WASHINGTON — When black voters gave President Barack Obama 93 percent support on Election Day in defiance of predictions that they might sit it out this year, black leaders breathed a collective sigh of relief.
That encouraged those leaders to try to leverage more attention from both Obama and Congress. Although they waver over how much to demand from the president — particularly in light of defeated GOP challenger Mitt Romney’s assertion that Obama gave “gifts” to minorities in exchange for their votes — they are delivering post-election wish lists to the president anyway.
National Urban League President Marc Morial acknowledged in an interview that “we sweated turnout all the way to the end,” because the country’s underlying economic conditions made it tougher to mobilize black voters. Within days of the election, Morial sent to Obama, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., an “urgent petition” asking that Obama’s second term focus on economic opportunity and income inequality.
A jobs program should emphasize infrastructure and public works, broadband technology and energy “with a special focus on those communities where unemployment is and remains stubbornly and persistently high,” Morial’s letter said.
“We who represent the nation’s urban communities will demand a seat at the table in these discussions,” he wrote.
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(Excerpt from The Associated Press: Black Voters Look to Leverage Their Loyalty)
