what members of the congressional black caucus are saying is that so do we. i would hope, i really, really would hope that this nation has grown past this neanderthal position where, if he is going to give attention to african- americans, we're not going to vote for him anymore. i would love to believe, and i embraced the notion that america is not there anymore. if we are still there, i think we are in trouble. >> is there a way for you to put pressure on white members of congress, particularly senators, gubernatorial candidates, to be pay more attention -- to pay more attention to jobs in the african-american community? the president will get the black vote, but will clear mccaskill, bill nelson? are you pressuring them, talking to them at all about how to put some more attention on this issue? >> yes, our executive committee has sat down with senator reid, majorityeader read, and we have discussed in great detail proposals we have submitted on the house side and to the white house. that would allow some attention to be given to the depression- level unempl

so here she is saying to the congressional black caucus that she is ready to take on president obama she's ready to be tough but they are saying that we need to you right we need the voters we need the constituents to allow us to do that because apparently in the past they feel like dollface backlash right i don't know what is it is that a sense of betrayal or how would you describe that i think it's a few things first it's the congressional black caucus is in the position right now because they're part of the democratic minority in the house they already are for it on the margins of things because the tea party republicans in the republican party writ large in the house are the ones who have all the maneuvering room right now president obama is now actually focusing his attention on those folks and as a result not only do a liberal democrats of all traipse could sort of ignore it but in particular the congressional black caucus precisely because they tend to be star work supporters of the president. regardless so you think that it's more of an excuse for him perhaps they are in acti

now while obama prepares his new jobs proposal to fix the entire economy the congressional black caucus has been on a five city tour this month to address the issue and the figures for black communities make the national unemployment numbers pale in comparison if we go by the official numbers used by the government agencies the youth three the national unemployment is at nine point two percent unemployment rate for african-americans is fifteen point nine if you look at african-americans ages sixteen to nineteen that's at forty one point four percent so should the president be creating jobs program jobs programs specifically geared towards just the black community and are is the black community getting frustrated enough to turn their back on this country's first black president or discuss this with me is writing fellow at the american prospect thanks so much for being here tonight we have got for starters do you agree here with maxine waters when she says that president obama isn't keeping the black community on board i don't necessarily agree i think personal drama is doing the best it

he is the chairman of the congressional black caucus. congressman, good evening. >> good evening. >> the president painted this in -- picture that this is a very important step. it is something that he supports. you have been quoted coming out of your caucus as calling this agreement a sugar-coated satan sandwich. was that indeed your quote? is that how you feel about this deal? >> it's a very accurate quote. what i am saying is if you lift the bun, what you see is antitheical to what all the great religions teach. take care of the poor. take care of the aged. when you look at the phone calls >>> president obama just a short time ago saying there's a deal on the table to avoid the first ever default in the history of this country to raise the debt ceiling. we also heard from both mitch mcconnell, harry reid and john boehner has given a power point presentation to the members of his caucus. so tomorrow we have a little bit of a schedule. i'm just handed the senate schedule. they are going to come in tomorrow morning. the republicans are g

he is the chairman of the congressional black caucus.gressman, good evening. >> good evening. >> the president painted this in -- picture that this is a very important step. it is something that he supports. you have been quoted coming out of your caucus as calling this agreement a sugar-coated satan sandwich. was that indeed your quote? is that how you feel about this deal? >> it's a very accurate quote. what i am saying is if you lift the bun, what you see is antitheical to what all the great religions teach. take care of the poor. take care of the aged. when you look at the phone calls i've gotten, they are 7-1 in favor of a balanced deal. and also preserving medicare and medicaid and social security. and i am concerned about this because we don't know the details. and until we see the details, we're going to be extremely noncommitted but on the surface it looks like a satan sandwich. >> tell me on the surface, what it is about this package, what you are hearing about this deal that makes it so incredibly unpalatable to you? >> when y

he is the chairman of the congressional black caucus. congressman, good evening. >> good evening. >> the president painted this in -- picture that this is a very important step. it is something that he supports. you have been quoted coming out of your caucus as calling this agreement a sugar-coated satan sandwich. was that indeed your quote? is that how you feel about this deal? >> it's a very accurate quote. what i am saying is if you lift the bun whark, what you see is antitheical to what all the great religions teach. take care of the poor. take care of the aged. when you look at the phone calls i've gotten, they are 7-1 in favor of a balanced deal. and also preserving medicare and medicaid and social security. and i am concerned about this because we don't know the details. and until we see the details, we're going to be extremely noncommitted but on the surface it looks like a satan sandwich. >> tell me on the surface, what it is about this package, what you are hearing about this deal that makes it so incredibly unpalatable to you?

