Rep. Maxine Waters is leading the charge against President Obama, as the chief spokesperson for the Congressional Black Caucus in its critiques of America's first black President. The current black unemployment rate of 15% is almost double that of whites, showing that this economy is hitting our community more deeply. The Congressional Black Caucus is fighting now to pressure President Obama to address this disparity. Yahoo News reports:

"Obama has tried desperately to stay away from race, and all of us understand what he's doing," said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo. "But when you have such a disproportionate number of African Americans unemployed, it would be irresponsible not to direct attention and resources to the people who are receiving the greatest level of pain."

And earlier this week, the all-Democratic caucus responded to Obama's proposal for a new jobs package by saying it would insist on initiatives targeted to minorities. Pointing to outsized percentages of African-Americans losing their jobs and homes, caucus Chairwoman Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said Obama must live up to his campaign talk that racial disparities cannot be ignored...

Obama was a black caucus member in the Senate before winning the White House last year, but he has never had a close relationship with the group. In recent interviews, he has addressed their criticisms by saying he must represent the entire country, not any one population, and the best way to help low-income communities is to improve the overall economy.

"I think it's a mistake to start thinking in terms of particular ethnic segments of the United States rather than to think that we are all in this together and we are all going to get out of this together," he said.

Many blacks in Congress take exception to that view, arguing that decades of neglect and discrimination warrant particular attention to minority concerns. Veteran black lawmakers such as Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., have been among the most vocal.

This political situation has several interesting elements. At the very root of the CBC/Obama rift could be the fact that the group all-but-endorsed Hillary Clinton for president during the election race. Many in the group (and in black leadership in general) had a "wait your turn" attitude towards the then-wunderkind senator, and there could still be a lot of hateration and resentment lurking. But, amid all this typical crabs-in-a-barrel behavior, there are some very stark realities facing our community that our so-called political leaders need to do something about. All this posturing and pointing figures is not going to resolve our deeper financial issues.

The Root puts some very raw statistics out there about black wealth -- or rather, the lack of it:

Black unemployment is at nearly 16 percent. If you count those who have either given up on looking or settled for part-time jobs, nearly a quarter of African Americans are out of work. And if you drill down to young men, it's more than a third.

These dire numbers are even worse than they sound. Black America was still trying to climb out of the 2001 recession when the rest of the economy started falling apart two years ago. Black unemployment was 7.6 percent in early 2001; it's never gotten back down to that number...

Families survive tough times by digging into their wealth-savings, stocks, home equity and the like. Wealth creates options. You can go back to school or take a junior-level job in order to change careers. Or you can just ride it out. But the racial wealth gap in America is stunning: For every dollar of wealth held by the median white family in 2007--before the bust--the equivalent black family had just a dime. That makes it a lot harder to get through a layoff without taking on massive debt, which then becomes an added albatross.

Put another way, savvy economists like to measure "asset poverty" -- or, whether a family can live at the federal poverty level for three months without new income. In 2004, a whopping 40 percent of black families couldn't do it, a number twice the overall rate. Add our asset poverty to our jobless recovery from 2001, and it's little wonder black folks were such easy pickings for the equity-stripping, subprime loans that broke the world.

Can you imagine if the general population had a 30% unemployment rate among its males? Or if 40% could not survive without a paycheck for only three months? There would be an immediate investigation into all causes of these phenomena, and aid programs would be created and administered within weeks -- with no guilt being levied along with the help.

Yes, the black community does need special assistance, which numbers such as these clearly indicate. But in many ways, the situation many blacks find themselves in will not be solved by more employment opportunities alone. There are other problems that interfere with our community's ability to collect assets -- not paychecks. Aside from blatant racism, what are the cultural habits and issues that keep us down? Can the Congressional Black Caucus deal intimately with their black constituents to solve these issues -- without putting President Obama on blast? And in terms of dismantling obvious and overt financial racism, such as predatory lenders clearly targeting minorities, will Obama ever face racist facts and move to legislate against such practices? How about pushing for reparations for individuals and municipalities that have been harmed by the destructive results of wide-spread predatory lending? He can certainly take a stand on such efforts without harming himself politically.

There is a lot both the CBC and President Obama can do to help the black community weather this economic storm -- if they can heal the rift that began before Obama was president and look past their political differences towards some obvious goals that won't cost either in political clout. The CBC calling out the president, while the president tries to ignore race in America, smacks as a lot of high-end posturing that will have little economic effect where it is sorely needed at the grass roots level.

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