Obama Marches Forward to Victory!

As reported in the Washington Post,

Barack Obama was elected to a second presidential term Tuesday, defeating Republican Mitt Romney by reassembling the political coalition that boosted him to victory four years ago, and by remaking himself from a hopeful uniter into a determined fighter for middle-class interests.

Obama, the nation’s first African American president, scored a decisive victory by stringing together a series of narrow ones. Of the election’s seven major battlegrounds, he won at least six.

Last night, the truth prevailed over falsehood. Progress prevailed regression. Tolerance prevailed over intolerance. The 99 percent prevailed over the 1 percent. Compassion prevailed over indifference. Thank God that this nation will continue to move forward.

Wake Up, Obama is Not A Miracle Worker

In his article entitled The Price of a Black President, Fredrick C. Harris wrote:

...those who had seen in President Obama’s election the culmination of four centuries of black hopes and aspirations and the realization of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of a “beloved community,” the last four years must be reckoned a disappointment. Whether it ends in 2013 or 2017, the Obama presidency has already marked the decline, rather than the pinnacle, of a political vision centered on challenging racial inequality. The tragedy is that black elites — from intellectuals and civil rights leaders to politicians and clergy members — have acquiesced to this decline, seeing it as the necessary price for the pride and satisfaction of having a black family in the White House.

...But the triumph of “post-racial” Democratic politics has not been a triumph for African-Americans in the aggregate. It has failed to arrest the growing chasm of income and wealth inequality; to improve prospects for social and economic mobility; to halt the re-segregation of public schools and narrow the black-white achievement gap; and to prevent the Supreme Court from eroding the last vestiges of affirmative action. The once unimaginable successes of black diplomats like Colin L. Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Susan E. Rice and of black chief executives like Ursula M. Burns, Kenneth I. Chenault and Roger W. Ferguson Jr. cannot distract us from facts like these: 28 percent of African-Americans, and 37 percent of black children, are poor (compared with 10 percent of whites and 13 percent of white children); 13 percent of blacks are unemployed (compared with 7 percent of whites); more than 900,000 black men are in prison; blacks experienced a sharper drop in income since 2007 than any other racial group; black household wealth, which had been disproportionately concentrated in housing, has hit its lowest level in decades; blacks accounted, in 2009, for 44 percent of new H.I.V. infections.

Mr. Obama cannot, of course, be blamed for any of these facts. It’s no secret that Republican obstruction has limited his options at every turn. But it’s disturbing that so few black elites have aggressively advocated for those whom the legal scholar Derrick A. Bell called the “faces at the bottom of the well.”

Further in his article, Mr. Harris slams black politicians, intellectuals and civil rights leaders for their "uncritical adulation" of the President. He argues that many black leaders have become "cheerleaders for the President or self-serving pundits."

Many of us hoped that President Obama's election represented the dawning of a new era of racial progress. Instead, his election appears to be an anomaly, a temporary convergence of interests. As reported on Yahoo News, racial attitutes have not improved since the election of President Obama. Yahoo reports that:

Racial prejudice has increased slightly since 2008 whether those feelings were measured using questions that explicitly asked respondents about racist attitudes, or through an experimental test that measured implicit views toward race without asking questions about that topic directly.

In all, 51 percent of Americans now express explicit anti-black attitudes, compared with 48 percent in a similar 2008 survey. When measured by an implicit racial attitudes test, the number of Americans with anti-black sentiments jumped to 56 percent, up from 49 percent during the last presidential election. In both tests, the share of Americans expressing pro-black attitudes fell.

Obama's four years in the White House cannot reverse hundreds of years of slavery, Jim Crow and institutionalized racism. It is completely unrealistic to expect President Obama to magically eliminate wealth inequality, high black unemployment, education disparities, mass incarceration and health care disparities. Obama is not a miracle worker.

Instead of tearing each other down, we should unite and re-elect President Obama. One thing is certain. If Romney is elected, he will do absolutely nothing to address our issues. After Obama is re-elected, we can have a serious discussion about holding him and black leaders accountable.

Obama and Romney Debate on Foreign Policy

Good morning family. What did you think about last night's debate?

