President Obama addressed an audience of some 3,000 people earlier this evening at the Congressional Black Caucus awards banquet. Watch at C-SPAN (they’re not enabling embedding). CNN Reports:
“I expect all of you to march with me, and press on,” Obama said. “… Stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying. We are going to press on. We’ve got work to do.”
The unemployment rate among African-Americans is 16.7%, nearly double the national average, while 40% of black children live in poverty. Such facts has made fiscal reforms a priority for caucus members, some of whom — most of them Democrats — have criticized Obama for not doing enough on the issue.
…Obama called the situation for many blacks “heartbreaking and it’s frustrating.” But he also touted achievements of his administration — such as on the earned income tax credit, anti-foreclosure programs and consumer financial protections — for making a difference, while admitting more work lay ahead.
“In these hard years, we have won a lot of fights (and) we’ve done a lot of good,” he said. “But we’ve got more work to do. People are still hurting.”
As to the criticism, the president said that “nobody feels the burden more than I do.” But in a rousing end to his speech, he said he knew addressing problems wasn’t going to be easy, noting that one of the chief lessons from the civil rights movement is that “you can’t stop” in the face of challenges.
Facing a tough 2012 re-election fight, Obama sought to shore up once-unquestioned support in the black community where opinion polls show waning voter enthusiasm for his policies while some politicians have criticized him for not focusing enough on black unemployment.
Even as Obama’s overall poll numbers have declined, cracks have begun to show in his support among blacks, a key constituency that helped propel him to victory in the 2008 presidential election.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll earlier this week showed that 58 percent of blacks held “strongly favorable” views of him, down from 83 percent five months ago. That coincides with a black unemployment rate that has ticked up to close to 16 percent on Obama’s watch.
Obama also recorded a BET interview set to air Monday.