistribution from so-called greedy "corporations" to fund "health insurance" and "public works projects" (Davis's words). Davis advocated government stimulus to rescue America from (allegedly) another Great Depression. Like Obama, he supported large-scale government wealth redistribution to keep America's economy (and unemployment) from getting worse. Beyond that, Davis blasted big business, Wall Street, banks, big oil, "excess profits," "corporate profits" and "fat contracts," "millionaires," and.... (Read Full Article)