Getting paid is not for everyone.

 My father- in- law is a humble and hard working man, who built a pretty good life for himself and his family. He did it by working hard and persevering in South Louisiana at a time when racism and ignorance was rampant.

He likes to tell me the story of when he bought his first home. He was working on a very large pecan farm as a manager, and he was the person charged with keeping the tractors running. He went to the owner of the farm (a man who he thought he had a good relationship with and who he had worked with for years ) and told him of his plans to buy his first home, because he had saved a substantial amount of money. He went to the man, he said, because back then in the small Louisiana town were he lived, just having money to put down on your home and a history paying your bills on time was not enough; you needed someone of a certain hue and stature to co-sign for you. He said his boss changed after he expressed his plans to him, and soon after that the man fired him.

The moral of his story to me was this: Never let certain folks know how successful you are. Because, if you do,  they will try to take it from you. Never show your wealth or be too boastful about the things you acquire in your life. He lives by that credo.

Anyway, I have been thinking about my father- in -law a lot lately. And I have been thinking about him because of all the hand-wringing and consternation over the former president getting $400,000.00 to speak to a Wall Street firm. And, to be honest,  most of the chirping has been coming from the left. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were both  expressing their displeasure of president Obama getting such a large amount of money from Wall Street.

Go figure.

Since when does someone who served as president does not get to go into private industry and profit from his time as president? Every previous president has done it. George W. Bush has been quietly making millions from speaking fees, and yet no outcry. Why do you think that's the case? It's a rhetorical question. I know why. (I see you father-in- law)

Mr. Orange Hair has been president for 100 days, and he and his family has been already profiting in numerous ways  because he holds the office, and yet no outcry from those on the left or the right.

Let's not forget that former president Obama is now a private citizen, and the last time I checked this is America, and he should be free to earn as much money as he can.  It's what every president before him has done.

I heard Van Jones on CNN today talking about how America needs a Bobby Kennedy like poverty tour to places like Appalachia and South Central. "Poor white people in West Virginia and Kentucky are suffering from a serious crisis of opiate addiction" he moaned, "who is going to speak to them?" He later said. "President Obama should do a poverty tour for them before he starts collecting speaking fees."

This debate, of course, is laughable. As president Mr. Obama did a lot to try to help some of those very same "poor white people", but they voted against their interest and put a guy in office who, as of this date, has kept zero of his promises to them.

I read a funny tweet today, and it's worth repeating: "If you are a middle aged blue collar white guy and you have not yet been interviewed by the New York Times, you are doing something wrong in your life."

It seems like everyone wants to reach out to the poor blue collar white guy, including people like Bernie Sanders and other folks from the progressive left.  They think that the dems lost the election by ignoring them and their concerns. Forgetting, of course, an organized voter suppression effort of minorities by those on the right.

"Elizabeth Warren isn't too keen about former President Barack Obama's $400,000 fee to address a Wall Street conference on healthcare this fall.

''I was troubled by that,' the Massachusetts senator said Thursday during an interview with the SiriusXM show "Alter Family Politics" on Radio Andy.

 

She then proceeded to discuss her disdain for "the influence of money" in the nation's capital.

 

"One of the things I talk about in the book ["This Fight is Our Fight"] is the influence of money," she said. "I describe it as a snake that slithers through Washington. And that it shows up in so many different ways here in Washington. People understand the money that goes into campaign contributions. And when I say 'understand.' I don't mean they think it's okay, but at least people see it.

 

The money that goes into hiring lobbyists, but it's also the money that goes into bought-and-paid-for experts, the money that goes into think tanks that have these shadowy funders."'

 

Ms. Warren said all of that, but then this happened:

 

"Also in the interview, Warren was informed that her new book reached No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list. This pleased the Senator. But she was far more excited to hear that the person she replaced in the top spot was none other than Bill O’Reilly.

“Oh! Sweet!” Warren said, clearly overjoyed. “Sweet! Oh, you just made my morning!” [Source]

Of course he "made your morning", Elizabeth, you will be making even more money now. See how that works? 

*Pic from twitter.com