what's ahead for barack obama with criticism rising? can this president revitalize the economy, get america back to work, and bring the change he promised? we'll take a look on this edition of "our world with black enterprise." hello, everyone. i'm ed gordon. just one year after his historic

inauguration, in some sense there's growing dissatisfaction that barack obama has not done enough to turn this country enough. is president obama off track or is he on the long road to recovery. joining me to look ahead into the president's second year is professor charles, noted economist, dr. julieann, and glenn, a special assistance to george w. bush. thank you for joining us. charles, let me start with you and ask you, there is growing dissatisfaction in some corners. how much do you think that is being played up by the media, or is there a growing dissatisfaction? >> there's a real dissatisfaction and president obama has tried to do a lot in inheriting the two wars, so he's inherited a series of problems and you can't solve them overnight. he's got a lot of work to do and he's focused, as he said, in the

state of the union address. he called on the senators and the house members and the american public. >> i recall when he arrived back home and my first concern was, in fact, whether the expectation would be too high. he said to me, that is my biggest concern. i have to manage expectations and get them to be realistic from the people who see me as the saviour. was this a thing that obama need to do and, in case, if that's the case, did he do a good job. >> you've had stunning campaign rhetoric, open hopes over the top, progressive white people thinking they had everything on their agenda from gay rights was going to be addressed. i think he's on the right track but i think it's been very slow and i think that once his fatal mistakes which he did address in the state of the union has a

slow pace of dealing with the jobs issue. the unemployment piece is staggering. in the black community where you see enormous dissatisfaction, our 17%, which is our official rate, turns into 28.7%. that's nearly a third. that's a frightening number and it would be unacceptable. i am positive if women had a 28% unemployment rate, latinos, we might address that. but when it's black people, he believes that his base will be loyal. >> let me ask you to chime in on what charles suggested on that. that is, that this president walked into a myriad of problem, perhaps in scale and volume than any other president heretofore.

there were criticisms that perhaps he took on too much too soon. >> you know, ed, i think that's a criticism that you hear in some corners out there. certainly republicans and sort of my friends would suggest the big bang theory, as rahm emanuel said that they would try to address very large issues in the next year proved to be daunting more than they anticipated. and i think some people in the country might argue that, you know, the focus -- there's not a lot of oxygen in washington. if it's used up on health care, how can you focus on jobs? >> i think he did. at some point he did miss the boat on this. this is a conversation that i had with him on the campaign trail in st. louis. take a look. >> folks are losing jobs. we've got to put people back to work. that's why i want to give a tax credit to every new company that creates a job here in the united states. we've got to create the kind of

infrastructure and improvements and put people back to jobs, making sure that money is in people's pockets. that's the next important thing for the next president. >> that was obviously, something that you're part of that you heard, the rhetoric during the campaign. yet another thing that i heard is, i don't care about health care or anything else if i don't have a job. talk to me about that. >> i think that he underestimated how important employment was and overestimated how important health care was. i also think that he would have, as dylan suggested, that he would have more concurrence for the congress on health care. he peck the to get that done this summer. but the health care thing, most presidents, as they've been able to put their hands around it, there's so many different con city web sees. he has a certain amount of political capital, used too much

of it too soon. let me go to a break and we will take a look at year two of the president's daunting term. >> when you say this is for our country and you have support, it's just not going to happen.

