In President Barack Obama�s State of the Union address he did, as expected, pivot sharply toward addressing the economy in a pointed, feisty, significant display of pushback to critics and the Republican establishment that his programs have not worked.� But two things worry me about his strategy where the state of black America is concerned.�

First, with respect to jobs he announced a series of things that would help small businesses: giving $30 billion to community banks to fund projects, eliminating their capital gains tax, providing $5,000 tax credit for each person hired, and tax incentives for investment in plant and equipment.�

But I wonder whether the President gets the state of black America.� With an official unemployment rate nearing already nearing 20%, constituting 40% of home foreclosures, with critical businesses still not getting credit, and with a climbing poverty rate, blacks need help now!�� While the President�s proposals accurately take into consideration the fact that small businesses provide most of the jobs in America and they are therefore, vital to the economic recovery, this still amounts to a �trickle-down� strategy of job creation that will take far too much time and effort to address black suffering.

Everyone is having a difficult time resume` shopping with businesses small and large not hiring.� But even if the President�s strategy works, history tells us that blacks will be the last hired which is why they may not recover their pre-recession position in the labor force.� This was the story of the Bush recession of 2001 and its aftermath.� So, I conclude with Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman that against this backdrop something much larger is needed than this relatively modest, almost Republican sounding set of measures.

Second, the President announced (also playing to conservative critics of the deficit) that he would propose a freeze on spending in the FY 2011 Budget.� Again, if history is any judge, the part of the budget that is likely to be frozen is that which funds housing and urban affairs, where� blacks are disproportionately situated.� After the President�s address, Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary said that the proposed $3.8 trillion dollar Budget will freeze most domestic programs except for education, research programs, and aid to the states.� However, another big exemption is the Defense budget causing some liberal members of Congress to ask why not cut this budget, a position that I take, especially in light of the fact that the war in Iraq will be winding down by September of this year.

Something I have said before bears repeating, which is that the Economic Policy Institute projects that by the end of this year, if the unemployment rate continues to climb, the poverty rate for black children, now at 30%, could reach 50%.� That prospect alone calls for a toughness by black leaders in the face of a possible freeze on governmental assistance.� Bob Herbert also points this out in a recent New York Times column (�Blacks in Retreat�) and, observing the extent to which blacks and other communities of color are being crushed� by this recession, says that, �decades ago you would have heard a sustained outcry against such dire conditions amongst blacks and there would have been loud demands for policy changes designed to bring more black Americans into the economic mainstream.�� His conclusion as to why things have been so quiet is that, �too many so-called black leaders are more interested in invitations to the White House�than in raising the kind of ruckus that might benefit people in real trouble.�

Is Herbert right?� There is something to what he says, but whether or not he is right, it appears that black leadership must step up.� At least one-quarter of the Stimulus funds have been spent and the black unemployment rate is still growing, now the timetable faced by the black community is defined by the prospect of a Budget freeze which may close off the opportunity for a direct spending impact on black economic fortunes, especially for the needy.�

The leadership situation grows even more urgent as President Obama has said that he is not an ideologue, but essentially a pragmatist. This may be why he continues to attempt to appeal to Republicans to affect bi-partisanship, exhibiting a pragmatism that could result in handing over control of governance to the minority party.�

The only thing that can check this is the rise of an agitated Left, lead by the Black community.� When will its leadership step up to the plate?

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member, Dr. Ron Walters, is the Distinguished Leadership Scholar, Director of the African American Leadership Center and Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland College Park. His latest book is: The Price of Racial Reconciliation (The Politics of Race and Ethnicity) (University of Michigan Press). Click here to contact Dr. Walters.