Congressional Black Caucus members hesitate to support President Obama's call for a military strike on Syria because of their constituents ongoing disappointment with his economic policies with respect to the African American community, according to a senior House Democratic Whip.
"There are a few who are supportive of having a targeted strike, and there are many more members who are indifferent, and then there are others who are outright against against the strike," Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind., told WTLC AM's Amos Brown on Wednesday when asked to describe the mood of the CBC.
"I'm not convinced that military action in the manner sought by the administration is in America's best interest," the CBC member also said, explaining that he would prefer that regional allies put pressure on Syrian dictator Bashar Assad's regime.
Carson attributed Obama's difficulty in rallying CBC votes to frustration with his domestic agenda as it pertains to the black community.
"You know the congressional black caucus has pushed over the past several years for targeted dollars going to the African American community going to summer jobs programs; targeted dollars from the federal government in terms of helping to empower small businesses, women-owned businesses, and minority-owned business; targeted dollars that will help bolster our economy; targeted dollars that will help improve the health of our public school systems," Carson said.
The sentiment is not a new one. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., admitted that the CBC was "getting tired" of Obama's failure to deliver economic benefits for the black community.
"The unemployment is unconscionable," she said during a CBC town hall in Detroit in 2011. "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 eventually praised the jobs proposal Obama outlined in September of 2011 — "as a matter of fact we can see our hand print all over this proposal," she said — but the stimulus package never passed into law.
"And so, we're still fighting that fight while we're facing spending millions more dollars in drone attacks and even boots on the ground — we've not gotten there yet, but it's a proposition that causes a lot of emotion, as you can imagine," Carson continued.
