The same weekend that the President won his biggest legislative victory, a group of black leaders, including Jesse Jackson and radio talk show host Tavis Smiley, convened a meeting in Chicago to criticize the President for not doing enough for their besieged community.

“It would be fascinating right now to see how Martin Luther King Jr. would navigate and negotiate a dance with Barack Obama, with this president who doesn’t want to focus on a black agenda,” Smiley, a frequent critic of Obama’s policies, told the Sun-Times recently.

I think Smiley has a point.

With unemployment rates for the black community averaging 15% nationally, with certain areas, like Detroit, having unemployment rates hitting 50%, and with the unemployment rates among black males aged 18 to 35 averaging about 35%, there is no doubt that the African-American community is facing a real crisis.

And the President, who is the nation’s first African-American President, hasn’t said much about the community’s plight.

I understand why.  The President wants to be the nation’s first post-racial President.  He doesn’t want to be put into a “black” box, so to speak, where he is seen only as a black President.  He and his advisors believe that this is bad politics and could hurt his chances at re-election.  Read more...