Happy President's Day. I should probably have written this post back on Martin Luther King, Jr. day, but the stories delving into the topic have only increased more recently. I spent most of the weekend reading many of them and reflecting on a couple of questions. Now, with Remember the Titans on my T.V., I write.

Has Barack Obama been good for the black community? Is he the one black leader who should be blamed for astronomical unemployment rates in that community? Does it matter?

And one I just thought of as I watch the previews to this movie: what is more important: a president with good policies that help the black community, or something to rally around, like the Texas Western basketball team that completely and forever changed the face of college basketball? It isn't such a crazy argument to say that that team created more economic and academic opportunities for young black males than anything ever has. Just a thought.

To the actual post.

About two weeks ago, a story was posted on my Facebook headlined, "Blacks question Obama's approach to race." I'm not even sure if I read the story at that point, but looking back at it, I pulled out this paragraph:

"On Capitol Hill, members of the Congressional Black Caucus have expressed irritation that Mr. Obama has not created programs tailored specifically to African-Americans, who are suffering disproportionately in the recession. In December, some of them threatened to oppose new financial rules for banks until the White House promised to address the needs of minorities."

Obama, of course, is the leader of the black community, whether you like it or not. He is the most high-profile, high ranking black person in the world. No matter what happens politically now as it pertains to black people, Obama will be blamed.

Which is where I want to start.

In yesterday's Sunday Times, there was an incredibly informative, yet not one bit surprising, story on the Congressional Black Caucus. More specifically, how the caucus has become a fund-raising juggernaut, using contributions from corporations that often prey on the poor, black community. I am not really interested in how they can take so much from corporations (prior to the Supreme Court ruling, anyway), but more about the hypocrisy of what could probably be an extremely influential group.

President Obama was once a member of the CBC, though really not active at all. What that means is that he can largely be separated from its actions. Those who can't are the eight Congressman who are the subject of ethics violations - the only eight members of the House to be in such a position right now.

Here's what the story found about the financial aspect of the CBC:

"Annual spending on the events, including an annual prayer breakfast that Coca-Cola sponsors and several dozen policy workshops typically sponsored by other corporations, has more than doubled since 2001, costing $3.9 million in 2008. More than $350,000 went to the official decorator and nearly $400,000 to contractors for lighting and show production, according to tax records. (By comparison, the caucus spent $372,000 on internships in 2008, tax records show.)"

It begs the question: is bad policy the problem, or bad politicians?

Obviously it is no secret that politicians, especially those that have been around for a while, become questionable. The reason I ask this question is to say, should we actually be directing policy at the black community, or creating policy that will help many communities, including blacks.

To flush that out some more, is it possible that, instead of big government policy, we should be working on community programs. Pick your jaw up, I haven't changed parties. But this article is worth reading.

Welfare has not worked (gasp!). Public schools in most poor communities across the country are devastatingly awful. The dental care that covers those on welfare doesn't cover things like braces, which area absolutely cosmetic in most cases, but we live in a world where cosmetics matter. And, while the unemployment rate hovers in the 10 percent range nationwide, that number for blacks is more than 16 percent. And the real unemployment for blacks is far higher, given that so many aren't looking for jobs.

You'll have to excuse me again, as I am about to quote Pat Buchanan:

"Untold trillions have been spent since the ’60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream."

The premise of his article, the black people should be more thankful they are American, is wrong. But in that point, he is exactly right. Correct me please, if I am wrong, but very rarely does a case where a group is given a certain thing en masse, with no cost, result in that group learning to acquire that thing for themselves. That is especially true when you invest that thing in the wrong place.

Food stamps make sense. So does Section 8 housing and Pell Grants. Loans make no sense at all, given that these people often go into college with no credit, from homes where their parents have bad credit, meaning they are much harder to repay. The EITC doesn't mean anything if you're on welfare, because you aren't earning an income or paying taxes.

The real problem here is what isn't mentioned: inner-city public schools and youth programs. You know, seemingly the most obvious thing out there. The point in life when our youth grow, are guided toward higher education and build lifelong habits and goals is not college. It's elementary school. Yet, the president before this one passed a No Child Left Behind Act that not only wasn't funded, it takes money away from the schools that need it the most because they have less people meeting the standard.

In that last article I linked, you'll see that he leads off talking about the DC school system. It is a wreck. Which is why it is encouraging to learn that a significant portion of DC students aren't actually in it. Yet, there is a big push to change that, taking away funding that helps these students go to charter or private schools. Charter schools have been fairly successful in many places, including Harlem and the Bronx, as well as DC. Yet, the government wants to stop kids from going there. As a commercial that has been running since I moved here said: "President Obama, you used scholarships to go to private schools to get a good education, don't take a away program that does the same for my child and gives my child hope."