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the american academy of orthopaedic surgeons. visit orthoinfo.org. ♪ the joints ain't sore no more ♪ i still got it. continuing our discussion of year two of the obama administration, you've come to this table from a perch that you

knew obama for quite some time. i'm curious, it seems to me the criticism from the outside looking in is that he's not been tough enough. misconception? does he have to change? >> he said that in 2004 at the democratic convention in boston and he said it in every major speech he's given. i think he's now realizing that there's going to be incredible resistance. barack obama won north carolina, florida, virginia, new jersey, and indiana, and ohio. no one thought that last october 2008. so now he has to say, you know what -- i've heard and now i have to change. you saw that in dealing with democrats in baltimore in january. and i think you will see somebody who is not just going to listen anymore but he's going to take that bully pull pit, that hammer, bat, whatever it is. but i think he now knows jobs,

jobs, jobs. >> and where is rahm emanuel, who they were so concerned about putting him in that position, believing that he will be the junk yard job. it seems to me that the administration needs more of that. >> they don't have any teeth. they would rein in their expertise and they hasn't done it. for whatever reason, the team that got the president elected and the team that people thought so highly of, that team has not been effective in this first year. so i would like to see some turnover in an inner circle of advisers to find some people that are really tough, tough folk who is are implementers. >> i agree. let's go across the aisle. >> sure. >> some say that they are tired of the partisan bickering. how much of that is fair criticism? >> listen, i think that we ought to are remember that the

president has huge majorities in both the house and the senate. so his agenda, from you wanting to get it implemented, would be the sheer power of its own party. >> i want to take you across the street and ask you whether you've seen partisan bickering for the sake of partisan bickering. republicans and democrats disagree because it came from the other side of the aisle. >> i think -- not to avoid your question, but i think what you saw in baltimore was a real exchange of policy differences. that's not partisan bickering. people can have real policy differences. >> how much of what we hear from the american people that has, quite frankly, tissued a lot of potential voters off who believe for the sake of just fighting the other side, that's what is going on in d.c. >> it's happened. it's happened. the fact that not a single republican voted for health care

is telling of that. the fact that they didn't support the stimulus package is telling of of that. and that might be a smart political move. why? because if you don't stop barack obama, i'm not surprised by it. i think that's what politics are about. >> would lyndon johnson be in this position? or if barack obama had lyndon johnson's wherewith all in terms of twisting arms -- >> barack obama was a take no prisoner seasoned senator. so understand that lyndon had come up the rampbs in the senate. he didn't play. he would take your question -- he might take your -- >> that's my point. at this point in the road, is that what we need? and if it's not from the president's office -- >> harry reid is not a tough guy. i don't know when i look at the range of democratic senators who really is a tough guy or gal.

maybe a dianne feinstein who has been in the senate since 1992. but there's got to be someone who is an experienced horse trader who will cut your knees off. i hate to say that but you say, you're in the going to give me what i want, not a quarter goes to your state. that's how johnson played it and he didn't care. >> it seems to me that in terms of the outreach that republicans had to this community has really gone by the way side and they have given up on trying to rekraut african-americans to this party. in this time whether votes are perhaps more critical up with to one than any other time in our history, where do you see that? >> i hope that it's been over shadowed by the events. that's a demarkation that we ought to not underestimate. we have a black chairman of the national committee today and

there are efforts within the party to recruit black candidates within the party. so i wouldn't say that african-americans have given up on outreach by any stretch. i think at the end of the day that politics are about governing and governing is about having public officials. so to the extent that the republican party have been unable to get blacks enlisted to office, that's a trouble we face. >> conversely with this white house there are some who say that particularly the inner circle has tried to keep barack obama away from black issues. is there a concern to keep ears to the ground and keep level with the community that that in fact has occurred? >> i don't think it's occurred at all. people have to understand what he has done. the president has been hosting these phenomenal discussions in the white house.

the president has given a phenomenal talk at the naacp. so he's talking about all of these things that are important to him. >> don't we need more than historical talk from this president? >> i think we need accuracy. the illness in the last year and inability to be there, he was some unwho was across the alley. he had republicans listening. he can't make laws. he can sign them. but until there is a democrat that stands up and satisfy says, this is for our country and gives that support, that's not going to happen. >> juliean, we'll pick up on your point when we come back. >> we keep hearing about the middle class. what about the working poor?

