Emanuel Cleaver: If Obama Wasn't President We'd Be Marching on The White House

Look at that, another vote of confidence for President Obama from the Congressional Black Caucus. Emanuel Cleaver, the head of the CBC admitted that President Obama's policies were not working. The CBC is not happy with the President's response to the high unemployment rate in the African-American community, but their response has been tempered because of their love and respect for Obama he is black.

But the group's efforts are freighted with political sensitivities, given Obama's unique role as the first African-American occupant of the White House and the sometimes untethered animosity that his election has triggered.

"If (former President) Bill Clinton had been in the White House and had failed to address this problem, we probably would be marching on the White House," Cleaver said. "There is a less-volatile reaction in the CBC because nobody wants to do anything that would empower the people who hate the president."

The black caucus has 43 members who come from nearly two dozen states. Its concerns about black unemployment are not Cleaver's only frustration these days.

One member of the caucus, Democratic Rep. Andre Carson of Indiana, recently said that tea party members of Congress "would love to see you and me ... hanging on a tree." Another, Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California, told a community meeting that the tea party "can go straight to hell."

Relations between the black caucus and the tea party always have been tense. During the health care debate, black lawmakers said that angry tea party protesters outside the Capitol called them racial epithets. Cleaver said he was spat upon.  

Well he said he was spit upon, and then he said he wasn't and then he lied about saying he never said he was.

In April 2010 Cleaver was asked about the incident by the local Fox affiliate, WDAF-TV in Kansas City, but he  would not directly answer the question of whether or not he was intentionally spit upon.

"I haven't talked about this incident on TV or anywhere, and I've been approached to talk about it on every national TV show," said Rep. Cleaver in an interview with FOX 4 News. "I never, I never reported anything, never a single thing in Washington, not one thing. People assume I went somewhere, never done press conference, never done an interview on it and I'm not going to do it."

Well Congressman Cleaver is lying, on the day of the incident, his office released a statement not only confirming that he had been spat upon but saying it is not the first time.

“This afternoon, the Congressman was walking into the Capitol to vote, when one protester spat on him. The Congressman would like to thank the US Capitol Police officer who quickly escorted the others Members and him into the Capitol, and defused the tense situation with professionalism and care. After all the Members were safe, a full report was taken and the matter was handled by the US Capitol Police. The man who spat on the Congressman was arrested, but the Congressman has chosen not to press charges. He has left the matter with the Capitol Police.”

Still politically disingenuous Cleaver tries to differentiate between the President and his policies:

"It's not personal," Cleaver said. "They're attacking his policies, or lack thereof, with regard to this gigantic unemployment problem among African-Americans. If we can't criticize a black president, then it's all over."

But wait, then where is the march on DC you described above? You might be able to criticize a black President but you won't. And even worse anybody who criticizes the president you call racist. Cleaver's little speech about criticizing Obama is almost as honest as his on again off again charges about the loogie heard round the world.