(Akiit.com) President Barack Obama is quietly moving forward with a plan for black America. He’s just not talking about it.

It’s probably a good idea.

Obama has been criticized recently – particularly by commentator Tavis Smiley – for not speaking out directly on behalf of African-Americans and failing to specifically address the needs of the black community through a symbolic “black agenda.”

That’s nonsense.

Obama is the nation’s first black president, and, while he was elected with overwhelming support from African-Americans, he’s not a president just for black folks. Critics like Smiley won’t be able to strong arm Obama into publicly announcing some sort of black agenda. The president is resistant to bullying tactics, no matter who is doing the bullying.

Smiley appeared on “The Tom Joyner Morning Show” early last week and chastised black leaders, saying Obama had not been pressed hard enough in a White House meeting - one with Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network, National Urban League’s Marc Morial and the NAACP’S Ben Jealous - to act in the interest of African-Americans.

Smiley said “a chorus of black leaders have started singing a new song,” - that the president doesn’t need a black agenda. He then announced that he would host an accountability forum in Chicago on March 20 entitled “We Count: The Black Agenda is the American Agenda.”

This is real-world politics. Those who feel Obama has not manned-up enough for black Americans reveal a lack of political maturity about how Washington works. Obama is still navigating his way through the rough-and-tumble politics on Capitol Hill, but he has learned this: Don’t telegraph every idea publicly. Just do it.

And so, Obama, through a number of federal agencies and aggressive policies, is actually creating a comprehensive blueprint for black America – it just doesn’t have a label. And does it really need one?

Here’s what’s important: The issues of concern to black Americans have been put on paper and sent to Congress. The mark of a committed politician is gauged in large part by a budget. Many lawmakers talk a good game, but often won’t fund their own proposals. Former President George W. Bush boasted repeatedly about his landmark idea, “No Child Left Behind.” But he forgot to pay for it.

Consider these budget highlights from the Obama administration.

- Education: Last week, Obama signed an executive order for historically black colleges and universities to strengthen the relationship between HBCUs and the federal government. Obama is also extending resources to HBCUs and their students, including $95 million in the 2011 budget and $850 million over 10 years, as well as increasing the Pell Grant maximum to nearly $6,000. Obama also announced at a recent event with Colin and Alma Powell an effort to combat the dropout crisis in America by investing $3.5 billion in underperforming schools. These resources will go into urban communities in some of the toughest schools, where the dropout rates are highest among African Americans.
Read The Full Story…

(Akiit.com) One of the slogans of President Clinton’s 1992 Presidential campaign was “Putting People First.” Those three words gave voice to the growing feeling in the country that the people’s needs were not being put first - the political saga playing itself out in New York State is just the latest evidence for an increasingly cynical America that in fact, it’s not about them anymore.

Unfortunately, just as he stubbornly refused for far too long to accept that his candidacy for governor was not viable, Governor Paterson can’t seem to recognize that it’s not all about him. Seriously, Governor Paterson, when you’ve got Reverend Al calling a meeting at Sylvia’s, you shouldn’t wait to be asked, it’s time to do the right thing, put the needs of the people first, and step down.

Having been elevated to governor in the wake of Eliot Spitzer’s scandals, Paterson should recognize that while he might think (and even deserve) he has the right to fight, maybe doing so while sitting in the governor’s office is not what’s right for the people of the state of New York. No doubt New Yorkers have scandal fatigue and the scandals have not been contained in one party.

Earlier this year New York State’s comptroller Alan Hevesi stepped down in the wake of accusations that he had used his staff to run private errands and selling access to New York’s pension fund. Joe Bruno, the Republican New York Senate Majority leader was convicted of taking bribes, and just yesterday Congressman Eric Massa announced that he was not going to run again for “health reasons“, never mind the accusations of inappropriate advances made to a staffer. Beyond the various scandals, New York is in real financial trouble, currently facing the need for “extraordinary cash measures“, including withholding about $1.4 billion of payments in March for school aid, tax refunds or not-for-profit groups who provide state services.