Dear Black People: You Are Invisible and Irrelevant

So far, I have watched all three of the 2012 Presidential and Vice Presidential debates. Each debate lasted approximately 90 minutes. All three moderators were white. The final debate is on Monday. Again, the moderator will be white. The last debate will focus on foreign policy. During these debates, the candidates have discussed important issues such as the economy, taxes, education, women's rights, health care reform and terrorism. However, none of the debates discussed race or affirmative action.

Race is still a major issue in America. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether the University of Texas' affirmative action policy is constitutional. If the Supreme Court strikes down UT's affirmative action policy, the doors to higher education will be closed to many African American young people. Universities and colleges will become more and more segregated. However, that issue was not important enough for the debate moderators.

Moreover, the moderators failed to raise the problem of racial profiling. New York city's racist stop-and-frisk policy has been a major issue in the civil rights community. In New York and many cities around the country, young, innocent black men and women are constantly stopped, harassed and humiliated by police just because of the color of their skin.

Another example of racial profiling is the tragic Trayvon Martin case. This year, self-appointed neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman hunted and shot down Trayvon Martin just because he was black. After great struggle and massive protests, Zimmerman was finally charged with murder.

In addition to racial profiling, mass incarceration was not raised during any of the debates. As explained in Michelle Alexander's book The New Jim Crow, the so-called War on Drugs has led to the mass incarceration of black people. Due to the mass incarceration problem, a disproportionate percentage of African Americans have been reduced to second class citizens even after they leave prison. In most states, they lose the right to vote and other precious rights.

In this mythological post-racial era, none of those issues matter. Unfortunately, the debates are fixated on issues that mainly impact white, moderate, middle class, undecided voters. As far as the presidential debates are concerned, black people are invisible and our concerns are irrelevant.

These debates have taught me one thing. In the eyes of the debate organizers and most of the viewers, the plight of Big Bird is far more important than the plight of my people. "Binders full of women" are more important than prisons full of black people.

This article is cross-posted on Jack and Jill Politics.

Obama Strikes Back!

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Good morning. President Obama got his swagger back last night. He stood his ground and called out Mitt Romney. Thoughts?

Who Won, Obama or Romney?

Last night, President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney participated in the first Presidential Debate. The pundits on Morning Joe are saying that Romney won the debate. As far as I am concerned, the President won on both style and substance. What do you think?

Why I Will Vote for Obama

I will vote for President Obama for several reasons. His Administration has fought to protect the civil rights of African Americans. The Obama Administration filed an amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court case of Fisher v. the University of Texas At Austin. The Administration's brief supports the University's affirmative action plan. Affirmative action is a legitimate means to encourage diversity and to remedy past discrimination. Higher education is the key to success and upward mobility. Without affirmative action, many of us would not have been able to attend college, law school or medical school. Unlike President Obama, Republican candidate Mitt Romney opposes affirmative action. When he was governor, Romney attempted to end affirmative in Massachusetts.

In addition to supporting affirmative action, the Obama Administration has challenged voter ID laws in South Carolina and Texas. Contrary to the Republicans' assertions, voter ID laws are not designed to prevent fraud. In-person voter fraud is extremely rare. The real purpose of voter ID laws is to suppress black voters and other Democratic leaning voters. According to the Brennan Center, approximately 25 percent of African Americans do not possess government issued photo IDs, compared to only 8 percent of whites. Consequently, voter laws have a disproportionate impact on black people. Apparently, that does not matter to Romney. He supports voter ID laws.

As if that is not disturbing enough, Republicans are challenging the constitutionality of Section 5 of Voting Rights Act. The Obama Administration strongly opposes such efforts. Section 5 requires certain jurisdictions to seek pre-clearance from the Department of Justice before enacting new voting laws. The covered jurisdictions have a long history of enacting discriminatory voter laws.

Moreover, the Obama Administration passed the Fair Sentencing Act ("FSA"). Before the FSA was passed, the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine was 100 to 1. Under the FSA, that disparity has been reduced to 18 to 1. A disproportionate percentage of African Americans are targeted for using and selling crack. On the other hand, whites are more likely to be arrested for using and selling powder cocaine. As a result, black offenders receive harsher sentences than their white counterparts for using or selling the same amount of drugs. The FSA is a step toward ending that injustice.