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extend to term two. i'm curious whether or not you see whether or not this president has in fact isolated himself to some degree with the inner circle. we should note that there are some blacks in the administration that do in fact have his ear. personal, like -- but the vast majority of people that speak to him on a day-to-day basis are white and male. >> i think people are wondering where the president is. i don't think they want much but they want something. they say, don't just come to us when you need us. i think that's how people are feeling. they came out and voted. voting is not the least that you can do but it's the most. people want to see some gesture, even if it's a small gesture, from the president. they actual truly want to be

supportive. >> i think the best thing that the president can do for the country, much less black, is focus on the economy and jobs. and that's going to require being opened to different policy provisions. i think as an economist -- i don't know if she'd agree that you should be raising taxes in a recession but we've got $3.8 trillion budget. so there are going to be tough decisions. >> i think you should be creating jobs in a recession. that's the necessary issue. if it does take tax increases of people who makeover $150,000 a year, let's say, i think it makes a lot of sense. people keep talking about the middle class but what about. >> that's an interesting point. whether or not there is a sense of needing to use the morality of the bully bull pit to talk about the things that have

plagued this country. i.e., race and racism. did he miss an opportunity there? >> it's very interesting because as professor gates -- i was surprised to hear what he had to say. he said something that no president has said, black and latino men are subject to rags initial profiling. and that was barack obama talking as barack obama talks. and i think people felt that. but it also created an enormous backlash. he's taking the side of the upper middle class black professor over the upper middle class white police officer. even though he speaks on race and it turned out to be an unfortunately and unsuccessful way of dealing with this issue. >> the political wins support him a little bit. that was a black man. that wasn't the president. that was a black man speaking about what most of us go up against on a day-to-day basis.

>> i actually believe he missed several opportunities. the harry reid -- of course, he said negro -- i thought he was talking about us. in any case, that was an opportunity to talk about diversity. that was an opportunity to condemn senator reid and to say, maybe we all need to have a conversation about how we get these light-skinned negros and what is that about. harry reid could say, let's put the whole senate through diversity training. i think we need to have a conversation. >> what would you like to see the president look to in year two and stay with? job, job, job? >> jobs, jobs, jobs. but i would actually like him to

incorporate idea into the jobs. i he don't know that that would happen but i would hope that he will consider it. >> i don't think the ideas on employment are necessarily effective. give that money to stateses -- not to states, but to cities. let's give san francisco, atlanta, greensboro, new york, ex number of dollars and open up our libraries, ed, and have after-school programs for kids. something for women. >> it's about jobs and also about health care and education as well. we have kids who are trapped in a system of education and failing is all of them. the race to the top is a good idea. i think you're going to see a much more forceful, much more vocal, much more out in the streets, much for defiant president obama, the same guy we thought was going to lose in 2007-2008, he's going to turn it around. >> all right. we'll be back right after this. ♪ ♪ up early in the morning

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this isn't going to be just any flu season. and expectant mothers, children, and young adults are especially at risk for the h1n1 flu virus. so let's join together and fight the flu. by getting your flu vaccine, you'll protect yourself and help prevent the spread of the flu. flu vaccines are safe and are the most effective way to prevent the flu. get the facts at flu.gov. together, we can all fight the flu. the images from haiti are heart-breaking--

homes, hospitals, and schools destroyed; families searching for loved ones; parents trying to feed their children. but we can all do something. we can help the american red cross as it delivers the food, water, and medicine that can save lives. donate $10 by texting "haiti" to 9-0-9-9-9. visit redcross.org or call 1-800-red-cross. thanks for your help. my thanks to charles, julieann and for all of us, quite frankly, we have to wish the president well, no matter who sits in that office because, at the end of the day, it affects all of us. greatly appreciated.

give us your feedback. until next time, i'm ed gordon and thanks for making our world until next time, i'm ed gordon and thanks for making our world your world. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com body rested. stress gone. mind sharp. because unisom gave you deep restful sleep all night. morning early birds. unisom. good night. good morning.