CBC Head: If Obama Were White...

(Newser) – Rep. Emanuel Cleaver has already made it abundantly clear that he’s not the biggest fan of some of President Obama’s policies, and the Congressional Black Caucus chairman isn’t done talking. Angry over the nearly 17% unemployment rate in the African-American community, Cleaver says, "If Bill Clinton had been in the White House and had failed to address this problem, we probably would be marching on the White House. There is a less-volatile reaction in the CBC because nobody wants to do anything that would empower the people who hate the president."

Tina Korbe, writing for Hot Air, reads between the lines: "In effect, Cleaver is saying that the CBC has dealt differently with this president precisely because he’s black." Cleaver, of course, famously derided the president’s debt deal as a “Satan sandwich” washed down with “demon drink.” The Miami Herald points out that other members of the black caucus have also been in the news recently—Rep. Andre Carson for claiming that Tea Party congress members “would love to see you and me … hanging on a tree,” and Rep. Maxine Waters for noting that the Tea Party “can go straight to hell.”