Black Leaders Criticize Obama

Many constituencies that supported President Barack Obama in 2008 are upset with him now, accusing him of ignoring their concerns. And that includes African-Americans, as Politico reports.

Some black leaders worry that Obama not only is failing to address issues of importance to them but also avoiding them in public. They say he is voicing support to blacks on issues such as racism and poverty, but isn’t truly acting to help them.

And that could cost the president votes next year. “You can spend a lot of time trying to win over white independents, but if you don’t pay attention to your base, African-Americans, if you have not locked up your base yet, you’ve got a serious problem,” said CNN contributor Roland Martin. “African-Americans will vote for him again, 88, 92, 95 percent. The question is what’s the turnout?”