Additionally, the President passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. That law makes it easier for plaintiffs to sustain equal-pay lawsuits.  According to National Women's Law Center, women earn 77 cent for every dollar earned by men. For black women, the gender gap is even greater.  African American women earn 62 cent for every dollar earned by their white male counterparts. Since a disproportionately large percentage of African American households are headed by women, the Fair Pay Act will expand economic opportunities for the black community.  This law will help women in general, black women in particular, fight gender discrimination.

Not only has he made civil rights a priority, the President passed historic health care reform. Although it is far from a single payer system or a public option, it does insure millions of uninsured people. It prevents insurance companies from excluding people from coverage based on pre-existing conditions. Although Obamacare is not perfect, it is a sign of progress. Romney and the Republicans oppose even those modest reforms.

Furthermore, contrary to the Republican Party's assertions, fixing the economy has been the President's top objective. The President's policy has created and protected jobs. Since President Obama has been in office, there has been 30 months of job creation. According to the Christian Science Monitor, private sector employers added 4.6 million net jobs.  As reported in the Huffington Post,"125,000 jobs have been created, in total, during Obama's first term, compared with a prior estimate of a loss of 261,000."  Although the economy has not fully recovered and unemployment remains too high, I am confident that President Obama is moving the economy in the right direction.

While Romney was saying that we should let Detroit go bankrupt, President Obama took bold action and rescued the American auto industry thereby saving thousands of jobs. Through stimulus money, the President protected the jobs of many teachers, police officers and firemen. In my hometown of Detroit, when 100 fire fighters faced layoffs, Obama saved those jobs and kept the city safe through Homeland Security funding.

Romney probably would have let Detroit burn. Romney has no real record of jobs creation. When Romney was governor, Massachusetts was 47th in job creation. As his former opponents Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich asserted during the primaries, Romney and his company, Bain Capital, have a vulturous record of feeding off of dying companies and leaving behind closed businesses and unemployed workers.

The President is concerned about all Americans, the workers and the middle class. Romney admitted that he is not concerned about 47 percent of voters. Romney acknowledged that he is not concerned about the very poor.

His selection of Paul Ryan as his Vice Presidential nominee is evidence of his contempt for poor and middle class people. The Ryan budget would substantially cut vital government programs that benefit the black community. As reported in the Root, those programs include Pell grants, Head Start, welfare, food stamps, social security, Medicaid and Medicare. Under a Romney Administration, aspiring and ambitious college students would not be able to obtain Pell grants to pay for college. Senior citizens would receive less health care benefits. Poor people would be denied life saving assistance such as food stamps and welfare. While forcing the most vulnerable citizens to make great sacrifices, Romney would give the rich more tax breaks.

Not only is Obama a better choice because of his positions on domestic policy, he is a better choice when it comes to foreign policy. Although aspects of Obama's foreign policy are objectionable, Romney's foreign policy would be even more militaristic and imperialistic. If the GOP had their way, they would bomb Iran, send ground troops to Syria and continue to occupy Afghanistan indefinitely. When it comes to foreign policy, Obama is the lesser of two evils.

Do I think that Obama is the hope and change that we have been waiting for? No. Do I think that he walks on water, heals the sick and parts the sea? No. Do I think that he is Superman swooping down to save us? No. However, I know that he is a far better choice for African Americans than Mitt Romney. That is why I plan to vote for President Obama.  I hope that you vote for him as well.

This article is cross posted on Jack and Jill Politics.

The Choice Is Yours, Obama or Romney?

Good morning family. The election is coming soon. The choice is yours, Obama or Romney?

Don't Surrender to Cynicism and Apathy! Vote for President Obama!

Last night, President Obama delivered his keynote address to the Democratic National Convention. As I listened to his speech and all of the other Democratic politicians' speeches this week, I thought about a negative article that I read attacking the President as "the more effective evil".  I began writing this post late night after I heard the President's speech. Coincidentally, as I was driving to work this morning, I heard a debate on Democracy Now between Glen Ford and Dr. Michael Eric Dyson on the same subject as this piece.

There are a lot of naysayers and downright player haters out there. I'm not talking about those stinking Republicans either. I'm talking about those stuck in the 1960s, ultra "militant", self-appointed guardians of blackness over at Black Agenda Report ("BAR"). Instead of criticizing the reactionary, racist, right wing Republican Party, BAR spends over 90 percent of its time criticizing the first African American President, Barack Obama.  In one of their articles, they acknowledge that the Democrats are their primary target.  For that reason, I question BAR's sincerity and commitment to the people. No president is above criticism. However, BAR has an insane fixation on President Obama.

