Anderson@Large

Obama, Jobs and the Road Less Traveled

As President Obama’s bus tour of the rural Midwest rolled to an end, a Gallup poll found just 26 percent of Americans approve of his handling of the economy, the lowest level of his presidency.

Meanwhile, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Emanuel Cleaver warns the jobless crisis in black urban America may depress black voter turnout in 2012:

Citizens of this country are hungering for work. And that hunger in all likelihood is going to turn into desperation and I don’t know how that desperation will be played out. There are some frustrations and I hear all kinds of things from African-Americans. I think what’s going to happen is that people would be angry but I think at the end of the day, they’re not going to vote on the other side. The danger for the President is that they may not vote at all. He will get the majority of the Black vote. The issue is the majority of what?

During the CBC’s “For the People” Jobs Initiative town hall meeting in Detroit, Rep. Maxine Waters said the CBC is getting tired. Waters shared their frustration that CBC members are reluctant to put pressure on Obama lest African American voters turn on them:

We don’t put pressure on the president because y’all love the president. Y’all love the president. You’re very proud to have a black man -- first time in the history of the United States of America. If we go after the president too hard, you’re going after us.

The CBC wants to know where is the urban jobs initiative?:

The Congressional Black Caucus loves the president too. We’re supportive of the president, but we’re getting tired, y’all. We’re getting tired. And so, what we want to do is, we want to give the president every opportunity to show what he can do and what he’s prepared to lead on. We want to give him every opportunity, but our people are hurting. The unemployment is unconscionable. We don’t know what the strategy is. We don’t know why on this trip that he’s in the United States now, he’s not in any black community. We don't know that.

Waters told the audience:

When you tell us it’s alright and you unleash us and you tell us you’re ready for us to have this conversation, we’re ready to have the conversation.

Ready or not, Rep. John Conyers Jr., is taking to the streets. Conyers repeated his call for a “rally at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue the day before the Congressional Black Caucus begins its annual conference.”

CBC Kicks off Jobs Tour

The Congressional Black Caucus kicks off its “For the People” Jobs Initiative today in Cleveland. In a statement, CBC Chair Emanuel Cleaver said:

Our goal remains the same. We want to get 10,000 people hired. If you have jobs we have thousands of people who need them. Washington has finally ended the see-saw game on the debt ceiling and now we can finally focus on real people who are suffering. We are pleased that many of our nation’s employers have stepped up to the plate to help remedy the crisis.

The bus will stop in Detroit, Atlanta, Miami and Los Angeles.

The CBC may cross paths with President Obama who will get on his own bus for a three-day tour of the Midwest. As the Washington Post reported:

Obama is planning to conduct his own three-day “listening tour” through the Midwest that starts this weekend, with a stop in Iowa on Aug. 16. That same day, the CBC will be in Detroit for the second of its five rallies.

Cleaver told the Post:

What the president is doing is not the same as what we’re doing . . . We have real jobs to give real people who are unemployed. This is not one of those deals where we go around and talk about jobs and hope somebody gives us some press attention.

Look out, folks. The bus is coming.

President Obama Signs Debt Bill

A few weeks ago, President Obama told congressional Republicans it was time to “eat their peas” and raise the debt ceiling. GOP leaders stalled until the eleventh hour when a “bipartisan deal” was reached.

Within hours of the bill’s passage in the Senate, Obama signed the compromise that Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Emanuel Cleaver called “a sugar-coated Satan sandwich.”

That’s probably why there was no public bill signing ceremony. Instead, Obama signed the, ahem, devil spawn in the Oval Office.

Come November, the “super committee” and Congress will have to do it again and eat their peas.

UPDATE: Gallup reports that by 46 percent to 39 percent, Americans oppose the debt ceiling deal. Independents oppose the compromise 50 percent to 33 percent.

Money for War, None for Transparency

With the threat of a government shutdown looming, the White House reportedly has offered an additional $20 billion in budget cuts for the current fiscal year. And while there’s no money for open government initiatives, the week old war in Libya has already cost $600 million.

Nancy Scola of techPresident reports:

Open government advocates are freaking out about what the continuing budget resolutions being considered in the House and Senate would do to federal transparency projects like Data.gov, USASpending.gov, and online collaborations, which is to defund them, or to cut their funding to the bone; under the measures being considered on the Hill, the appropriation for the E-Government Fund for the remainder of the year would be cut to 1/17th of what it was in FY 2010, from $34 million down to two. OpenCongress’s Donny Shaw puts the numbers in perspective: “The value of data openness in government cannot be overestimated, and for the cost of just one-third of one day of missile attacks in Libya, we can keep these initiatives alive and developing for another year.”