the congressional progressive caucus and congressional black caucus scheduled a news conference for today to discuss their opposition to the deal. editorial pages this morning offering strong reactions to this deal, as well. the "wall street journal" calls the deal "a tea party triumph." the "new york times" editorial page reads to escape chaos, a terrible deal and paul krugman, the president surrenders. within that piece, krugman writes the damage is not over. le there will be more choke points where republicans can threaten to create crisis unless the president surrenders. and they can now act with confident expectation that he will. now for the political fallout of the deal, national affairs editor for new york magazine, john heilemann joins me by phone. good morning, john. >> good morning, willie geist. >> so is paul krugman write, did president obama surrender to this small faction of the republican party known as the tea party? >> pretty much. i think that's about right. the president, if you think just from the 30,000 foot vantage point, the president talked for months about a bala

rather than through a special congressional committee process. but this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need and gives each party a strong incentive to get a balanced plan done before the end of the year. most importantly, it will allow us to avoid default and end the crisis that washington imposed on the rest t america. it ensures also that we will not face this same kind of crisis again in six months or eight months or 12 months. it will begin to lift the cloud of debt and the cloud of uncertainty that hangs over our economy. now, this process has been messy. it's taken far too long. i've been concerned about the impact that it has had on business confidence and consumer confidence and the economy as a whole over the last month. nevertheless, ultimately, the leaders of both parties have found their way toward compromise. i want to thank them for that. most of all, i want to thank the american people. it's been your voices, your letters, your e-mails, your tweets, your phone calls that have compelled washi

vote or congressional action if it came in came from that but that kind of an idea would never flow through the treasury department and be

i've been trying to convince congressional republicans that they ought to take the lead. don't -- you have a president who you know doesn't understand free enterprise, job creation. let's not just talk about january 2013. what could we do in september to set up a series of choices where president obama would have to concede to the american people the kind of policies that would create jobs? i think there are steps that could be taken. one, to take a bill introduced by two democrats, senators webb and warner of virginia who introduced a bill that says virginia ought to be allowed to develop natural gas and oil offshore. they would split the revenue with the federal government, 50% to washington, 37 1/2 to the commonwealth, 12 1/2% to land conservation and infrastructure. i think the house republicans ought to pass that bill the first couple days after they come back. send it to the senate. what is harry reid going to do with a pro-jobs, pro-american energy, pro-royalties bill, introduced by two of his democrats? i think it is hard to bottle it up at that point. >> sean: yo

they can have a congressional hearing about the congressional hearings. >> and they do. >> we only talkt are, you know, newsworthy. congressional hearings all the time. what else would they do? >> subcommittee hearings in rooms that are empty. they like to hear themselves talk. >>> just ahead, jobs are varning. markets are plunging. why are lawmakers and the president on vacation? [ man ] behind every business is a "what if." what if we designed an electric motorcycle? what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what if is, the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots, and 4g devices like the motorola photon. so let's all keep asking the big what ifs. sprint business specialists can help you find the answers. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com. but not in my neighborhood. ♪ [ female announcer ] we're throwing away misperceptions about natural gas vehicles. more of the vehicles that fuel our lives use clean american natural gas today. it costs about

the census count determines how many congressional representatives there are. it is used to figure out funding for counties. sometimes it is our own immigrant communities who really need those resources but are in a weak position to negotiate. i cannot emphasize how important it is to understand that your information given to the census is confidential and there are extra safe marks for the information. there is also big penalties for anyone who inappropriately to full does the information. it is never meant to be handed over to the immigration service. absolutely, the commission should encourage everyone to participate. can you imagine if we got another represented in this area? -- rep in this area? i think we could use it. >> last question. we have heard a couple of suggestions on things the immigrant rights commission could do. the last question is, your top three suggestions for the immigrants' rights commission to begin preparing for building capacity in the community to assist immigrants, not if, but when cir happens. >> there is a lot of expertise in the

