It was one that was totally disregarded by the cable analysts, pundits and Traditional Media in the subsequent commentary. And it came from Andre Showell, correspondent for BET networks:
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.
As the entire nation tries to climb out of this deep recession, in communities of color, the circumstances are far worse. The black unemployment rate, as you know, is in the double digits. And in New York City, for example, the black unemployment rate for men is near 50 percent.
My question to you tonight is given this unique and desperate circumstance, what specific policies can you point to that will target these communities and what's the timetable for us to see tangible results?
That was a courageous question, indeed a critical one, not just for communities of color, but for the 13.2 million unemployed and another 2 million marginal or discouraged unemployed Americans of all colors. There are 15.2 million Americans unemployed as of March, 2009 -- more than at the depths of unemployment during the Great Depression in 1933.
I sensed some frustration as the President appeared to agonize during his response to Andre Showell's question.
OBAMA: Well, keep in mind that every step we're taking is designed to help all people. But, folks who are most vulnerable are most likely to be helped because they need the most help.
So when we passed the Recovery Act, for example, and we put in place provisions that would extend unemployment insurance or allow you to keep your health insurance even if you've lost your job, that probably disproportionately impacted those communities that had lost their jobs. And unfortunately, the African-American community and the Latino community are probably overrepresented in those ranks.
When we put in place additional dollars for community health centers to ensure that people are still getting the help that they need, or we expand health insurance to millions more children through the Children's Health Insurance Program, again, those probably disproportionately impact African-American and Latino families simply because they're the ones who are most vulnerable. They have got higher rates of uninsured in their communities.
So my general approach is that if the economy is strong, that will lift all boats as long as it is also supported by, for example, strategies around college affordability and job training, tax cuts for working families as opposed to the wealthiest that level the playing field and ensure bottom-up economic growth.
And I'm confident that that will help the African-American community live out the American dream at the same time that it's helping communities all across the country.
The fact is that, as Bob Herbert noted in his column yesterday, we just do not have anywhere near an adequate response to the nation's unemployment crisis. And a major movement to reemploy all Americans is one a focused labor-progressive-civil rights coalition needs to address.
Complete transcript of President Obama's remarks, questions and responses here.