his election in a special election that took place on April 26, 2005. Representative DeMarco was born on July 20, 1967 and received his Bachelor of Arts from Auburn University in 1990. He graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1993, and while there served as editor-in-chief of the Alabama Law Review. Representative DeMarco is a partner in the law firm of Parsons, Lee and Juliano P.C. He is past president of the Birmingham Bar Foundation and is also an active member of the chambers of commerce for Homewood, Hoover, Mountain Brook, and Vestavia Hills. 
The Foundation
"The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man." --James Madison
Government & Politics
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
In 2008, Barack Obama sold himself as a uniter and a healer of party divisions. He promised to bring Hope 'n' Change™ to Washington on behalf of a country allegedly weary of partisan bickering. However, the man who thought himself bigger than the office has proven to be awfully small.
Indeed, former Democrat congressman Artur Davis of Alabama says Obama's divisive style has caused Davis to leave the party. "I have regularly criticized an agenda that would punish businesses and job creators with more taxes just as they are trying to thrive again. I have taken issue with an administration that has lapsed into a bloc-by-bloc appeal to group grievances when the country is already too fractured: frankly, the symbolism of Barack Obama winning has not given us the substance of a united country."
Davis announced this week that he is considering another congressional bid in Virginia, but this time as a Republican. He's not just any disenchanted Democrat, either -- Davis gave a seconding speech for Obama's nomination in 2008 and chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) for the southern region. But he also voted against ObamaCare -- the only member of the Congressional Black Caucus to do so.
Nor is Davis the only Democrat switching parties. Jo Ann Nardelli, a Pennsylvania state committeewoman and founding president of the Blair County Federation of Democratic Women, switched to the GOP. She said the tipping point was Obama's endorsement of same sex marriage1, which, along with "the tug-of-war between the Catholic Church and the administration over the [health care] mandate, have pushed me over the edge." She harkened back to Ronald Reagan, himself a former Democrat, when she said, "I did not leave the party; the party left me."
The Narcissist-in-Chief2 is alienating more than his fellow Democrats. After pulling the rug out from under Poland and the Czech Republic in 2009 over missile defense, Obama added insult to injury this week with a reference to a World War II "Polish death camp." In posthumously honoring Polish war hero Jan Karski with the Medal of Freedom for his efforts against the Nazis, Obama said, "Before one trip across enemy lines, resistance fighters told him that Jews were being murdered on a massive scale and smuggled him into the Warsaw Ghetto and a Polish death camp to see for himself. Jan took that information to President Franklin Roosevelt, giving one of the first accounts of the Holocaust and imploring to the world to take action."
Referring to "Polish" death camps is "outrageous," as Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski responded Wednesday. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk likewise blasted Obama: "We always react in the same way when ignorance, lack of knowledge, [and] bad intentions lead to such a distortion of history, so painful for us here in Poland, in a country which suffered like no other in Europe during World War II. The words uttered ... by the president of the United States, Barack Obama, concerning 'Polish death camps' touched all Poles."
The White House downplayed the reference as a "misstatement" and has refused to offer more than a mere transcript correction on its website. It was likely an unintentional teleprompter recitation, but just imagine for a moment the same gaffe being made by George W. Bush. And expressing mere "regret" isn't much for a president who's made a habit of apologizing for America to the rest of the world.
Another Medal of Freedom recipient highlights just how fraudulent Obama's claim to be a uniter truly is. Dolores Huerta, honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, also received a medal. For starters, we don't normally associate "socialists" with "freedom," but on top of that, Huerta has displayed a nasty rhetorical streak, once declaring, "Republicans hate Latinos," praising Venezuelan thug-dictator Hugo Chavez, and arguing on immigration, "We didn't cross the border; the border crossed us." Bestowing the award on her further both diminishes the award itself and reveals Obama's ultra-partisan roots.
With all his efforts to lose friends and alienate people this week, it's no wonder Obama's campaign is looking for another new slogan3. Apparently, "Forward" is stuck in neutral.