the biggest element in our deficit today, according to the congressional budget office, is the $2.60 trillion hole left by the bush tax cuts. that is it. we do nothing on the revenue side, so, yes, republicans have won. >> two columnists both right this week about the perils of central some. one right that americans have lost track of what the president is really for. you wonder if he has lost track of himself. has the president lost track of himself in this debate? >> i do not think he has lost track of himself. i think he has allowed so much ground now that he is not a major player in this. he can pretend that he is, but when he agreed to link the debt ceiling with deficit reduction, the game was over. >> do you think congressional democrats trust the president to do what they believe is the right thing in this? do they believe he will sign whatever comes his way? >> they already know he is not protecting democratic principles because he was willing to give away so much in his negotiations. he gave everything in the grand bargain. all he kept was some revenue increases. he put soci

because this does not put congressional appropriators out of business. they will make the determinations of which programs get cut by how much, and over tim time. it is the larger framework they are establishing of $1 trillion. >> and andrea mitchell, how much do we know before this goes to the vote and how much opportunity will the american people have to weigh in on this? >> well, as you know, it is a framework, and the specific cuts are not there. but we will know a lot. we already know a lot, and as the details are coming out the caucuses are going to be briefed. but time is of the essence. if you believe that the debt deadline is serious and we have a deadline with the markets and a deadline with the legislative calendar, they have to get it done and get it done quickly. i personally think they will have a lot of trouble with the individual caucuses, and that this is all going to be about the reaction on the house side tomorrow as john boehner has already tried to sell this as a good deal where they are holding president obama accountable. nancy pel

because this does not put congressional appropriators out of business. they will make the determinations of which programs get cut by how much, and over time. it is the larger framework they are establishing of $1 trillion. >> and andrea mitchell, how much do we know before this goes to the vote and how much opportunity will the american people have to weigh in on this? >> well, as you know, it is a framework, and the specific cuts are not there. but we will know a lot. we already know a lot, and as the details are coming out the caucuses are going to be briefed. but time is of the essence. if you believe that the debt deadline is serious and we have a deadline with the markets and a deadline with the legislative calendar, they have to get it done and get it done quickly. i personally think they will have a lot of trouble with the individual caucuses, and that this is all going to be about the reaction on the house side tomorrow as john boehner has already tried to sell this as a good deal where they are holding president obama accountable. nancy pelosi

this shows the states in congressional districts that they represent. when nancy pelosi adds her three choices, three more congressional districts will be included. the committee will represent 15.2% of the american people. the committee could have represented more people than that simply by choosing one senator from california, both of whom are democrats, so one of them would be a democrat, and one senator from texas. both of those senators are republicans, so that would be a democrat and republican. one senator from california, one senator from texas represent the two, most-populous states, together they represent 20% of our population. if you then threw in a new york senator, which would be a democrat, and a florida republican senator, and then throw in a democrat from illinois and a republican from pennsylvania, which they do have in the mix already, you would get to 41%. and then the house members, all of whom represent roughly the same number of people, so it doesn't really matter where they are from, could bring you up to a maximum, a maximum of

as we all know, the job of a congressional page is not an easy one. along with being away from home, the pages must possess the maturity to balance competing demands with their time and energy. you pages have witnessed the house debate, issues of war and peace, hunger and poverty, justice and civil rights. you have lived through history. and before yielding, mr. speaker, i would like to thank the members of the house page board who provided such fantastic service to this institution. the chairman, congressman rob bishop, the vice chairman, congresswoman diana degette, congresswoman virginia foxx, clerof the house karen haas, sergeant at arms bill livinggood, and mrs. lynn silversmith kline. i want to thank them for their service on the house page board and i thank the departing pages and you' seen a wonderful bit of history take place today. mr. bishop: reclaiming the time, mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to include the page summer class in the official record and ask this body to recognize the pages for the services they have rendered us this ye

