Black America — What If Obama Were White?
Jewish World Review Oct. 4, 2012/ 18 Tishrei, 5773 – by Larry Elder
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said last year, “If (former President) Bill Clinton had been in the White House and had failed to address this problem, we probably would be marching on the White House.”
Last month, Cleaver said: “As the chair of the Black Caucus, I’ve got to tell you, we are always hesitant to criticize the President. With 14 percent (black) unemployment, if we had a white president we’d be marching around the White House. … The President knows we are going to act in deference to him in a way we wouldn’t to someone white.”The problem to which Cleaver refers is black unemployment. At the beginning of the Obama administration, 12.7 percent of black adults seeking work were unemployed. Black unemployment is now 14.1 percent. Black teenage unemployment at the beginning of the Obama administration was 35.2 percent. Black teenage unemployment is now 37.9 percent.
A reporter asked Cleaver what would he say had Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, instead of Obama, been elected president. Cleaver admitted: “As much as I love Sen. Clinton, I would have been all over her on 14 percent unemployment for African-Americans. I would have said, ‘My sister, I love you, but this has got to go.'”












