OBAMA FORGOT ABOUT US………the re-write
As President Barack Obama starts the second hundred days of his second term, there’s something conspicuously different about his new cabinet; the absence of Black leaders and advisors (Charlotte, NC Mayor Anthony Fox and Congressman Mel Watt recently nominated). Recently, Black Congresswoman Marcia Fudge of Ohio sent the President a letter stating, “You have publicly expressed your commitment to retaining diversity within your cabinet. However, the people you have chosen to appoint in this new term have hardly been reflective of this country’s diversity.” Ooopps…….How’s that workin Mr. Obama? When you compare President Obama to his predecessors, the decrease in Black appointments is shocking!
I hate to say this, because I’m not a Bill Clinton nut-hugger, but in American Presidential history, President William Jefferson Clinton has been, by far, the most transformational leader. Hum? Ol Slick Willie appointed seven Black cabinet members, the most of any President in history: Ron Brown as Secretary of Commerce; Mike Espy as Secretary of Agriculture; Hazel O’Leary as Secretary of Energy; Alexis Herman as Secretary of Labor; and Jesse Brown as Secretary of Veteran Affairs. Slick Willie also appointed Togo West as Secretary of Veterans Affairs and Rodney Slater as Secretary of Transportation. Compared to Obama, President George W. Bush also had more Black folks in his cabinet, including the first Black Secretary of State and Secretary of Education, Colin Powell and Rod Paige, respectively. Bush also appointed turn-coat Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State and Alphonso Jackson as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
For Obama, Eric Holder is the first Black Attorney General and the only Black cabinet member of his administration until nominating Fox and Watt. In sum, when you compare the first Black President to his recent predecessors, the number of Black’s in senior cabinet positions is very disappointing: Clinton (7); Bush (4); and Obama (1). Obama has not moved Black leadership forward, but backwards. Wow!! Moreover, while having Black’s in senior cabinet positions does not guarantee an economic agenda that will advance our people, it at least is a starting point and puts us in the driver’s seat. With President Obama, we’re not in the driver’s seat, or hell, even in the car dammit!! For me, the absence of Black folks in a second term is not only disrespectful to the whole Black community who voted 96 percent for Obama in 2008 and 93 percent in 2012, but also underscores a larger problem of economic and job opportunities for the Black community. If we objectively look at Obama’s Presidency, we Black folks are in a worse position than we were before he became president. At the end of January 2009, unemployment for Black folks was 12.7 percent. Four years later, the situation is worse, and unemployment is higher at 13.8 percent. Hum again?? For those of you who have read my articles and posts, you know I was not the biggest Obama supporter, but I worked my ass off to get him elected in 2008 and 2012.
Shortly after Obama announced his candidacy to run for the office of President of United States, in 2008, I hosted a Black Nationalist breakfast in Indianapolis to encourage the brothers to support his candidacy. This was a major gathering at the time, because many Black folks in racist red Indiana were strong supporters of then-Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and was encouraging folks to support her and not Obama! I supported then Senator Obama not because he was a brother, but because I truly believed in my heart of hearts that he was the best man to empathize, understand, and develop policies to help the Black community, the poor and previously under-represented communities. To my disappointment, the President has not only failed us, the Black community, but also has failed to surround himself with qualified Black people who could develop policies to help the most disenfranchised (us). The president’s agenda appears to be for everyone except Black people…his most loyal constituency. In 2012, two prominent Indianapolis lawyers convened a meeting between White House senior advisor, Valerie Jarrett, and a cross-section of Indianapolis’ failed, and failing Black leadership. The purpose of the meeting was to candidly discuss the President’s re-election strategy and policies toward Black folks. The meeting was initially cordial until I gathered the courage to ask Jarrett a question I have heard repeatedly in the Black community, “Over the past four years, what has President Obama done to help Black people?” Damn! After I asked the question, you could hear a motherfuckin pin drop! Ol Valerie, who is known as the chief ass-kisser to Obama, didn’t mince words when she responded to my question and proceeded to rattle off the administration talking points: the passing of Obama-care, the increase in Pell grants, etc. She concluded her remarks by saying that we should support the President because “we are family.” When I raised bonus questions about unshakable high unemployment in the Black community and not appointing a Black person to the United States Supreme Court (a move that could have a real and lasting impact on the future of our community), Ms. Jarrett then went for my jugular and said, “The President is the President of all people and not just Black people.” Jarrett is right as rain! The President is the President of all people, but ain’t we Black people part of the “all”? In the words of brother Langston Hughes, we “too sing America.”
Given the President’s poor ass record in propelling an economic and empowerment agenda for the Black community, we must begin asking the questions:
1. Why are we so loyal to a President who is not loyal to us?
2. What is it about our community that we continue to support candidates nationally and locally just because their skin has been “kissed by nature’s sun”?
3. And more importantly, why are we still loyal to a Democratic Party that ignores us and takes our votes for granted?
My questions do not suggest that we should necessarily change political parties, but they do suggest that the Black community must hold our political leaders accountable and change our strategy to ensure that we are fully engaged in the political process beyond November elections! I recently told a group of local mis-leaders that having an elected Black politician is not enough. I said that having a Black mayor, governor, or President does not guarantee, in and of itself, that the Black elected official’s agenda will be the same as the Black community. In order for the Black community to become “real” players in the political process, shaping a politician’s agenda, the Black community must do what every other community is doing……control our sorry ass politicians through money. Yea……that good ol money! In the past, the Black community has relied exclusively on our voting power to advance our agenda. However, voting power is meaningless when our elected politicians are eternally thinking about their next election and the amount of money they will need to win. If I’m right, then this would be more of a reason why the President should have made appointments that would not only make a difference in our community but further break down barriers in our beloved (?) country. Barack is not running for re-election, and should have felt empowered to appoint a very diverse cabinet and not one reflected of the status quo. Hence, this is the main issue I have with President Obama and his second term: Obama is more of a historical leader than he is a transformational leader for the Black community. If President Obama does not make some changes soon, at the end of his presidency he will be known as a historical leader………..the first Black President, but not a transformational leader…..the President who truly uplifted and catapulted Black people from cycles of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, and despair. As we observed across the nation the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, I hoped that President Obama and others were reminded that we, too, have dreams that should and must be fulfilled. As always, I’m Phillip Norton, and keep the faith.