let's bring our congressional correspondent. kate, read the statement to us. >> i will, wolf.interesting. she uses artful wording. i will read it so you have the full statement. nancy pelosi says, we all agree our nation cannot default on our obligations and we must honor our nation's commitments to seniors and men and women in the military. she says the following. i look forward to reviewing the legislation with my caucus to see what level of support we can provide. very telling statement, wolf. clearly the top democrat in the house of representatives is not signing on to this deal, is not getting behind it quite yet. reiterating what we heard from her in the hallways. she needs to review the legislation and talk with her caucus before making any further moves. >> so a little wishy-washy, that statement. she didn't say like the democratic leader in the senate, harry reid said, or the republican leader in the senate mitch mcconnell or speaker of the house john boehner said they are going to support this deal that the president has announced tonight. she's saying, you know, i'm

florida can gain two congressional districts. at this point in time, people are determining new districts. i have done this work a number of times -- years. there are a few times i had an opportunity to talk to the state about creating a new opportunity and brand new district. most of the time i'm dealing with population decline or population stagnation. florida is actually the opposite. to its credit, there is a lot of work we are doing there regarding workshops, providing maps. helping with the creation of what's called the central redistricting corporation. they have run the gamut. the puerto rican chamber of commerce and others. we are providing information to community groups there to make sure they are able to gain one additional congressional seat anchored in tralstram florida. -- central florida. that will create additional voices in congress. the issue is very complex. we have population growth in various areas. we have a unique population growth in terms of the puerto rican population. leaving the northeastern corridor

it is also very heartening to have the members of the congressional black caucus, congressional leaders here spending time with us, dialoguing about what it means to put americans back to work. i want to give a special thanks to congressman lewis. it is a little known fact that i got my start in public service in his office in college at more house. it was as a volunteer in turn. in his office, i've learned about the importance of the political process. your presence here today _ your understanding of how important is to get involved and engaged in the political process. congressmen and congresswomen, i do appreciate you being here today. you could be at home in your district, talking with your voters, where you actually get the most bang for your buck. but you come on the road and you dialogue here in georgia to help give us answers, to help us develop a partnership and help develop the ways in which we will engage in putting americans back to work, and it certainly those in atlanta, and georgians back to work. on behalf of myself and the city council and behalf of the citizens to call

he said go to the congressional black caucus. if it is good enough for his brother, it is good enough for million of americans. i think professor peterson is right. the president had a hit the job -- on a job bus tour. he is out there trying to hear from main stream america. the particular suffering of african-american suffering must be taken seriously. if he addresses black unemployment, then american unemployment will be addressed. >> i have to broach this sub. i was living in this country at a very impressionable age in the '60s when civil rights was a major issue and people took to the streets to make a wrong right. i mean, are we at this point, mr. peterson, do you think we could be at a point where people will go to the street and demand action when it comes to the economic injustice that's are playing out in our economy? could we see some kind of a movement that what we experienced in the '60s? what do you think? >> absolutely possible. look at the energy in that detroit room where the cbc was at. the president understand

it is also very heartening to have the members of the congressional black caucus, congressional leaders here spending time with us, dialoguing about what it means to put americans back to work. i want to give a special thanks to congressman lewis. it is a little known fact that i got my start in public service in his office in college at more house. it was as a volunteer in turn. in his office, i've learned about the importance of the political process. your presence here today _ your understanding of how important is to get involved and engaged in the political process. congressmen and congresswomen, i do appreciate you being here today. you could be at home in your district, talking with your voters, where you actually get the most bang for your buck. but you come on the road and you dialogue here in georgia to help give us answers, to help us develop a partnership and help develop the ways in which we will engage in putting americans back to work, and it certainly those in atlanta, and georgians back to work. on behalf of myself and the city council and behalf of the citizens to call

fact of the way that obama got us involved in this war to begin with was illegal it's not just congressional displeasure it's about a lot more than that it's about blatantly by leading us laws clouding your idea of congressional authorization it's about a unilateral action that is a very dangerous president just because it often might be out doesn't mean we should give president obama a free pass otherwise it's going to happen again now might be some republican war hawk that gets us in toronto about asking anyone next in might not and so quickly in my not end without the loss of any american lives but if you let it go this time and you have absolutely no power to speak the next time around and what about that u.n. resolution in which ousting gadhafi was not one of the goals i guess they forgot about that too you know and if the media can still ask the question about leading from behind with a straight face when they're well aware of the illegal actions that he took by being over as well as with his executive authority well then i say they were really screwed but unfortunately. that seems to