Like most Americans, New Yorkers are fed up with a broken system that allows elected officials, celebrities and CEO’s live by one set of rules where their actions are not tied to the consequences, while the rest of us live in the real world where we just don’t have that luxury. It cuts against a fundamental American value that there should be some sense of fairness, or at least the opportunity for fair treatment. The scandals are not contained to the public sector, news about bank bailouts and Toyota withholding critical information about its cars to protect its profits all contribute to an underlying sense that something is seriously broken, and we the people are getting pushed farther and farther out of the picture.
Read The Full Story…

(Akiit.com) The President made his eleventh-hour call for comprehensive health care reform on Wednesday, challenging Congress to have an up or down vote within weeks. Once again, he embraced a spirit of bipartisanship that will not likely yield a single Republican vote. But he also articulated a sense of urgency, and appropriately so, that time is up and Congress must take action now.

His speech comes on the heels of a letter to Congress, in which he said that he would incorporate Republican ideas into the bill, including:

1) engaging “medical professionals to conduct random undercover investigations of health care providers that receive reimbursements from Medicare, Medicaid, and other Federal programs”;
2) $50 million to states for alternatives to resolving medical malpractice disputes, such as health courts;
3) additional funds for Medicaid reimbursements to doctors, and
4) an expansion of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).

As a part of his last-minute push, President Obama plans to take health care on the road, with town hall events scheduled next week in Philadelphia and St. Louis.

On one level, President Obama chose a rhetorical middle ground, which was consistent with his self-appointed role as a bridge builder. “On one end of the spectrum, there are some who’ve suggested scrapping our system of private insurance and replacing it with a government-run health care system. And though many other countries have such a system, in America it would be neither practical nor realistic,” the president said. At the same time, he rejected the position of many congressional Republicans that government should loosen regulations on the insurance industry. “The argument is, is that that will somehow lower costs. I disagree with that approach,” he said. “I’m concerned that this would only give the insurance industry even freer rein to raise premiums and deny care.”

President Obama laid out a $100 billion-a-year proposal that he said would give consumers more control over their insurance, and hold insurance companies more accountable. He argued that his proposal will change three things about the present system:

1) End the worst practices of insurance companies, including denying of coverage based on a preexisting condition, dropping coverage because of an illness, and random, massive rate hikes;
2) Give uninsured individuals and small businesses the same insurance choices that members of Congress enjoy, and
3) Provide tax credits to those who cannot afford insurance.

Obama hinted he is open to Congress passing legislation through the reconciliation process. Missing from Obama’s address was any mention of a public health insurance option, which enjoys majority support throughout the nation, and is more popular than the Senate plan, according to recent polls. Meanwhile, three more senators have signed onto a letter calling for Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) to pass a public option through reconciliation. The special procedure used for budgetary items would require a mere 51-vote majority for passage, as opposed to a filibuster-proof supermajority of 60 votes.

There is a strong argument in favor of reconciliation. Evoking memories of segregationist Dixiecrats’ attempts to block civil rights legislation in the 1960s, and then some, the Republican minority’s voracious appetite for the filibuster has brought business in that legislative body to a standstill of late. With individual lawmakers able to hold up votes on crucial bills–blocking everything from the extension of unemployment benefits to votes on nominees to cabinet posts–the Senate looks increasingly like a paralyzed, dysfunctional body.

So, the President is hedging on the public option. His willingness to drop the public option has angered the Obama base, reflecting more of a Rahm Emanuel-inspired, Washington-insider move, rather than the convictions of the bold campaigner and change agent of 2008. Nevertheless, he did leave it to Congress to get the job done in the next few weeks, and it is up to them to access the public option route, should they choose to do so.

Despite his seemingly quixotic quest for bipartisanship, President Obama apparently understands its limits. He laid a trap for Republicans should health care succeed and they refuse to vote for it. “Even those who acknowledge the problem of the uninsured say we just can’t afford to help them right now — which is why the Republican proposal only covers 3 million uninsured Americans while we cover over 31 million,” he said of his GOP adversaries.
Read The Full Story…

(Akiit.com) They started their careers as bright young men in the Democratic precincts of Harlem. Each achieved great success.