In his address on Libya, President Obama said we’re in Libya to avert “a looming humanitarian crisis.” Obama noted:

I know that some Americans continue to have questions about our efforts in Libya. Qaddafi has not yet stepped down from power, and until he does, Libya will remain dangerous. Moreover, even after Qaddafi does leave power, 40 years of tyranny has left Libya fractured and without strong civil institutions. The transition to a legitimate government that is responsive to the Libyan people will be a difficult task. And while the United States will do our part to help, it will be a task for the international community and –- more importantly –- a task for the Libyan people themselves.

Count me among the unswayed. Edwin Starr’s anti-war anthem is more than 40 years old, but it’s still spot on.

CPAC 2011

I am switching gears from all things social and heading to DC for the 38th annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

CPAC will be bookended by two favorites of the Tea Party movement – Rep. Michele Bachmann and Rep. Allen West. Bachmann will speak at the opening plenary session. West, one of two African Americans elected to Congress last year, will deliver the closing remarks.

West tweeted:

I've been asked today to have the honor of giving the closing keynote address at CPAC Saturday. I'm humbled.

I'll be there. This is the second year that I have received a media credential. For real-time updates, follow me on Twitter.

You can view the livestream, beginning at 9 am ET.

Alaska Native Firms Get Money for Nothing

Many in the mainstream media are in the grip of Palin Derangement Syndrome. Another Alaska phenomenon should also feel the hot glare of the media spotlight: Alaska Native Corporations.

From Day One, I have been tracking stimulus spending and minority business enterprises. To date, the total value of federal stimulus contracts awarded to 8(a) firms is roughly $2.7 billion, including $1.5 billion in sole source contracts.

Alaska Native Corporations have received a disproportionate number of 8(a) contracts. A ProPublica analysis found that through September, ANCs have received $832 million in direct stimulus contracts:

Through September, ANCs had won stimulus contracts worth $823 million for 742 projects, according to the most recent government data. More than 350 projects, or nearly half, rely on subcontractors to do at least some of the work.

By comparison, all other stimulus contractors subcontracted more than 5,600 of nearly 26,000 stimulus projects, or 22 percent. Other minority-owned firms hired subcontractors on 33 percent of their projects.

[...]

The stimulus reports suggest that ANC subcontracting sends a substantial portion of revenue to outsiders. Of the $470 million in ANC stimulus projects that are at least halfway completed, native corporations awarded about $200 million to other contractors, ProPublica found.

ANCs play by a different set of rules. A 2009 investigation by the Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight found a majority of ANCs exceed 8(a) size requirements.

ProPublica notes “ANC subsidiaries have come to dominate the SBA program”:

While other firms in the program have a limit of $3.5 million on contracts for services and $5.5 million on contracts for goods, ANCs are exempt and have won awards exceeding $100 million.

The exemption makes ANCs a potentially lucrative partner for large firms acting as subcontractors. And government contracting officers turn to ANCs to avoid lengthy competitions and meet their small business contracting goals. ANCs also may compete for contracts.

And get this: While other minority firms have a nine-year limit on participation in the 8(a) program, ANCs can stay in perpetuity. In fact, ANCs are among the largest federal contractors.

If you agree with Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight Chairman Claire McCaskill that ANCs' “contracting preferences also create the potential for waste, fraud, and abuse,” make some noise.

The new sheriff in town, House Oversight & Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, wants to hear from you.

Let Issa know ANC's unfair competitive advantage hurts your ability to create jobs.

The State of the Union

I half-listened to President Obama's State of the Union address. Before the first word was uttered, House Republicans said any calls for new spending “investments” would be DOA.

I am on the White House media list so I had an embargoed copy of the speech. I was eager to see whether Obama addressed black joblessness. He didn't.

But Obama did address the needs of illegal immigrants:

One last point about education. Today, there are hundreds of thousands of students excelling in our schools who are not American citizens. Some are the children of undocumented workers, who had nothing to do with the actions of their parents. They grew up as Americans and pledge allegiance to our flag, and yet live every day with the threat of deportation. Others come here from abroad to study in our colleges and universities. But as soon as they obtain advanced degrees, we send them back home to compete against us. It makes no sense.

Now, I strongly believe that we should take on, once and for all, the issue of illegal immigration. I am prepared to work with Republicans and Democrats to protect our borders, enforce our laws and address the millions of undocumented workers who are now living in the shadows. I know that debate will be difficult and take time. But tonight, let’s agree to make that effort. And let’s stop expelling talented, responsible young people who can staff our research labs, start new businesses, and further enrich this nation.

Obama's latest call for so-called comprehensive immigration reform largely fell on deaf ears.

In an e-blast, Roy Beck of NumbersUSA wrote:

Well, here was the crazy talk that all those American kids who have graduated recently and are unemployed or underemployed don't deserve protection but instead should be forced to compete with tens of thousands of foreign students for these jobs.

There was a smattering of applause, but I saw NO standing. Nice!

As bad as the language of the President's text -- and as disappointing that he would not put unemployed Americans first by reducing immigration -- I am reassured that this section of the speech basically bombed.

For the majority of Americans, that's the bomb.