Black Americans join the rest of us under the bus.

The only thing I find ironic is that they seem surprised to be here.

Over at the Black Agenda Report, Glen Ford relates a Q&A with Obama by BET reporter Andre Showell at the press conference of 4/29/09 including this exchange.  (H/T to Caro at Corrente.)

SHOWELL: “As the entire nation tries to climb out of this deep recession, in communities of color, the circumstances are far worse. The black unemployment rate, as you know, is in the double digits. And in New York City, for example, the black unemployment rate for men is near 50 percent.  My question to you tonight is given this unique and desperate circumstance, what specific policies can you point to that will target these communities and what's the timetable for us to see tangible results?”

OBAMA: “Well, keep in mind that every step we're taking is designed to help all people...“When we put in place additional dollars for community health centers to ensure that people are still getting the help that they need, or we expand health insurance to millions more children through the children's health insurance program, again, those probably disproportionately impact African-American and Latino families simply because they're the ones who are most vulnerable. They have got higher rates of uninsured in their communities.  So my general approach is that if the economy is strong, that it will lift all boats..."

Back to Glen.

So confident is Obama that his personal Blackness is all that is required to offset horrific realities such as New York City’s nearly 50 percent Black male non-participation in the formal job market – statistics from 2003 that have certainly worsened in the current crisis – he offers not a single programmatic response. Obama is quick to point out that his plan is “is designed to help all people” – another way of saying there’s nothing in it to address the specific problems of people of color.  He deploys the same twisted logic as generations of white, corporate politicians...

In 240 words, President Obama served definitive notice – for those who still didn’t get it – that he has no intention of tackling structural racism. Ever. That is his “general approach,” which should be understood as his principled position. The only change in the racial status quo we can expect from Obama has already happened: the integration of the White House.

Poor obots' koolaid must be wearing off by now.  This article in the National Review from the days just after Obama announced his candidacy for POTUS sums it up pretty well.  Obama purposely did not put forth a racial agenda.  (Surprise - he continues not to.)

Unlike Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton in earlier runs for the Democratic-party nomination, Sen. Obama, so far, has prudently not predicated his candidacy as a racial metaphor as these men did. This is a wise — and winning — decision...For white Americans, such an outcome [an Obama presidency] would have the tacit effect of exonerating them of the country’s historical racial failures...In 2004, as a candidate for the U.S. Senate, he delivered the keynote address to the Democratic National Convention in Boston. The speech was masterfully inspiring and included what many believed was his understanding of what role race should have in America today: “There is not a Black America and a White America and a Latino America and Asian America — there’s a United States of America.”  ...in The Audacity of Hope. Race-based affirmative action policies, he recognizes, have polarized the races, while race-neutral or “universal” programs unite them...

And, having admitted he attended Harvard law school because of affirmative action, can he now say the time has come to try something different?

So, what role would race have in Obama's policies?  None.  He's always made this clear - unless you were drinking the koolaid of hopey change during the primaries and believed ponies and rainbows would flow from the election.  Who read anything about Obama's positions on issues before he voted for him?  The other Democratic candidates in the 2007 field actually had stronger, more liberal, policies they advocated on race.  Unfortunately >facepalm< people voted for Obama based on the color of his skin - assuming he would promote racial equality since he's a minority himself.  Um, no.  Maybe those folks never heard of Clarence Thomas either.  Of course Obama is more deceptive in that he's in the Democratic party, whereas Thomas is a Republican.  Those not paying attention could be forgiven for not realizing the throw-back position he has on affirmative action and race in general, since it's not the typical Democractic stance.  But not for the lack of trying by bloggers such as Ford - his readers would have been better informed.

Meanwhile those unemployed men in NYC just randomly happen to be disproportionately black.  If only there were some prominent national leader who could draw attention to this disparity and be interested in finding out why to offer solutions to the problem.  Nah, better to establish a policy that we've moved beyond acknowledging there's a problem at all.