George,

The racial politics, even for a second-term black president, won't allow for him to act on whether he should "level the playing field." Even if he could, I don't think that he would. I personally think that President Obama will continue to "dance" around the important issue of race. Post-racial Liberalism will be the order of the day. I don't feel that President Obama will ever address racial inequity directly. He's a "smooth operator." He would have to be pushed very hard. The African-American community will continue to love our president regardless of his silence on race issues as they impact the African American community

The president has always known that it wouldn't take much to fool the majority of black folks. We even have more black folks thinking that his statement of "lifting all boats" is really going to happen. Even being pressed by the Congressional Black Caucus to focus some attention on the unique economic challenges facing the African-American community, his colorblind approach won them over. It's worth noting that the CBC didn't ask him to devote attention to just African-Americans. They are well aware that he is the president of all Americans.

If President Obama doesn't respond adequately to being "pushed," The African-American community should treat him like he was Trent L., Bull C. or any other of the bigots that have been part of our history. We cannot, we must not, allow our re-elected president to not tackle racism and discrimination head on.

M. Rick Turner (Electronic mail, December 8, 2012)