Is the Obama Administration Being Sloppy on Black Unemployment?

by Wayne Hodges, Your Black World.

WASHINGTON – With black unemployment marinating at an unfathomable 16%, philanthropist and talk show host Tavis Smiley has an impudent message for President Barack Obama: “Put black folk back to work!”

A few days ago, while promoting his new book (Fail Up: 20 Lessons on Building Success From Failure), Smiley took time to address our nation’s struggling job market along with Obama’s impending role in confronting unemployment.

“We gotta check him respectfully,” said Smiley, referring to Obama. “He can’t be afraid to talk about black unemployment, when he needed to stand up for the Jews, he did. Gays and lesbians? He did. Immigration for the Hispanic community? He did.

“So don’t leave black folks twisted in the wind because you are afraid of being accused of being ‘tribal’ and giving negroes the “hook up”. We are the most loyal part of your base! If you want the deficit to go down, put black folk back to work!”


Everything Smiley stated is true.

Obama has indeed ruffled the feathers of many blacks by lending credence to the claims of women’s groups, gays and Hispanics while shifting pressing African-American concerns to the back of the bus (no pun intended). And blacks are certainly known to expend versus save.

Therefore, by putting more African-Americans to work, we stand a much better chance of increasing consumer purchases for depreciable goods. However, we must remain cognizant of the fact Obama is not Superman.

He alone can’t rectify the black unemployment problem.

Rather than challenge Obama to put more blacks to work, Smiley should push for a national address urging members of Congress to conduct an employment study detailing why so many African-Americans are jobless.

Who knows?

As blacks, our socioeconomic plight may not be the fault of discriminatory business owners after all. Instead, it could involve something as remedial as African-American laziness or lack of qualified applicants.

With discriminatory practice, you’re talking about implementing provisions in the form of affirmative action or similar programs. With laziness, you’re talking about applying additional restraints to key social service programs with the hope of forcing more able-bodied citizens into the job market.

Oversimplifying the issue won’t help.

We won’t know the truth until a diligent study is both conducted and divulged.

So, why the push for a national address?

Because, in my humble opinion, it would give legitimacy to the proposed study while raising political awareness in the domestic job market.

Look, I’m sure Smiley means well.

Hell, everybody’s frustrated.

But it’s not fair to be injurious or to single-out Obama as the primary culprit. An attack must be levied against Congress too.

“We have to respect our President, and I do,” said Smiley in Obama’s defense. “We have to protect the President, and I do. But we also have to correct the President, remember he is a politician not a prophet like Dr. King.

“We have to push him into his greatness for him to become a great President and hold him accountable, lovingly not with malice, but there are some things he has to step up on like black unemployment, wars, and poverty.”

Push him? Yes.

Single him out? No.

Wayne Hodges, an MBA from St. Mary University, is the Editor-in-Chief of MassAppealNews.com. He also serves as District Committee Delegate in Johnson County, he’s a Democrat reporter for the Examiner, and he’s an adjunct professor in Kansas City. Wayne welcomes your comments 24/7 atwhodges@massappealnews.com

Kate Middleton, Prince William Meet Barack and Michelle Obama in London - Photo

Photo Courtesy: Justjared

Oh no, these four aren't wax figures. 

It's real, the Royal Highness, Prince William and The Dutches of Cambridge, Kate Middleton are chit-chatting with President Barack and First Lady Michelle.

This 'socializing' happened in the Buckingham Palace today, May 24.

The US' first couple head to London for a two-day-visit to The Queen, and squeeze in some attendance to both Houses of Parliament at Westminster Hall. Pretty busy, huh!

Dr. Boyce: Attacking Cornel West Does Not Resolve the Black Political Problem

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, YourBlackWorld.com

If a man is offered a piece of stale bread for dinner, he’s probably not going to want to eat it.  If you were to then say, well, “stale bread is better than horse manure,” this won’t make the stale bread taste any better.  When given the choice between bad food and horrible food, some people would just rather not eat or try to eat someplace else.

But this is what black America is being fed when they are told that they should passionately support the Democrats simply because the Republicans are going to be worse.  The meal is being fed, in part, by elitist liberals like Melissa Harris Perry at Tulane University (formerly Princeton), a darker-skinned staple in the white liberal establishment and fully-indoctrinated member in the Barack Obama fan club.   In a recent article where Perry works diligently to dismiss the political and scholarly relevance of Dr. Cornel West (a huge mistake on her part, since West earned his stripes when Perry was still in high school), she reproduces the same rhetoric that Ivy Leaguers utilize to somehow convince rank-and-file black folks to start seeing things that simply don’t exist.  The same political magic trick was used when the administration got a tiny militia of black Harvard Law Professors to campaign on behalf of Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court in spite of her undeniably racist hiring record – this is how Harvard and Yale folks take care of one another.  Notice that our entire Supreme Court is full of Ivy League graduates; the elite protect their power by manipulating the minds of poor and working class Americans.

