Pandering to the base.
Via CNS News:
In a presidential action issued on Friday, proclaiming Oct. 13 as Columbus Day, President Barack Obama noted that a “new history” launched by Italian explorer Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the new world included the history of American Indians, which he said is “marred with long and shameful chapters of violence, disease, and deprivation.”
“In a new world, a history was written,” said Obama’s proclamation, required by a 1934 Congressional Joint Resolution. “It tells the story of an idea – that all women and men are created equal – and a people’s struggle to fulfill it.
“And it is a history shared by Native Americans, one marred with long and shameful chapters of violence, disease, and deprivation,” Obama said.
Calling Columbus “a son of Genoa, Italy,” Obama also used the proclamation to note the impact of immigrants in the United States.
“Like Columbus, these immigrants and their descendants have shaped the place where they landed,” Obama said. “Italian Americans have enriched our culture and strengthened our country.