What Do We Want from the President?

Should Republicans take control of the United States Senate there will be many political pundits faulting Democrats for their inability to get black voters to go the polls.  Why won’t black voters go to the polls in large numbers?  Well, it’s a non-presidential election which typically leads to low voter turnout by the party in the White House.  However, this year there is another subplot—black voters are disappointed with President Obama because they have been overlooked during his first six years.  Former Harvard University professor Cornell West continues to be an ardent critic and excoriates the President’s record on black issues in his new book.

Dr. West and others point to efforts made by President Obama on behalf of other voting blocs.  They rail about what he’s done for gays and lesbians because of his support for gay marriage and the significant legal battles won in recent years.  However, the President’s support for same sex marriage was rather tepid during his first term in office.  Some say he’s done more for Latinos with his commitment to immigration reform and his executive actions on behalf of Dreamers.  Yet, he passed on any further executive action and the numbers of immigrant deportees remain significantly high.  It’s difficult to make the case that President Obama has completely ignored the concerns of black Americans with the aggressive actions taken on their behalf by Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department on the issues of voting rights and criminal justice reform.  Did not the President recently launch “My Brother’s Keeper”, an initiative for boys and men of color?

In contemplating these “what have you done for me lately” propositions, it occurred to me that social workers might have some concerns as well.  How are social workers feeling about the President?  What should social workers expect from President Obama?  It is well documented that African Americans and Latinos voted for President Obama in large numbers in both the 2008 and 2012 elections.  In 2012, he received 71 percent of the Latino vote and 93 percent of the African American vote.  I have not found any data on the percentage of social workers who voted for President Obama, but I would believe that most social workers are progressive and that he received the majority of our votes.  But we are not a large constituency, so why would Democrats care?  At about three quarters of a million strong, social workers are not a voting bloc to be feared.  However, with our skills at organizing and persuasion, we could easily be a force to reckon with.  But right now, that’s potential.

Gay and lesbian voters have a clear agenda—equal rights, freedom to marry, and freedom from discrimination.  Latinos have an agenda that is less clear but generally focused on finding a path to documentation if not citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants.  They have more social and economic concerns, but providing some peace of minds for millions in this country illegally is a high priority.  Likewise, the are many social and economic problems plaguing African Americans, from high unemployment, to disproportionate criminal justice involvement, to low performing schools.  However, it is unclear where the President should begin.  What are the priorities?  What are the policy prescriptions?  Someone should have been working on these before President Obama was elected.

There are many social and economic challenges awaiting the next President who just might be Hillary Clinton.  Now is the time to set priorities and identify potential policy remedies.  What do social workers want from the President?  Which issues are most important?  But understand, while the President might be willing to support our initiatives, he or she will not do all the work for us.  We must be willing to provide policy ideas, the political strategy and be willing to take the lead on getting things done.  That is what lobbyists do.  Of course some lobbyists are able to reinforce their agendas by spreading around money, but nothing prevents social workers from helping to draft bills.  Nothing stops us from working to get more sponsors.  The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) played a major role in drafting the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act.  It is up to us to work to get it passed.

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Written By Charles E. Lewis Jr., Ph.D

What Do We Want from the President? was originally published @ Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy » Charles Lewis and has been syndicated with permission.