Let’s be clear, I am no fan of the disposition against President Obama taken three years ago by Tavis Smiley.  I took Tavis to the carpet for his very personal assault on Obama, which I speculate might explain why he hasn’t ever spoken to me (I could actually care less, to be honest).  I am neither an Obama critic nor am I a super fan.   My agenda is simple:  I want to see leading politicians address massive black unemployment, mass incarceration, rampant racial discrimination in the workplace and the dysfunctional educational systems that are destroying black children and families.  To date, politicians are not standing strong on nearly any of these issues, and given that our surveys show that these problems affect the vast majority of the black community, this should be a concern.

What disturbs me most about the calls I’ve received from the White House and others who somehow believe that we are helping the president by resigning our right to free speech, is that the political types in Washington are more concerned about who gets blamed for the problem than they are about solving the problem.  After Dr. Wilmer Leon and I spoke about the seemingly unproductive relationship between the Obama Administration and the Congressional Black Caucus, most prominent critics of that conversation could only ask, “Why are you blaming Valerie Jarrett for canceling meetings with the CBC?”  Most interesting is that I spoke to Dr. Leon because he could provide an objective opinion on political strategy without any of the selfish agendas that drive those who either reject or support the president outright.  Dr. Leon makes it clear that if you spend all of your time either hating the Obama Administration for no reason or popping champagne bottles because you think we’ve hit Juneteenth Part II, you are not using your political voice in an effective way.

I don’t care if the responsibility for Washington’s political apathy falls on Valerie Jarrett, Barack Obama, the CBC or the pet chicken in the front yard.  All I know is that I just talked the daughter of a formerly incarcerated man who told me that none of his five children graduated from high school because their father was not there to guide them.  I am not sure why any black person on the planet would have any incentive whatsoever to vehemently support an administration with a black male attorney general who has not lifted a finger to reform a justice system that is undeniably racist.

So, perhaps those who are quick to implement the “stop snitching on Obama” policy on Cornel West should stop trying to counter his argument by telling West to remain silent.  Instead, he should be silenced with relevant and meaningful action on the part of the Obama Administration.  Spinning, twisting and reshaping the conversation means nothing when black unemployment continues to rise, mass incarceration decimates our people and our children are not being educated.  You can either get angry at someone for calling you fat, or you can take your fat butt to the gym.  Unfortunately, it’s easier for Washington types and elitist liberals to use political double-speak than it is for them to point to concrete evidence that working and middle class black people (the bulk of whom experience rampant and unregulated discrimination in the workplace) have a reason to be excited about the next election.  Whether they should reject President Obama vs. his Republican counterparts is debatable; but whether they should reject all of Washington is undeniable.

The bottom line is simple:  Giving black folks a choice between stale bread and horse manure is not going to make them want to eat at your restaurant.  It’s time for some political courage and action, instead of asking us to submit to a system that clearly isn’t working.  Whether one agrees with Cornel West or not, he must ultimately be given credit for guiding the conversation back to poor, black and brown people.  Attacking West for pointing out the obvious is nothing more than a counter-productive distraction.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition.  To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

President Bush Speaks About Bin Laden’s Death

Well GW, it was your idea, so what do you have to say about the death of Osama Bin Laden after a successful mission orchestrated by President Obama.

The Former Presidents Bush and Clinton were both briefed by President Obama of the news before his press conference to the nation, and Bush shortly released the following statement of his own.

“This momentous achievement marks a victory for America, for people who seek peace around the world, and for all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001. The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done.”
Clinton, who had originally started the Bin Laden search back in the early 90′s had this to say,
“This is a profoundly important moment not just for the families of those who lost their lives on 9/11 and in al-Qaida’s other attacks but for people all over the world who want to build a common future of peace, freedom, and cooperation for our children. I congratulate the President, the National Security team and the members of our armed forces on bringing Osama bin Laden to justice after more than a decade of murderous al-Qaida attacks.”

During his address to the nation, Obama said, “Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims. Indeed, al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity. Justice has been served.”

by Charley Been

Did the Saudis (order Pakistan to) sell out Bin Laden?