Frankly, I would not be surprised if those haters are being funded by the Republican Party to suppress the black vote.  BAR posted an old article by a prominent African American intellectual essentially encouraging people not to vote. Such articles promote voter apathy by arguing that the two parties are essentially the same.

The difference between the two parties is stark.  The Democratic Party supports affirmative action, civil rights, health care reform, women's rights, immigration reform, Wall Street regulations and fair taxation. The Republican Party opposes all of those things. The GOP supports suppressing black voters, expanding U.S. military intervention, granting tax breaks to the rich, ending Medicare, ending Social Security, denying women the right to choose and deregulating Wall Street. The Democratic Party reflects the racial, ethnic and religious diversity of America. The Republican Party does not. It is the party for angry white men.

Wake up!  There are two major parties in this country, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. There are two major candidates for President, Mitt Romney and President Obama. The harsh reality is that the third party candidates have a snowball's chance in hell of being elected President of the United States. There is too much at stake in this election to squander one's vote on a candidate who is unelectable.

Of course, the President and the Democrats are not perfect.  Certainly, President Obama's speech was not perfect.  No candidate or party is ideal.  Clearly, we should and must stand up for the issues that matter to us.  We must protest and demand that all branches of government address important issues like unemployment, war and peace.  However, an absolutist, all-or-nothing approach to politics is impractical, foolish, naive and dangerous. There is too much at stake to sit this election out. Our parents and grandparents marched, fought, bled and died so that we could exercise our right to vote.

Don't surrender to cynicism and  apathy.  Support President Obama. Four more years! Four more years!

This article is cross-posted on Jack and Jill Politics.
  

#DNC2012, Day 3:"Four More Years! Four More Years!"

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Good morning everyone. Here are a few highlights from the Democratic National Convention. President Obama, we have your back. Four more years!!! Four more years!!!

#DNC 2012, Day 2: "No, Mitt Romney. Corporations Are Not People!"

Good morning. Last night, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren addressed the Democratic National Convention.



Former President Bill Clinton delivered the keynote address.

#DNC2012 Highlights from Last Night

Good morning everybody. First Lady Michelle Obama gave a powerful keynote address. If you have not heard it, I recommend that you take a moment to listen to it.



Stacy Lihn explained in clear terms how the Affordable Care Act is saving her daughter's life. If Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have their way, Ms. Lihn's daughter may not be able to obtain the healthcare that she needs to survive.



Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick declared that "[i]t is time for Democrats to grow a backbone and stand up for what we believe!" Gov. Patrick proceeded to give a fiery speech touting the accomplishments of President Barack Obama and slamming the shortcomings of Mitt Romney.

What Did You Think About Mitt Romney's RNC Speech?

Good afternoon friends. What did you think about Mitt Romney's speech at the Republican National Convention?

"Lies, Sweet Little Lies": Republican VP Nominee Paul Ryan Addresses the RNC

Yesterday, Republican Nominee for Vice President Paul Ryan gave the keynote address at the Republican National Convention. Although the speech was eloquent and powerful, there was one problem. It was a fountain of lies.

Think Progress summarized the six worst lies in the speech.

1. “A downgraded America.” Ryan blamed the president for the nation’s credit downgrade in August 2011 after Republicans threatened to allow the government to default on its debt for the first time in history. But the ratings agency explicitly blamed “Republicans saying that they refuse to accept any tax increases as part of a larger deal.”

2. “More debt than any other president before him, and more than all the troubled governments of Europe combined.” Romney has made the almost identical claim, that Obama has amassed more debt “as almost all of the other presidents combined.” But their math doesn’t add up: when Obama took office, the national debt was $10.626 trillion. It has increased to slightly above $15 trillion.

3. Shuttered General Motors plant is “one more broken promise.” Ryan described a GM plant that closed down in his hometown, Janesville, Wisconsin, and blamed Obama for breaking his promise to keep the plant open when he visited during his campaign. But Obama never made that promise, and the plant shut down in December 2008, before Obama even took office.

4. Obama “did exactly nothing” on Bowles-Simpson. Ryan said, “He created a bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way, and then did exactly nothing.” In fact, Ryan was instrumental in sabotaging the commission, leading the other House Republicans in voting against the plan.

