Obama's Return to Harlem Is 'A Big Let Down'

Not much cheerleading for President Obama, from the current edition of The Amsterdam News. The front page article has a triumphant headline—"Obama Returns"—but goes south pretty quickly. The subhead is: "Harlem gives president mixed reception."

After more than two years in office, the first president of African descent finally made his way to the historic cultural and intellectual center of Black America, Harlem.

And for many in the Harlem community, his visit was nothing short of a big letdown.

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[T]he DNC events in Harlem saw few Black professionals or members of the Halrem establishment at last night's events. While Harlem's Black politicos were well represented at the Studio Museum, and the president gave shootouts to Rangel, Dinkins, Perkins, Wright and Dickens, a casual scan of the audience showed that between 80 and 85 percent of the audience was neither African-American nor Latino, the core of the Harrem Community.

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Earlier in the evening some 50 people (one observer estimated there were four or five Black guests) forked over $30,800 apiece to attend the Democratic National COmmittee's fundraiser at the Red Rooster. A block away, more than 200 demonstrators braved an icy wind-chill factor, many of them unemployed or barely earning in a year the amount requested for one night in Obama's Harlem venture.

Another story on top of page 4 (no link), is headlined, "Questions for Obama," and starts off with this lede:

"To deliver his address on Libya on Monday, President Barack Obama, chose to stand behind the podium at the National Defense University in Washington rather than at a press conference where many of the questions bothering his detractors and many Americans could possibly be answered."