Chicago – Calling the Obama administration “the most urban-friendly administration we’ve seen in a long time,” Vice President Joe Biden addresses the members of the 2009 National Urban League conference earlier today.
After a quick introduction from the NUL President and CEO, Marc Morial, Vice President Biden wasted no time delving into President Barack Obama’s plans and proposed policies to deal with the myriad of issues affecting America’s urban communities. Speaking comprehensive about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to discussing the alarming unemployment rates in the African American community, Biden assured the attentive audience that even in the current economic climate, he and President Obama are encouraged by the improvement they’re already seeing.
“The commitment that Barack and I made to each other when we teamed up was that it was not enough just to make the GDP [better],” Biden said. “When we leave office, we will measure ourselves by whether or not we made a leap forward in opportunities for Americans. We’ll be measured by progress.”
After his speech, Rolling out caught up with a few of the conference attendees to get their perspective on what the vice president had to say and whether or not they felt the Obama Administration is working for the good of the black community. –gavin philip godfrey
Lakesha Rice, Chicago
“What struck me the most was him speaking about the urban community and what the administration has done thus far to help advance the lives of people in the urban community. He pointed out some of the their accomplishments thus far [and] the changes they have made within the administration. I think that’s what people want to hear. They want to know what’s being done to assist the people who need it the most — and of course that is African Americans.”
Whitney Walker, Ohio
“I thought it was really inspiring and answered a lot of questions that people had, especially concerning African Americans.”
Nikko Ross, Chicago
“It was actually astonishing. He said they had 600,000 [people] unemployed the month before he came into office [and] 700,000 the month after. Since then they have brought that number down. He actually said this time next year we’ll be out of [the] deficit, so it was kind of astonishing just hearing numbers from him.”
Malik Yoba, New York City
“He made it believable that we’re doing good. Just to know that their putting forth the energy and [making] plans to get us of our current situation makes me feel confident in the current administration’s agenda.”
