Amid 17% unemployment for African Americans as well as 11% foreclosures for black homeowners, many think the real surprise is that President Obama's previous astounding 95% black community approval is still a solid 87%.Two of the questions the unexpected drop in Obama's polls raised include
Why is President Obama losing black voters?
Can President Obama win the White House in 2012 with weakened support from the black community?
In the "Unresolved Problem" segment tonight: According to a new Gallup poll, President Obama's support among African-Americans is down 14 points from its high. Currently he gets support from still an impressive 81 percent, but earlier in his presidency he drew an astounding 95 percent.
So why is the president losing black voters? And can he win the White House without tremendous support from the black community? Joining us now to discuss, two men who supported the president in 2008: Rev. Jacques DeGraff, he's a Fox News contributor who is in New York, and radio talk show host Earl Ofari Hutchinson joining us from Los Angeles.
Let's start with you Rev. DeGraff. Look, you know, 95 percent, I don't know how you can ever maintain a 95 percent approval rating but very impressive. Still 81 percent, but there has been some movement. You are looking at 17 percent unemployment for African-Americans, 11 percent foreclosure rate for black homeowners. What has President Obama, to put it bluntly, done for black Americans?
Well, you know, that's a question that many people are asking. It's a legitimate question, too. Many African-Americans quietly and some not so quietly, the Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP, Urban League they're always challenging, challenging, challenging on that point. But we have to remember a couple of things. No. 1, it is true that there has been a tremendous, over the last few years and especially the last year, downturn in the economy. How much Congress, the White House, corporations, the business community and banks are responsible for that, that is subject to debate. But we do know this: that the president is the man at the top. He gets the blame for it and we're looking at many African-Americans saying Mr. President, as others are saying, you made some promises, some of them, of course, could not be kept given the rules of government but, none the less, we expect you to keep those promises. So how much of that is really a realistic expectation or overinflated expectations…
They are holding him to standards which the president himself said, the president said I don't want people to look at me as an African-American president. I happen to be but I'm the president of all the people. He said that himself. This is what Cornel West said, who is obviously a black scholar and has been on a poverty tour of the United States, the Midwest with Tavis Smiley, who is also a well-known black thinker. Obama's team reached out to West, Cornel West, several times and invited him to meet with the president. Cornel West has declined. He went on to say a beer summit won't help our issues, and he had very strong words to say about his longtime friend and he is President Obama. And he is none to happy about it. Is Cornel West wrong and there just needs to be more time for the all these ideas of the president's to germinate?
Still think it's jobs and the economy. At the end of the day the president or anyone else in elective office is going to be judged on what have you done in terms of a paycheck in my pocket, in terms of my welfare and my well-being. It's going to be the same with the president and it's going to be the same with Congress and it's going to be the same with the candidates running against him. That's not an unrealistic expectation from anyone when you are coming into these communities asking for their support.
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