For the first time in his nearly three years in office, President Barack Obama has given a candid Oval Office interview on the state of black America. Presidents rarely provide this kind of access. Besides official statements or addresses to the nation, the Oval remains reserved for meetings with members of the president’s cabinet and staff or foreign dignitaries. It is the seat of power where policies are designed, strategy is debated and plans that shape the future of our nation, and indeed the world, come to life.
This makes Obama’s decision to sit down with the team of Chicago WVON’s The Morning Show, a unique event. WVON is the only urban talk station in Illinois and the largest black station in Chicago. Last Monday, fresh off the heels of a Rose Garden press conference on the FEMA response to Hurricane Irene, the president entered the Oval Office and conducted a rare 15-minute conversation, answering questions and concerns of his most loyal constituency, African-Americans.
In the heated political climate which has erupted since President Obama took office in January 2009, race has become the subtext of attacks against him from the far right. Perhaps this could have been anticipated. Our great-grandparents may have warned us that the men in white would soon be riding into town, under the cover of night. But the hope and change that so many hailed as the definitive example of a post-racial America veiled a greater political truth: that Obama’s election represented a diametric shift in the political and economic power structure. And those who fight power often do so at great risk to themselves.
The consequence of the backlash has been an unfortunately muted dialogue from the Obama White House on issues relating specifically to the African-American community. Obama walks a fine line: being the president of all the people, while remaining loyal to those who have been most loyal to him. The fact is that any sign President Obama gave preferential treatment or special inclination to the needs of minorities, and blacks in particular, would be seen by his Republican opponents as criminal and worthy of impeachment.
But President Obama’s silence has not gone unnoticed, especially by certain black commentators and critics; Professor Cornel West and Tavis Smiley being the most out-spoken of them all. Even Rep. Maxine Waters, a ranking member of the Congressional Black Caucus, spoke on behalf of many, when she accused the President of not giving enough attention to the issue of black unemployment.
President Obama addressed these issues in his talks with McGill and Monteilh, and I am happy enough to have been a fly on the wall listening in. I am now sharing a segment of this special conversation with you. President Obama, in his own words, speaks candidly, honestly and poignantly on how his policies affect the African-American community. He discusses the opposition encountered from Republicans in Congress, how he and Michelle juggle work and life inside the fishbowl, and his outlook on the 2012 Race.
Oval Office Conversation with President Obama on the state of black America. August 29, 2011. (Transcribed by Edward Wyckoff Williams)
McGill: Mr. President, I just wanted to ask you, how has the presidency been for you? I know you had expectations of what holding office would be. Has anything surprised you or disappointed you about being president?
Obama: Well look, obviously we didn’t anticipate coming in during the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression; and so there have been frustrations in terms of getting the economy moving so we can get people back to work. On the other hand, the amount of good stuff that we’ve gotten done over the last two and half years has actually met a lot of our expectations. We were able to get health care reform done, benefiting probably 7 million African-Americans who are going to be able to get health care insurance, go to a doctor, get regular check-ups, prevent preventable diseases.
Expanding programs like the Pell Grant program, to help young people go to college. And give them opportunity. Millions of young people are going to be benefiting from that. Being able to end the War in Iraq, as I promised. Making sure that we put in place stronger regulations so we don’t have the same kind of mess on Wall Street that we’ve seen in the past.
So we’ve been able to amass a really historic legislative record over the last two and half years. But the fact is that the economy is still recovering. And what I think about every single day is how we can make sure more folks are going to work. And obviously the African-American community has suffered even more. There’s that old saying when American gets a cold, African-Americans get pneumonia. And the jobless rate across the board, and particularly in communities like inner-city Chicago, this has been a devastating blow. So we’ve just got to keep on at it. And next week we’ll be presenting additional plans.
We’re getting some resistance from Congress. The Republican Party has not been thinking much about the day-to-day toll that people have been going through, and has been pretty ideologically rigid. That surprised me a little bit: the unwillingness to cooperate more, in order to solve problems. But I continue that confidence that if we just stay on them, eventually we’ll get there.McGill: It seems like early on with the health care reform legislation that there were some indications from Republicans that they were willing to work with you on health care reform. It seemed like they understood the United States needed to move in that direction, and then once the process began that attitude changed.