The quartet, known in political history as The Gang of Four, consisted of David Dinkins, Charles Rangel, Basil Paterson and Percy Sutton. But that old gang is breaking up. Its power is largely gone.

David Paterson, has bowed out of the race for governor and, now, Charlie Rangel is stepping down as chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. There are new allegations about Governor Paterson’s office receiving World Series tickets and a drumbeat of editorials and columns demanding his resignation.

The governor is the son of Basil Paterson, former state senator and former secretary of state. Basil Paterson has achieved great success as a lawyer and, with his son’s accession to the governorship, it seemed like a dynasty was in the making. It was not to be.

Charlie Rangel back in 1970 toppled the then legend of Harlem politics, Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, from power. Rangel became a legendary figure himself, rising ultimately to the chairmanship of the powerful Ways and Means Committee in Congress. And, now, under fire for accepting free business trips to the Caribbean, Rangel has stepped down he says, temporarily, from his chairmanship — even as the House Ethics Committee is looking into other charges against him.

Three years ago, Rangel’s book “And I haven’t had a bad day since….” was published. It was a memoir that told of his heroism in the Korean War when he led 40 men to safety out of a Chinese encirclement during three days of freezing weather. He won the Bronze Star With Valor and the Purple Heart. He was wounded by shrapnel.

Since that moment, he told a reporter, “I mean it with all my heart, I have never, never had a bad day.”

Percy Sutton, who died recently, was elected Manhattan Borough President, but lost when he tried to become New York’s first black Mayor. He changed careers, becoming a highly successful businessman. Along the way, he represented Malcolm X and, years later, I saw him work tirelessly to help Malcolm’s children and a grandchild.

Years after Sutton failed in his bid to become mayor, David Dinkins attained that position and he said then, as he says now, that he “stood on the shoulders of giants” to win the job.

The Gang of Four made Harlem into a bastion of black power — but the city’s black population has largely dispersed to Queens, the Bronx and the outer suburbs, and Harlem is no longer the center of African-American political leadership or electoral power.
Read The Full Story…

(Akiit.com) Say what you want about Rev. Jesse Jackson, but the value of his legacy cannot be denied. Few have made the sacrifices Jackson has made, and few can match his historical significance when it comes to America’s quest for equality and civil rights. Every politician or American citizen who wishes to question the methods by which Jackson achieves his objectives need only compare his record to their own. Most politicians can’t say that they nearly died in order to serve their constituencies, but Jesse Jackson can certainly make such a statement.

What is important to understand about the legacy of Rev. Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton and others is that most of what we know about these men has been presented through the lens of an American media construct that is conditioned to project negative imagery of black men. Therefore, when Bill Clinton has an affair, he’s just another philandering politician. When Jesse Jackson has an affair, he is considered unfit to lead. When Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Harry Reid say racially insensitive things about Obama, it becomes water under the bridge. When Rev. Jackson slips and makes a televised error, some have the audacity to argue that he is no longer relevant. The decision by some to toss out black leadership in exchange for a black president becomes mind boggling in light of the fact that our black president has made it abundantly clear that he has almost no interest in pursuing targeted advocacy for the African-American community.

I remember getting a call from Rev. Jackson the day after his fateful slip on Fox News during the 2008 presidential campaign. I don’t need to remind you of what happened, since the mere imagery of his statement is enough to make you wince. Rev. Jackson immediately apologized for his comments and gave an intelligent and thoughtful statement about the conditions of the urban poor and how they should not be ignored by the White House. He also noted that the White House is almost always willing to discuss policy implications for nearly every special interest group in America, but the unique challenges of the African-American community are consistently left off the agenda. Although I didn’t feel that Rev. Jackson owed me an apology, I immediately forgave him and put his mistake into context. I know that Rev. Jackson’s hurtful words toward Barack Obama were no different from the kinds of words being used behind closed doors by political figures every single day.
Read The Full Story…