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Now this show that O can really relate to the hardship many in the working are facing.SUCH COMPASSION!

At the annual White House Easter Egg Roll this week, President Obama decided to shoot some hoops with the kids. He wound up going 2 for 22.

The abysmal field-goal percentage — 9 percent — would get him hooted out of any neighborhood rec center. Yet even that paltry percentage is better than Obama’s shooting rate for victims of federal budget cuts. They get only 5 percent from the president.

Federal workers face unpaid furloughs because of the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration. That’s a serious economic hardship for many middle-class families, and whether or not Obama intended for it to happen, it’s a direct result of a bill he signed into law.

And so the White House announced that Obama, “to share in the sacrifice being made by public servants,” would return 5 percent of his salary to the Treasury. The gesture, matched by several Cabinet members, was meant to be roughly the same percentage by which domestic agencies are being cut. But the amount — $20,000 of his $400,000 salary — is so little for a man made wealthy by his political fame that it comes across as patronizing.

Obama and his wife reported income of $8 million in his first three years in office, largely from royalties on his memoirs, which were best-sellers because of his political fame. And the Obamas will soon go from rich to filthy rich. Bill Clinton earned $89 million in speaking fees in his first 11 years out of the White House, according to an analysis of disclosures done last year by CNN. Clinton received an average of $189,000 per appearance — a record that Obama will be in a good position to match after his presidency ends.

For a man worth millions and soon to be worth tens of millions of dollars, $20,000 is not much of a sacrifice.

This should matter a great deal more than jump shots for Obama, who won reelection largely by beating Mitt Romney in the empathy department. In exit polls for the 2012 election, people who said they were primarily voting for the person who “cares about people like me” chose Obama over Romney, 81.2 percent to 17.6 percent. Obama lost among voters who were primarily seeking the traits of “strong leader,” “vision for the future” and somebody who “shares my values.”

Certainly, sequester insensitivity isn’t Obama’s problem alone. House Republicans championed legislation that would have cut off pay to members of Congress if they didn’t pass a budget, but there has been little sentiment to share in the sequester pain. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, whose net worth was put last year at $26 million or more, said that taking a pay cut wouldn’t “respect the work we do” and was beneath “the dignity of the job.” There’s no word on whether House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid or Vice President Biden will join in the sacrifice.

There are a few exceptions, including the admirable case of Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a first-term congresswoman and a double-amputee from the Iraq war. She’s cutting her own pay 8.4 percent. But she’s the rare case: The Hill newspaper surveyed all Senate offices and reported Thursday that only five senators, two Republicans and three Democrats, were giving up some pay.

A pay cut could be painful for members of Congress who rely on their $174,000 annual salaries. But many, if not most of them, will eventually cash in on their government service, taking corporate or lobbying jobs. And nobody has more earnings potential from government service than the president. Shouldn’t they all be taking better care of the millions whose public service has just as much “dignity” but who don’t get rich from it?

During World Wars I and II, there were “dollar-a-year men” who left lucrative private-sector careers to serve their country in Washington. If Obama really wants to share in the furloughed workers’ “sacrifice,” he should follow that honorable example and give back all but a dollar of his $400,000 salary. When he leaves office, he’ll be able to earn it back with a couple days’ work.

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Permalink Reply by easymoney on April 5, 2013 at 11:00am

Whats the odds he'll make it up at income tax time?

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Permalink Reply by Dave on April 5, 2013 at 11:50am

While it was 'nice' to make such a gesture, it just seems to be a 'cheap' gesture.. I mean 5% is kind of like saying 'hey guys, have some of my pocket change while I travel all over the country and take the occasional vacation on your dime'. Had the president been smart, he would of not even publicized that he had given back this 5%. I'll give credit to Romney that had he won the election, he said he would of likely donated all of his salary to charity. I wasn't a huge fan of Romney but I can respect that he might of done that.

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Permalink Reply by Willy on April 6, 2013 at 9:23pm

I'm at the point where I could care less what Obama says or does to impress the public. After a while I tune out liars because anything they say cannot be believed no matter what it is. Obama is such a lame excuse for a President that they ought start calling people who are incompetent, unreliable and dishonest, "Obamish". An example would be "Shay is Obamish to the point of being a hindrance to ethical Governing".