Obama: Well I think folks started making political decisions, instead of decisions on what’s best for the country. Decided to put party ahead of country. And we’ve continued to see that. We saw that with this debt-ceiling debate, where they were unwilling to budge off their position that you can’t ask more from wealthy people, paying their fair share of taxes in order to help close the deficit. As a consequence, I think they’re at historic lows in terms of popularity. But they spent a lot of time responding to a narrow segment of their base, instead of responding to the needs of the American people. And so we’re going to have to keep on putting pressure.
My job is to present the best ideas possible. We’ve got ideas right now that are before Congress: extending the payroll tax cut, which would continue to put an extra $1000 in the pockets of the average working family, so that businesses can grow because they’ve got more customers. Making sure that we’re putting more people back to work, we’re building roads, bridges and schools that are not up-to-par. And that could help a whole lot of folks who were laid-off when the housing bubble burst. We’ve got a whole lot of ideas, but the question is whether they’re going to be willing to move on them in a timely fashion. And if they’re not, then I think they’ll be answering to the American people.
McGill: You talked about the unemployment numbers and you talked about the fact that they are disproportionately higher in the African-American community. How do you deal with trying to have an impact on those numbers without being accused of “preferential” treatment?
Obama: Well you know the truth of the matter is that the most important thing I can do for all communities, including the African-American community, is to grow the economy, and make sure that the unemployment rate overall goes down. When the economy is humming and people are working, then employers end up hiring – everybody. And that makes a big difference. So what we’ve got to do is just focus on those steps that are going to make the biggest difference to the economy overall. When that happens, you see African-Americans benefiting.
And I’m actually pretty confident that if you combine the school reform efforts that we’re doing, to really give our young people better skills, with an economy that’s growing, then this next generation is going to have more opportunities than they ever had before. But we’re going to have to work through this difficult period and there’s a great sense of urgency. What I’m most worried about are folks who’ve been unemployed for 6 months or longer. The longer you’re unemployed the easier it is for you to fall out of the kind of habits that could help you get attached back to the job market.
McGill: You know they say you’re not running against a particular candidate, you’re running against unemployment numbers. But it seems like you’ve done your part to bring them down. Of course you helped bail some of the financial institutions out, you’ve extended the Bush-era taxes. You’ve taken a lot of criticism from your base doing that.
You’ve got big businesses sitting on billions of dollars in cash, and unemployment numbers are not moving; they’re not hiring people. Is that frustrating for you?
Obama: Absolutely it’s frustrating. But the truth of the matter is we’ve been through much more difficult times before. We’ve seen phases in the history of this country where the economy stalls, people lose confidence, and then it chugs back up.
Long-run, I am very optimistic. We still have the best universities on earth. We’ve got the best workers on earth. We’ve got the best entrepreneurs on earth. The best scientists on earth. Most of the new ideas are developed here in the United States of America. We still attract people from all around the world who want to live here, because of the vibrancy of our society.
We’ve made enormous strides when it comes to issues like racial equality…gender equality. And so I think the overall prognosis of the United States of America is excellent. And the question is: do we make sure we’re taking the right steps, right now, or do we go backwards? And we’re going to have a very clear choice next year in terms of vision. Because the Republican Party’s vision is basically to cut back on all those things that help make this country successful: cut back on support for public education, cut back on support for scientific research, cut back on the money that’s spent to rebuild our infrastructure, so we’d always have the best roads and bridges, and seaports and airports in the world.
That’s their agenda. Cutting back on Medicare and Social Security: safety nets that ensure dignity and self-respect for people. And so there’s going to be a strong contrast between where they want to take the country, and where I want to take the country, and that’s what elections are all about.
McGill: It seems like Republicans are good at convincing their base, and even people who vote against their own interests, that spending is a bad thing and investing in the country for the issues that you’ve just outlined is a bad thing. That’s going to be a challenge for you.
