Obama administration makes a mockery of human rights

On home ownership in particular, our “human rights” report is absurd.  “We are not satisfied when fewer than half of African-American and Hispanic families own homes while three quarters of white families do.”  And then: “Following the recent economic crisis, the issue of predatory lending, and particularly discriminatory lending, is an area of enforcement focus. The recession in the United States was fueled largely by a housing crisis, which coincided with some discriminatory lending practices. The subsequent foreclosure crisis has disproportionately affected communities of color.”

So the federal government, and its surrogates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, zealously propelled minority mortgages in the interest of closing that home ownership “human rights” gap — and then when the bubble burst, the “disproportionate impact” on “communities of color” is also a “human rights” issue, and “the federal government has focused resources and efforts to determine whether and where discrimination took place.”

Stupid.  And I emphasize stupid because whatever your take on the subprime mortgage crisis, its characterization in America’s “human rights” report to the international community as a “human rights” issue is indisputably stupid.

• “A recent Arizona law, S.B. 1070, has generated significant attention and debate at home and around the world. The issue is being addressed in a court action that argues that the federal government has the authority to set and enforce immigration law. That action is ongoing; parts of the law are currently enjoined.”

Really?  By fully democratic processes, Arizona enacts an overwhelmingly popular — inside and outside Arizona — immigration law, and yet the administration considers it a “human rights” concern reportable to the United Nations?  Even if S.B. 1070 were remotely a human rights concern — and it is not — reporting a state law that merely adds state manpower to federal law, to the United Nations as a “human rights” issue is sophomoric.

The administration’s sanctimony about its domestic “human rights” agenda might be bearable if it had actively promoted actual human rights anywhere else on the globe.  But, to the great sadness of human rights activists, the President has been steadfastly silent about Iran, about Burma, about Zimbabwe, about Congo, and about Sudan — all golden opportunities to recognize actual human beings suffering actual torments, and thus to give critical content to “human rights.”

The phrase means nothing of consequence now.  Similarly, therefore, our report to the United Nations.

Kendrick MacDowell is a lawyer and writer in Washington, D.C.