It is telling, because yes, the president went to an $18,000/year private high school, as well as three rather expensive universities. Yet, in the grand scheme, seemingly little is spent on education and in the places where it is, it is allocated way wrong. Take Washington state, where property taxes fund schools. Should it not be the case that a ton of those taxes are moved from Redmond and Medina, where so many kids go to private schools, to South and West Seattle, where so many kids badly need better public schools? Should schools not be trillion dollar havens for kids? Yes, they should.

By now you're thinking: where the hell is he going with this? Well notice that nowhere in the story on the CBC was there mention of funding for schools. If these members want to help their real constituencies, they would be bringing home billions for local schools. Anything less and they are failing. Instead, they spend millions on parties. I was at one of those earlier this year, with Wyclef. It was the "Green the Block" party. Great party, lots of free alcohol, nothing about moving forward to help blacks.

This is the group of people that can afford to be charged with helping the black community. Most were not just elected by blacks, but in districts heavily populated by blacks.

Barack Obama was not.

Those of you who knew me before or during the 2008 election might remember that I struggled with my decision. I did not want to vote for the "black president". If that makes me less of a member of the community then so be it. The community needs to get over itself anyway. The biggest reason the community continues to struggle so much is that the community refuses to change the values of the community.

I was done with that. I voted for Barack Obama because he stood for hope in a community that badly needed a leader, but stood for an America that needed one even more. He was absolutely not going to be the black president and he hasn't been.

But don't tell me he hasn't helped the community. Tell me he hasn't helped anyone. Tell me he hasn't passed a health care bill that would help millions of Americans, blacks included. Tell me he hasn't passed an energy bill that would create millions of jobs, many, as I've learned from several black Congressmen, that would be located in poor, mostly black communities. Tell me he just started working on education. But don't tell me he's ignored the black community.

That isn't his job. His job is to help America. His job is get a jobs bill passed that will create jobs somewhere other than Wall Street. His job is to fix a health care system that leaves so many blacks out because they live in communities where respiratory illnesses are preexisting conditions. His job is to find a way to fund schools that need funding and let the successful ones continue their success. These are American fixes, not black fixes. He is the President of the United States, not the NAACP.

The changes that need to happen in the black community don't come from the Executive Branch. So many of them are systemic. We can pour as much into schools as we want, but if kids don't go, that's a community problem. That has to be fixed.

The type of changes I am beginning to kick around include millions for before and after school programs, money to improve schools to make them the exact kind of place a student wants to be and Teach for America type programs on a grander scale in cities across America. Those are policy changes.

But those benefit many communities in this country. Despite that fact that it seemingly always is, this doesn't have to be a racial issue. The president doesn't have to sign the Civil Rights Act to be good for blacks. I'll take a few more teachers. And so would the school on the white side of town and in Little Havana.

It wouldn't be inadvertent of course, but any measure of success would reverberate around the community. More black kids in schools means less running around the streets with guns. It means educated members of the community. It means the community can lift itself out of the fear and pain it lives in today.

Many times I wish I had marched with Dr. King, not because of the historical factor, but because of his stature. It took an educated man to lead the movement. Malcolm X lived through hell, then educated himself. The power of education is limitless.

And that is where the president can uplift the black community. Just don't tell me he's not doing it by spending billions on some new welfare-type program. The last thing we need is another set of rims.

There are a lot of people that feel this president has failed them, I'd argue the least of which is the black community. Because he has provided the community with something it has never really had: a universal leader. If nothing else, the community can look at him, and his path to where he is, an emulate it. Then, education would finally matter.

With that said, I want to leave you with this. Governments fail. A highly controversial figure said that during the 2008 campaign. Governments fail. The United States government has failed the vast majority of its citizens of African descent, he said. And I'd agree. But it hasn't always been the government's fault. He also said that governments change. And they do. This government has, on many occasions. Can we change with it? Can the black community take its fate into its own hands? Can the community realize that the job of government right now is to create a framework for people to then create their own success. To give people the tools and in some cases the training to use them (something the Obama administration has done in earnest, with billions spent on job training programs). It is not to put money in my pocket. It is to help business owners put money in my pocket. It is to help schools give children a better occasion and hospitals to give better medical care. But the government's job is not to drag me up out of poverty. That is my job.

If I don't figure that out, it is not Barack Obama that has failed me. It is me.