Meeting With the President, Again

I hope this meeting is productive and produces an action plan of moving forward. The CBC cannot put all of this on the President. Especially when most of them have been in DC long before he got there.

Today President Barack Obama will meet at the White House with the Congressional Black Caucus -- less than two months after his Oval Office sit-down with the CBC's five-member executive board in March, and one week after the caucus met with White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley. It's a noticeable change of pace from the previous Congress, during which Obama met with the CBC just two times in two years.

While CBC Chairman Emanuel Cleaver is pleased by the improved lines of communication with Obama, the meeting comes amid an exceedingly dismal political climate: a jobs report with black unemployment rising yet again, to 16 percent, congressional deficit-reduction campaigns to slash more social services for the poor and no clear action plan to remedy these issues.

Just before the CBC's White House discussion, Rep. Cleaver talked to The Root about the group's priorities going in, the caucus' new plan for maneuvering around a Republican-controlled House and how lone Republican member Allen West is fitting into the club.

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