Obama Questions Zimmerman Verdict 

Moments ago, President Obama made a surprise appearance at the White House briefing room to address the verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman. It was a long, rambling statement that briefly warned against violence in reaction to the verdict.

The president conceded that the Zimmerman case was unique, and that the problems plaguing young black men in the inner cities are not neighborhood watchmen. Kudos for that. 

But he then went on to repeat the left's mantra that the problems of our inner cities stem from a history of violence, poverty and despair. The real problems, Mr. President, are drugs, gangs and the breakdown of the family! 

Most disturbing was that the president repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of the verdict. Obama asked, "If Trayvon Martin was of his age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk?" Statistics show that blacks have disproportionately benefited from Florida's "stand your ground" law. 

Obama said, "If a white male teen was involved in the same kind of scenario, both the outcome and the aftermath might have been different." If a white male teen had been pounding a Hispanic man's head into the concrete, I have no doubt the jury would have reached the same verdict. 

In one breath Mr. Obama is appealing for calm and asking Americans to respect the rule of law. Yet in the next breath, he suggests the law is flawed and the legal system is biased. 

The president is also implying that the all-female jury rendered a racist verdict. Perhaps women should keep that in mind the next time he or some other liberal says conservatives are "waging a war on women." 

Sharpton & Jackson Fan The Flames 

In contrast to President Obama's appeal for calm, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are fanning the flames of racial tension. This weekend, Sharpton's National Action Network is planning to stage "vigils" in 100 cities across the country, protesting the outcome of the Trayvon Martin case. 

Jesse Jackson suggested that he is inclined to boycott the state of Florida in order to "isolate Florida as a kind of apartheid state." What is he talking about? 

Florida is a multi-racial, multi-lingual state. It is one of the most diverse states in the union. Yet one incident takes place between a black teenager and a Hispanic man, and Jackson condemns the entire state as the equivalent of apartheid in South Africa. That is morally irresponsible and reprehensible. 

If Sharpton and Jackson were genuinely concerned about the deaths of black youths, they should join neighborhood watch groups and start patrolling the streets of Chicago and Harlem themselves. 

Unfortunately, it's not just rabble rousers like Sharpton and Jackson who are stirring the pot. Eric Holder's Department of Justice has set up a special email address seeking anonymous tips to help prove that Zimmerman really is a racist. 

After interviewing more than 30 witnesses last year, Holder's FBI could find no evidence of racism, but Holder sees an opportunity to inflame Obama's base by exploiting their fears. 

Thankfully, we are starting to hear from a few voices of reason. During a recent radio interview, comedian Bill Cosby said the prosecution failed to prove its case and lost. 

Cosby also strongly suggested that there was no basis for the outrageous claims of racism, saying, "You can't prove if somebody is a racist unless they really come out and do the act and is found to be that. …Let's not go into a racial discussion unless we really have something there." 

Former basketball star Charles Barkley said he agreed with the verdict and blamed the media for creating the controversy. Here are excerpts of his remarks: 
 

• "Well, I agreed with the verdict. I feel sorry that young kid got killed. But they didn't have enough evidence to charge him. …

  "I just feel bad because I don't like when race gets out in the media because I don't think the media has a pure heart, as I call it. There are very few people [who] have a pure heart when it comes to race. Racism is wrong in any, shape, form -- a lot of black people are racist too. I think sometimes when people talk about racism, they say only white people are racist. There are a lot of black people who are racist. I don't like when it gets out there in the media because I don't think the media has clean hands."

The media certainly does not have clean hands. Remember the Duke lacrosse rape case? After that fiasco unfolded, one liberal reporter quipped, "The narrative was right, but the facts were wrong." In other words the media are always right to pursue their left-wing narrative of racist America, even when the facts are wrong. 

Detroit Goes Bust 

Almost every place where liberals have had free reign, we see disastrous economic results. For example, even as the economy shows signs of improvement, the places doing the best are theconservative "red" states. Nowhere is the failure of liberalism more obvious than in America's big cities, where populations are falling and debt is out of control. 

We were all reminded about this with today's news that venerable Detroit, once hailed as the "Arsenal of Democracy," has just declared bankruptcy. The city is nearly $20 billion in debt. It has lost more than half its population from its peak in the 1950s. Nearly 80,000 buildings and homes are abandoned and 40% of its street lights don't work. Detroit's unemployment rate is twice the national average.

It is noteworthy that more cars are being made in America today than ever before. But most new plants are in southern or mid-western states, as the auto industry fled the anti-business regime that has dominated Detroit. 

For decades the left has dominated Detroit, and the results speak for themselves. Chicago is not far behind. Liberalism's lies -- its failed cultural, economic and educational promises -- are coming home to roost.