the second phase establishes a bipartisan congressional committee to decide on further cuts. bay area congressional representatives say they want to read the fine print. >> i haven't seen the writing in writing the final product and as you know with these things the details are important. and againly have a discussion with my caucus. >> i have to say too often we are asked to vote on legislation where we haven't had an opportunity to read it. so i definitely want to read exactly what is in this deal. >> now the deal has to pass both the senate and the house and then be signed by the president before midnight to prevent the u.s. from defaulting on its financial obligations tomorrow. >>> global investigators are encouraged by the announcement on the agreement of a u.s. debt limit. overnight stock markets jumped more than 1% at their opening and finished the trading day with gains. japan another big winner up one and a third. >>> we have a developing story at this hour. police remain on the scene of a deadly double shooting in richmond. ktvu channel 2 reporter allie rasmus is th

congressional democrats and republicans will meet at the noon hour. the house was in for morning business and is now recessed until noon. we'll have live coverage here on c-span and c-span 2. right now, from this morning's "washington journal" our roundtable. continues. host: carrie budoff brown is here, and larry lerer is a bloomberg news staff writer, both joining us to talk about the debt compromise that was reached. where were the two of you last knit as this was being worked on? guest: i was at the white house waiting all day, figuring that something would happen a little bit sooner than it did. we were held up for quite a bit of time. lisa can actually speak to this. you might have been on the other d. guest: i was on the hill waiting all day as well. and, you know, sort of a lot of waiting for them to come out of meetings and seeing who was going into whose offices and where wajohn boehner and sort of watching the final negotiations as they racesed to hash it out. caller: carrie, the president came out and gave comments after 8:00 lasnight. was

i am john dingell, member of congress of the fifteenth congressional district. are have gauge in the practice of being the chair of committees for many years and also running new committees. i represent a diverse congressional district of all races, religions and parts of the world society represented. i represent a fine community of muslim americans who are loyal, decent and honorable americans who hold elected office and immigrated to our state from all parts of the middle east. their palestinian, iraqi, egyptian among others, iranians and come from all parts of the world. power muslim americans are honorable citizens, loyal citizens and their as distressed as we are about what is going on. they're not only ordinary citizens but elected officials, members of state legislature, people who sit on the courts as judges and persons who hold other high offices in our society. there are almost without exception hon. loyal citizens and they are distressed as much as we are about the behavior of al qaeda and other threats to their nation as we are to sharing concerns o

it is not just members of the congressional black caucus. one of our problems in america right now, and we are too quiet. we have to make some noise. during another time in our history, we did not wait for the president to act, and the power of some movement is to get people to say, yes, and they may have a desire to say no. we have to create a power. lyndon johnson said in 1960, the first time after martin luther king, jr., received a peace prize, dr. king went with a group of us, and we met with president lyndon johnson, and he said common-law -- and he says, you need to sign it. he said, make me. that is what we did. you need to get out there and push and pull. as in the congress, we have three major trade bills that are pending, and people want it. they call every single day trying to get the votes from the ways and means committee. i say, no way. it means the transfer of jobs here, and the other side of congress, they do not have the will to vote for the trade adjustment act, and it is ok. if you lose your job, we are not going to help

congressional leaders have to sell it to members. in the house minority leader nancy pelosi saying she sees -- needs to see, quote, the final product in writing before she can decide if she supports it. republican senator mike lee is now threatening to filibuster today's vote. >> senator, what do you think? are you going to vote in favor of this agreement? >> you know, i haven't seen the legislation yet. i haven't had an opportunity to read it yet. based on the summary i've received so far i'm not inclined to support it. i cannot support any effort to raise the debt limit that isn't accompanied by immediate and permanent structural spending reform. >> more excitement to look forward to. >> that's right. >> we are covering this story like no one else this morning. our brianna keilar at the white house, athena jones also in washington. brianna on the phone because i think our cameras exploded last night with all of our coverage. >> too many hours. >> one of the biggest things the white house was pushing hard for, for a while, they didn

it is also very heartening to have the members of the congressional black caucus, congressional leaders here spending time with us, dialoguing about what it means to put americans back to work. i want to give a special thanks to congressman lewis. it is a little known fact that i got my start in public service in his office in college at more house. it was as a volunteer in turn. in his office, i've learned about the importance of the political process. your presence here today _ your understanding of how important is to get involved and engaged in the political process. congressmen and congresswomen, i do appreciate you being here today. you could be at home in your district, talking with your voters, where you actually get the most bang for your buck. but you come on the road and you dialogue here in georgia to help give us answers, to help us develop a partnership and help develop the ways in which we will engage in putting americans back to work, and it certainly those in atlanta, and georgians back to work. on behalf of myself and the city council and behalf of the citizens to call