Obama: Well look, there’s no doubt that we’ve had 30 years in which people have attacked government. And government is a means, not an end. But government is us. Government is not some abstract thing. All those folks from FEMA who are out there helping people in the floods, those are government workers. Government is our troops in Afghanistan. Government is the teacher in the inner-city school, helping the young person learn how to read.
I think people have been taught to assume that government somehow is waste. When in fact, most of the individual programs that government engages in, people are supportive of. And what we have to explain is that government has to live within its means. But just like a family has to make investments in their child’s college education, just like a family has to make investments in home repairs so there aren’t leaks and the home doesn’t get rundown, the same is true for the country as a whole. And if we can recapture that sense of making smart investments today that have big pay-offs down the road, then I think we’ll do fine.
McGill: Personally how are you doing? I would imagine your commitment to the country and commitment to the presidency also may at sometime interfere with your commitment as a father and husband. Is that a challenge for you?
Obama: Well first of all, the fact that I live above the store really helps. (Laughter) I just have to walk 30 seconds and I’m home. So I’ve cut down on my commuting time drastically. And when I do travel, I have a nice plane. (Laughter) So I’m spending a lot of time with the girls and a lot of time with Michelle. There are times like last weekend we had to deal with the Hurricane, and they don’t mind if daddy’s downstairs for three, four hours working the phones or meeting with his team. But usually I’m home every night for dinner when I’m in town. And they’re doing wonderfully.
I think this is a tougher thing for Michelle, probably. Because there’s an isolating aspect of living in the White House. She can’t just get in her car and go to Target, do some shopping, and meet her girlfriends. Everything’s got to be planned out: she causes a fuss wherever she goes. But the truth of the matter is she’s done a remarkable job with the Let’s Move Campaign to try to get folks healthier, kids eating better. She’s done a terrific job of supporting military families who have such urgent needs. I couldn’t be prouder of the job that she’s done; and couldn’t be prouder of those kids who are just thriving.
McGill: How do you change your message of hope and change? That reflects the same thing, because the country is still in that need? How do you get that message out in 2012 to middle-America and people who are convinced otherwise?
Obama: Well you know the truth of the matter is everyone has a selective memory about my presidential campaign. Everyone remembers the end where everybody had the posters, and everybody is saying “Yes We Can”, everybody is feeling good.
But I remember right around this time back in 2007, where everybody had written us off. And everybody had said he’s got no chance, he’s 30 points behind, he’s not going to win Iowa, he’s going to have to fold-up tent. The campaign was hard. There were times where we would think to ourselves this thing is just not going to work, it’s just not going to happen.
But somehow we made a way out of no way. And I think that is going to be our same approach when it comes to 2012. That’s my same approach when it comes to the country. We just keep on slotting. We keep on trying. We don’t give up. We stay focused on what our goals are: which is helping as many people as possible live out the American Dream.
One thing I’m a big believer in is persistence. You stay with something and sooner or later you’re going to get there.
Monteilh: Would you change your strategy, however, in your message that you said last campaign, to the one that’s coming up? Would you change your strategy and what would you do?
Obama: I can’t yet tell where we’re going to be six months from now. My first job is to serve the people as the president of the United States. There will be a time for campaigning. But I know that whatever we do, there are a whole lot of folks out there who I think share our belief in a vision of America that is bold, and generous and optimistic. And is looking out for everybody, not just some.
And that spirit that we were able to capture in 2008…that spirit lives out there. Folks have taken some lumps because of this recession over the last two years, and I’ve got more gray hair than I did back then, but overall, I could not be more confident in the American people.
Edward Wyckoff Williams is an author, columnist, political and economic analyst, and a former investment banker. Follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.
Anita Rechell-Vaughan, who organized and coordinated the Oval office interview, is a Multi-Media Executive Producer and radio contractor with 15 years of experience. She resides with her son in Chicago.
Matt McGill is a Chicago native who currently hosts of The Morning Show on WVON 1690AM. And has over 20 years experience.
Bryant Monteilh, a native of Phoenix, is the morning drive news anchor for WVON and a videography specialist, with more than 20 years experience.