5. “$716 billion, funneled out of Medicare by President Obama.” Ryan’s favorite lie is a deliberate distortion of Obamacare’s savings from eliminating inefficiencies. Furthermore, Ryan’s own plan for Medicare includes these savings. Romney has vowed to restore these cuts, which would render the trust fund insolvent 8 years ahead of schedule.

6. “The greatest of all responsibilities is that of the strong to protect the weak.” Ryan closed the speech with an invocation of social responsibility, saying, “The truest measure of any society is how it treats those who cannot defend or care for themselves.” However, numerous clergy members have condemned Ryan’s budget plan as “cruel,” and “an immoral disaster” because of its devastating cuts in social programs the poor and sick rely on. Meanwhile, Ryan would give ultra-rich individuals and corporations $3 trillion in tax breaks.

Little Lies should be the Romney/Ryan campaign theme song.

Condoleeza Rice Addresses the RNC

Good morning family.

Yesterday, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice addressed the Republican National Convention.

President Obama Must Stand Up and Address Racism!

"A time comes when silence is betrayal." Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Recently, Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote a thought provoking article for the Atlantic entitled Fear of a Black President.  I encourage everyone to take time to read his brilliant article.  In it, Coates writes that:

Part of that conservatism about race has been reflected in his reticence: for most of his term in office, Obama has declined to talk about the ways in which race complicates the American present and, in particular, his own presidency...      

Daniel Gillion, a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania who studies race and politics, examined the Public Papers of the Presidents, a compilation of nearly all public presidential utterances—­proclamations, news-conference remarks, executive orders—and found that in his first two years as president, Obama talked less about race than any other Democratic president since 1961. Obama’s racial strategy has been, if anything, the opposite of radical: he declines to use his bully pulpit to address racism, using it instead to engage in the time-honored tradition of black self-hectoring, railing against the perceived failings of black culture.     

His approach is not new. It is the approach of Booker T. Washington, who, amid a sea of white terrorists during the era of Jim Crow, endorsed segregation and proclaimed the South to be a land of black opportunity. It is the approach of L. Douglas Wilder, who, in 1986, not long before he became Virginia’s first black governor, kept his distance from Jesse Jackson and told an NAACP audience: “Yes, dear Brutus, the fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves … Some blacks don’t particularly care for me to say these things, to speak to values … Somebody’s got to. We’ve been too excusing.” It was even, at times, the approach of Jesse Jackson himself, who railed against “the rising use of drugs, and babies making babies, and violence … cutting away our opportunity"...     

Whatever the political intelligence of this calculus, it has broad and deep consequences. The most obvious result is that it prevents Obama from directly addressing America’s racial history, or saying anything meaningful about present issues tinged by race, such as mass incarceration or the drug war. There have been calls for Obama to take a softer line on state-level legalization of marijuana or even to stand for legalization himself. Indeed, there is no small amount of in­consistency in our black president’s either ignoring or upholding harsh drug laws that every day injure the prospects of young black men—laws that could have ended his own, had he been of another social class and arrested for the marijuana use he openly discusses. ”

For example, when Trayvon Martin was lynched, it took President Obama about a month to issue any statement, and that response came after a reporter raised the issue. When urged to directly address unemployment and poverty in the black community, the President says "a rising tide lifts all boats" and that "he is not the President of Black America."   

African Americans are the President's base. We are his most loyal supporters. According to news reports, black support for Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is at zero percent. Approximately 94 percent of African Americans support the President. In exchange for our support, our issues should be at forefront of the President's agenda.  He should and must speak out about race and racism.  Sentimental symbolism and black cultural references are not sufficient.

The President boldly addresses the issues of facing LGBTs, Latinos and women.  However, when it comes to race, the President is silent. Sadly, we enable the President to remain silent by mindlessly chanting and convincing ourselves that "he's not the President of Black America." No other lobbying group takes such a self-defeating and self-censoring attitude. You will never hear other groups say, "He's not the President of gay America. He's not the President of feminist America. He's not the President of immigrant America."  Other interest groups relentlessly promote their agenda without apology. We must do the same.

