The way affirmative action works is to take earned achievement away from one person and give it to another person who doesn’t deserve it. Generally speaking the person getting robbed is white and the person being unfairly rewarded is black. Speaking of which…
During the 2012 presidential election Barack Obama slammed entrepreneurs with his infamous “you didn’t build that” line that took credit away from people who built successful businesses. He later tried to backpedal and say he meant they didn’t build the roads and infrastructure those businesses use to move goods. Coming full-circle, there is a move to rename a highway in Chicago after Obama. He didn’t build that highway, but the guy who did would have his name replaced by the former president.
Former Cook County board president Dan Ryan was famed Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley’s right-hand man and the second most powerful figure in the political dynasty. In the late 1950’s he spearheaded a project to build a “super highway” connecting Chicago to the interstates. Ryan died in 1961, 18 months before the highway he built opened. To honor him, it was named the Dan Ryan Expressway and it’s been called that for 56 years.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports however that there is an effort to take the expressway away from Dan Ryan and give it over to Barack Obama. Bill Daley, the son of Richard J. Daley, is running for mayor, hoping to be the third Daley to run Chicago. Part of his campaign is to get the highway renamed for Obama.
“Our Chicago expressways are named for towering figures in our history: Kennedy, Eisenhower, Stevenson. We should have one for Obama, who is the only president from Chicago and led the nation through the second-worst economic crisis in our history,” said Daley in a statement.
Well no, actually Obama is from Hawaii, not Chicago. He is also not a towering figure like Kennedy or Eisenhower, he’s one of the least effectual presidents in US history. Saying that he led the country through an economic crisis is a pretty big stretch as well. He occupied the White House during an economic downturn, but did little to nothing to improve things.
“Barack Obama is from Chicago. He owns a home here. This is where the Obama library is based. I’d like to see the legislature act on this early next year,” continued Daley.
Maybe this guy should read up on Obama on Wikipedia. There were some conspiracy theories that Obama wasn’t born in Hawaii, but none of them ever claimed he was from Chicago until now. The truth is, Obama didn’t even spend most of his life there. He’s a carpet-bagger, not a local.
A chunk of the 134 freeway near Los Angeles was recently named for Obama because he spent one semester of college nearby. That’s a stretch but at least nobody who built the road had their named stripped to pretend like Obama is an important guy.
Obviously the family of Dan Ryan is upset that Daley is trying to take the freeway name away and give it Obama. Daniel B. Ryan III, his grandson, said news of the proposed renaming came as “shock and disappointment.”
“I’m hurt. I feel bad that he didn’t try and contact us to see what we would think. We feel very honored to have this named after our grandfather. Why would you take an honor away from one man to honor another?” Ryan III asked.
Ryan III recalled going to the ribbon cutting ceremony to open the Dan Ryan Expressway after his grandfather’s passing.
“It would’ve meant a lot to him to know it was named for him. That was a true honor bestowed on him for all the work he did. It was the culmination of a great career,” said Ryan III.
Ryan III said he is a supporter of Barack Obama, but, “you don’t change something just to change it.”
Tara Ryan, Ryan’s great-granddaughter added, “I don’t think President Obama would ever want someone else’s honors and accomplishments to be taken away for him.”
She obviously doesn’t know Obama very well. That guy loves taking credit for other people’s hard work. Look at the way he’s taking credit for the booming economy and historic jobs numbers under President Trump. Obama didn’t build that expressway, but he’d gladly put his name on it because of his ego and the fact that almost all of his “executive order” legacy as president has been wiped out by Donald Trump.
The Supreme Court may have struck down the race-based quotas of affirmative action, but there’s nothing stopping Chicago liberals from applying this same racism to the naming of freeways.