that's not going to happen. >> now, as i said just before the congressional leaders have not yet made their picks to be on the committee, but the leaders have 14 days before they have to announce. wolf? >> the makeup of this committee will be critically important. six democrats, six republicans, six members of the senate, six members of the house of representatives. if there's someone for example who is adamantly 100% opposed to any tax increases whatsoever no matter what, and others are adamantly opposed to any cuts in medicare or medicaid or social security spending, you're going to have a real bat until this committee. >> absolutely. many are saying it's not only the issues that are going to be critical that this committee will be tackling it's the makeup of the committee that will be equally as important. there's some concern that if congressional leaders, as some are saying stack this committee with hard liners in their party, then rather than members of the gang of six who worked in a bipartisan way to find compromise on tough issues, there's concern this committee is just being

the congressional black caucus holds a job fair in atlanta. we'll talk live with one of the job seekers about what she wants congress and the president to do. >>> we continue to watch the markets take a tumble. the dow down 457 points there. let's check in with our allisis kosik in new york. richard quest will be joining us, as well, from london. actually let's begin with you, richard. while the markets opened just a short time ago here in the states and they started out strong by going down strong, you're five hours ahead, how are the european markets doing all day long there? >> they seem to have hit something of a plateau, down, of course. 5 1/2, 5 and change percent from the dax. paris market. and the british market, the london market just off slightly less than that. all the markets -- i'm just looking at numbers. we've just been working at. what are the falls from if you like the highest point seen in 2011? it's interesting, the ftse in london is off some 16%. the dow in new york from its highest point this year back in may is off 14%. b

and what are you going to do about that 13% congressional approval rating?t's pretty low too, congressman. >> well, i have got to tell you, that's part and parcel of what the american people sees a, you know, they don't see any leadership coming washington, d.c. so all i can do is try to stand and rectify the situation from my little fox hole. >> laura: all right, congressman allen west, great to see you. thanks so much. coming up, more violent crimes against americans linked to the justice department's gun running operation with mexican drug lords. and details coming in just a moment. >> laura: in the back of the book segment tent, more violent crimes have been linked to operation fast and furious. that was that botched sting where the bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms sold millions of weapons to violent mexico call drug cartels and lost track of them. almost impossible to get straight earns from eric holder's justice department on this matter. so far border patrol agent brian terry was killed last year by weapons that were part of that operation. and

deal appears to be done, with just 46 hours to go before the deadline to raise the debt ceiling, congressional leaders are trying to sell the compromise tonight to the rank and file. so here is a live look at the capitol, where it's 2:00 in the morning, and we're told some lawmakers are still there, reading through the fine print. we do know two items that are not included in the deal, revenue increases. democrats gave up that demand a couple of days ago, and republicans dropped their insistence to raise the debt court of appealing in two stages. as nbc bay area's brian mooar reports, the senate is expected to vote tomorrow, and then pass it on to the house. >> reporter: president obama and congressional leaders have agreed on a plan to raise the nation's debt ceiling, with barely enough time left to meet tuesday's midnight deadline. >> i want to announce that the leaders of both parties in both chambers have reached an agreement that will reduce the deficit and avoid default. >> reporter: the fight isn't over. the house and senate still have to vote. but getting a plan is a victory in itself.

congressional black caucus seats are some of the safest seats. members have held the office for decades and face few challengers. their security is the result of powerful, racial solidarity operating in their districts. in fact, some cbc members have been accused of crime and fraud and still earned reelection by enthusiastic black constituencies. indeed, african-american voters have showed them extraordinary loyalty, even when their incumbency delivered little in the way of economic benefits. the congressional black caucus is the importance of another representation, descriptive representation. their ability to speak up and out is importance of having representatives who share their cultural and emotional ties to black communities. and on that score, president obama has shown as much commitment to african-americans as most members of that caucus. remember when hillary clinton held a significant lead among black voters during the primary and media outlets regularly questioned if obama was black enough to earn african-american electoral support? re