Black caucus turns up heat on Obama

Black lawmakers who have held their tongues during most of President Obama’s first year in office are stepping up their demands that the nation’s first black president do more for minority communities hit hardest by the recession.

While still careful about criticizing Mr. Obama publicly, they appear to be losing patience after a year of watching him dedicate trillions of dollars to prop up banks and corporations and fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, while double-digit unemployment among blacks crept even higher.

“Obama has tried desperately to stay away from race, and all of us understand what he’s doing,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, Missouri Democrat. “But when you have such a disproportionate number of African-Americans unemployed, it would be irresponsible not to direct attention and resources to the people who are receiving the greatest level of pain.”

Dating back to Mr. Obama’s campaign, many black leaders have pressed him to take more of a stand on the challenges facing minorities. Most voiced criticisms privately, for fear of jeopardizing his candidacy or undercutting his popularity after his election. They also have tread lightly so as not to be at odds with their own majority-black constituencies, who strongly support Mr. Obama.

But frustration has been building.

The 42-member Congressional Black Caucus flexed its influence last week when 10 of its members held up a financial-regulation bill backed by the administration until leaders agreed to add about $3 billion in foreclosure relief for struggling homeowners. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, Massachusetts Democrat, later added $1 billion for neighborhood-revitalization programs.

During the stalemate, the lawmakers issued a statement saying they would no longer support public policy “defined by the worldview of Wall Street.”

“Policy for the least of these must be integrated into everything that we do,” they said.

And earlier this week, the all-Democratic caucus responded to Mr. Obama’s proposal for a new jobs package by saying it would insist on initiatives targeted to minorities. Pointing to outsized percentages of blacks losing their jobs and homes, caucus Chairwoman Barbara Lee, California Democrat, said Mr. Obama must live up to his campaign talk that racial disparities cannot be ignored.

“The facts speak for themselves,” Mrs. Lee said. “The gaps are very real.”

Some have sought to pin blame on the president’s advisers.

“It’s not the president. It’s his economic team,” said Rep. Corrine Brown, Florida Democrat. “I don’t think they’re doing their job.”

The unemployment rate among blacks is nearly 16 percent, almost double the 9 percent rate for whites. Roughly one in four blacks lives in poverty, compared with about 11 percent of whites.

Mr. Obama was a Black Caucus member in the Senate before winning the White House last year, but he has never had a close relationship with the group. In recent interviews, he has addressed their criticisms by saying he must represent the entire country, not any one population, and the best way to help low-income communities is to improve the overall economy.

“I think it’s a mistake to start thinking in terms of particular ethnic segments of the United States rather than to think that we are all in this together, and we are all going to get out of this together,” he said.

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