How President Obama governs on civil rights

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Obama has avoided that kind of rhetoric. But aides say he is fully behind the lawsuits Holder has filed to get rid of the Republican voting laws and other moves and allows Holder to announce these policies because he is the attorney general.

Obama “cares about this [the lawsuits filed against the voter ID laws] more than any other human being I know,” said Danielle Gray, a senior White House adviser.

Conservatives argue this administration is overly focused on a legal term known as “disparate impact,” meaning Obama and his team attack policies they think might have a negative impact on minority groups even if the laws are not directly discriminatory.

“This is a very liberal administration on civil rights issues and aggressively so,” said Roger Clegg, president and general counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative group that supports the voter laws and opposes affirmative action.

While not wanting to be quoted publicly, civil rights leaders say they would still like to see the president propose and push hard for some kind of jobs program that would benefit distressed communities and help jobless workers, even if such a proposal is doomed to be blocked by Republicans in Congress. They are still frustrated that early in his tenure Obama opposed “cramdowns,” which would have allowed bankruptcy judges to reduce the terms of home loans and prevent home foreclosures. African-Americans disproportionately lost their homes  during the recession.

Further, civil rights groups are prepared to push Obama hard to make history and name a black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court if a vacancy occurs over the next three years.

“Trying to keep a black man down”

Obama, like Bill Cosby and other leading black figures, has been giving “tough love” speeches to African-Americans audiences for years, for example urging black parents to make sure their kids do their homework and don’t watch too much television.

But for six years, during his first campaign and presidency, this rhetoric generated little controversy. It wasn’t clear if Obama was saying these things from the heart or for political reasons, as a kind of Clinton-style triangulation to reassure white voters he could confront blacks. And many African-American activists and leaders were very wary of criticizing Obama publicly anyway, both because they did not want to weaken him politically, as he already faced strong opposition from Republicans, and because black voters did not like such criticism

People who have worked with Obama knew differently: these speeches were very intentional. Aides with whom I spoke, particularly males of all races, said the president was verbalizing to black audiences how he talks and views the world in private. Failures, in Obama’s view, are to be examined and studied very closely, to avoid repeating the same mistakes. A lack of self-discipline, not a lack of opportunity, is often the barrier to reaching one’s goals. Fixating on discrimination or other disadvantages one may face is not particularly useful.

The president does not just talk to aides this way. He urges young people he meets with to think about careers other than being basketball players or musicians, where the odds of success are low.  Obama tells civil rights leaders he will push the policy goals they support, but they need to build a coalition outside of the White House without him if they want those policy efforts to be successful.

“While he frequently talks about the need for all of us to help change the structural disadvantages around race and class, he’s also spoken to many African-American audiences — particularly young men — about not using these disadvantages as an excuse for cynicism or inaction.  Basically, you can’t choose your lot in life, but you do have the power to choose how you respond,” said Jon Favreau, who served as Obama’s chief speechwriter from 2007 to early last year.

In addition, while the Obama does not see himself as the “black president,” he acknowledges his role as the country’s leading black figure. He views speeches to black audiences as “in the family,” said one former aide who has spoken with him about racial issues.

And to Obama, uncomfortable truths can and should be articulated to those with whom you are closest.

“He is really just speaking from his life experience as only he can do,” Jarrett said in an interview.

The president saw the Morehouse remarks as an opportunity, not just a routine speech, according to aides. He rarely speaks in front of predominately black audiences, particularly ones like this; the college’s men are high-achievers and are often people who intend to be leaders when they leave campus.