We cannot afford to remain silent. As reported in the Huffington Post, the unemployment rate for African Americans was 13.6 percent in May, compared to a national unemployment rate of 8.2 percent. For black men, the unemployment rate was 15 percent in May. For black women, the unemployment rate was 12.3 percent.

Moreover, according to the Associated Press, "the ranks of America's poor are on track to climb to levels unseen in nearly half a century, erasing gains from the war on poverty in the 1960s amid a weak economy and fraying government safety net." Experts expect the poverty rate to increase from 15.1 percent to 15.7 percent, the highest level since 1965. Poverty disproportionately affects black people and Latinos. According to the New York Times,

"Minorities were hit hardest. Blacks experienced the highest poverty rate, at 27 percent, up from 25 percent in 2009, and Hispanics rose to 26 percent from 25 percent. For whites, 9.9 percent lived in poverty, up from 9.4 percent in 2009. Asians were unchanged at 12.1 percent."

The “a rising tide lifts all boats” approach and attitude has not worked. Instead of demonizing people like Cornel West and Travis Smiley for pressuring President Obama to address the issue of poverty, we should join them.

In all fairness, none of those problems started under President Obama's administration. Certainly, the President has implemented policies that benefit African Americans such as the Affordable Health Care Act, the Fair Sentencing Act, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans and other policies.  Obviously, such policies are more important than rhetoric. 

However, the President must directly and specifically speak about race and racism. He must develop targeted programs to address disproportionate unemployment and poverty in the black community. He has a moral obligation to the countless African Americans who fought and died for the right to vote. He owes it to the overwhelming percentage of African Americans who voted for him in 2008.  Stand up, Mr. President!

This article is cross-posted on Jack and Jill Politics.

   

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Judge Allows GOP to Suppress Minority and Elderly Voters in Pennsylvania

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As reported in the Washington Post,

A Pennsylvania judge Wednesday allowed a Republican-backed law requiring voters to show IDs to go into effect starting this Election Day, a setback for Democrats and civil rights groups who contend that such laws could deny many Americans the right to vote.

Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson said those challenging the law had failed to prove that it violates the state constitution by denying voters’ rights. He also disputed the challengers’ predictions of the number of voters at stake and said there is still time for those without proper ID to acquire it...

Supporters of recent laws passed by several Republican legislatures requiring voters to show IDs say the measures protect the integrity of the electoral process by making sure only qualified voters cast ballots.

Democrats and minority groups counter that the restrictions are likely to disenfranchise voters — often minorities, the poor and elderly, those who live in urban areas and others who may not have the type of photo ID required....

Cases of voter impersonation fraud — the kind that would be stopped by photo ID laws — are exceedingly rare. Pennsylvania acknowledged that such fraud had not occurred in the commonwealth, nor was it likely to occur in the coming election, even without the law.

The bottom line is simple. The Republicans realize that they probably will not win the Presidential Election on the merits.  So what do they do?  They do everything in their power to suppress voters who tend to vote Democratic.

Their primary targets are African Americans, Latinos, the poor and the elderly.  A disproportionately high percentage of African Americans do not have the required government issued photo IDs.  Many elderly African Americans born were in rural areas during the Jim Crow time period and do not have birth certificates. Consequently, it is difficult if not impossible for them to get government photo IDs.  For those who are poor or on a fixed income, paying for a government photo ID or a birth certificate is basically a poll tax.  No one should be forced to choose between eating and voting.

Instead of just complaining about the problem, progressives must step up their efforts to ensure that all citizens have the necessary photo IDs and documentation.  We must intensify our voter registration, mobilization and education efforts.  If we don't, over 700,000 people in Pennsylvania alone may be disenfranchised. 

VP Joe Biden Gets A Standing Ovation at the NAACP National Convention

When Vice President Joseph Biden walked on to the stage to address the NAACP National Convention, he received a long standing ovation like a rock star. Unlike Romney, Biden did not have to bus in house negroes to cheer for him.

Biden began his speech by stating that he is a lifetime member of the NAACP. Then, he proceeded to praise the nation's first African American President, Barack Obama. He talked about how President Obama saved the financial system from total collapse. He talked about how Obama saved the American automobile industry from bankruptcy. He proclaimed that President Obama made the right call to go after Osama bin Laden. Biden touted the historic passage of healthcare reform. With each line, the crowd gave him a thunderous applause.