Osama Bin Laden apparently lived in Pakistan for much of the past ten years. With all due respect to President Obama's pride in the US forces who got Bin Laden, it should be obvious to all that the United States suddenly found Bin Laden now because someone chose to turn him in. But who? Asia Times' Spengler blog believes that Bin Laden's activities in Yemen were threatening Saudi interests, and therefore the Saudis ordered the Pakistanis - who may yet be the principal Sunni ally for Saudi Arabia - to turn Bin Laden in.

In short, while al-Qaeda had drawn funding from both Saudi and Iranian sources, in present circumstances its activity tended to serve Iranian rather than Saudi interests. Support for terrorism, moreover, is a two-way street: precisely because Saudi Arabia was "a critical financial support base for al-Qaeda", Saudi intelligence knows something about the recipients of their money.

The Saudis, moreover, have an interest in cleaning up the terrorist associations of the Pakistani military. As the Saudi cold war with Iran grows increasingly hot, Riyadh may look towards Islamabad for military support. Asia Times Online has reported that the Bahrain National Guard already is recruiting Pakistani mercenaries. (See Pakistan ready for Middle East role, April 2.)

And there is speculation that Saudi Arabia in a pinch might ask for Pakistani troops, and also that Riyadh might source nuclear weapons technology from Pakistan to counter Iran's nuclear program. Where else might the Saudis go for support in a war with Iran? The Saudis cannot trust the United States. King Abdullah reportedly was enraged that Obama pulled the rug out from under Mubarak, a longstanding American ally. And they cannot trust the Turks, who have become the region's spoiler.

Pakistan's military capacity and urgent need for money make it the Sunni power most amenable to Saudi interests. That is one more reason to clear the deck of unreliable elements like Bin Laden.

Ironically, Bin Laden appears to be a casualty in the great Arab breakdown of 2011. We can only guess as to the details of his demise, and may never know the entire truth. But it is a fair conclusion that he was crushed between the tectonic plates now shifting in the Muslim world.

Read the whole thing.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem

Bin Laden's Legacy

Christopher Hitchens has a nice piece about the death of Osama bin Laden over at Slate:

If you tell me that you are staying in a rather nice walled compound in Abbottabad, I can tell you in return that you are the honored guest of a military establishment that annually consumes several billion dollars of American aid. It's the sheer blatancy of it that catches the breath.

There's perhaps some slight satisfaction to be gained from this smoking-gun proof of official Pakistani complicity with al-Qaida, but in general it only underlines the sense of anticlimax. After all, who did not know that the United States was lavishly feeding the same hands that fed Bin Laden? There's some minor triumph, also, in the confirmation that our old enemy was not a heroic guerrilla fighter but the pampered client of a corrupt and vicious oligarchy that runs a failed and rogue state.

Also check out Eight Mysteries About the Killing of Osama bin Laden or you can actually find the full article also at Slate.

Posted byWriter

Barack Obama Tuscon Speech a Call For Public Healing, Civil Discourse

 Barack Obama Tuscon Speech a Call For Public Healing, Civil Discourse

President Barack Obama did his best to comfort Tucson, Arizona and the nation as a whole last night at a eulogy for the victims of last week's tragedy.

Urging Americans to forward on "in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds," his speech evoked memories of the six killed and many wounded.

Among those wounded was U.S. Rep. Gabrille Giffords, whose supermarket meet-and-greet instead became the site of this unspeakable tragedy.

Obama Tuscon Speech

Obama condemned our nation's increasingly harsh public dialogue, or "politics, point-scoring and pettiness that drifts away with the next news cycle."

"Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully," he told 14,000 people at the University of Arizona's McKale Memorial Center in Tucson.

Instead, he called upon us "to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together."

THG

Megan Fox on Barack Obama: "He's Very Sexy"

Megan Fox has a thing for President-elect Barack Obama!

"I think he's very sexy," the sultry starlet said at last night's party celebrating GQ's annual Men of the Year list (Obama is among the honorees). "And God help me because I hope I don’t get in trouble for saying this, but I think he's so articulate and so intelligent and so charismatic when he delivers speeches, that there is something very sexy about that—very! And he's also very slim and lean."

And which other actor surprised us by fawning over Obama's sexiness? Read on to find out...

Aaron Eckhart, that's who!

"The dude has got the looks going on," said Eckhart, a sex symbol in his own right. "I don't know what he is on a 1-to-10 scale...but he's athletic, he's in control, he's charming and he's well-spoken."