After discussing the accomplishments of the Obama Administration, Biden went on to mention important civil rights issues as racial profiling, equal pay, the right to choose, fair taxation, and affordable healthcare. Then, Biden asked the crowd to imagine what the Department of Justice and the United States Supreme Court would look like if Mitt Romney won the election. That thought was frightening.

When the speech was over, the NAACP crowd gave him a standing ovation. Then, Biden walked down the line, shaking hands and talking photographs with supporters. The crowd cheered for Biden because the Obama Administration supports the issues that matter to African Americans.

This morning, I saw a Morning Joe tweet that read "Scarborough on Biden's NAACP Speech: It's Not 1963." I watched the Morning Joe video. If I had access to a PC, I would post the video. On the program, host Joe Scarborough and Michael Steele essentially asserted that Joe Biden was exaggerating the problem of voter identification laws.

The sense of urgency cannot be exaggerated.  According to several news reports, over 750,000 people, in Pennsylvania alone, may be disenfranchised as a result of voter identification laws.  According to the Brennan Center, approximately 11 percent of the US voting age population does not have government issued photo identification. Voter ID laws disproportionately impact African Americans. Twenty-five percent of African Americans do not have government issued photo identification. So, this is not some trivial issue.  I salute Biden for raising that issue.

On Morning Joe, Michael Steele mentioned that the Obama Administration has failed to address the problem of high unemployment in the black community. Black unemployment hovers around 14 percent. The national unemployment rate is approximately 8 percent. Clearly, the problem of high unemployment in the black community must be specifically addressed by the Obama Administration. We must continue to press the President to address the issue.

However, other than de-regulation and lower taxes for the rich, the GOP has no real plan to address the problem. Frankly, they do not care about the black community at all. So, black Republicans have no legitimacy with respect to that issue.

Finally, many critics have asked why the President did not address the NAACP National Convention. Attending an event is far less important than supporting and passing laws and policies that protect the interests of African Americans. Although the President did not attend the NAACP National Convention, his administration supports the legislative priorities of the NAACP. In addition, unlike during the Bush Administration, Obama's Department of Justice has made civil rights enforcement a top priority.

However, the question about Obama not attending the NAACP National Convention is legitimate. The President did not attend the Convention in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Why not, Mr. President?

This article is cross-posted on Jack and Jill Politics.

Romney Gets Booed at the NAACP National Convention

I just finished listening to Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney address the NAACP National Convention. As I predicted, he talked about high unemployment in the black community and "school choice".

For him, free enterprise is the answer to all of America's problems. By free enterprise, he means de-regulation and low taxes for the rich corporations and people. He means trickle down economics. Those policies are not the solution. They are the problem. Those failed policies gave us the mortgage foreclosure crisis and soaring unemployment. Those policies gave us the recession.

During his speech, Romney condemned teacher unions and advocated for more charter schools. Schools in the inner cities are poorly funded and low performing. That is a problem that must be addressed. Although some charter schools may help some students, charter schools are not the solution to education disparities. In fact, charter schools and vouchers take away resources from our public schools. Instead of creating more charter schools, we need to ensure that all schools have equal funding and resources. Speaking of education, I wish I could have asked Romney about his views on affirmative action and the Fisher v. the University of Texas case.

Before this predominately African American, pro-Obama crowd, Romney again called for the repeal of Obamacare. Mitt Romney has not presented a viable plan to insure the uninsured. He has not presented a valid alternative to reduce medical insurance premiums. So yeah, I'm glad that the crowd booed him when he said that nonsense.

As if that wasn't enough, Romney had the audacity to declare say, "If you want a President who will make things better in the African American community, you are looking at him." Then, he proceeded to lecture us about family values. Unbelievable! Why do politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, constantly lecture black people about family values? They do not talk to any other group of people that way.

Mitt Romney ended his speech by mentioning scripture and the equality of all people. At that moment, I wish could have asked him about Mormonism. I would have asked him about Mormonism's racist beliefs.  According to Mormon scripture, black people are cursed and inferior. I would have demanded to know if he supports those views. I would have asked him how does his religion impact his policy decisions.

Frankly, I wonder why Romney even came to the NAACP National Convention. He certainly did not come to the Convention to win over black voters. For the most part, that is a mission impossible.

President Obama and Mitt Romney React to the Supreme Court's Decision Upholding Health Care Reform!

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