Obama points to accomplishments

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama told a group of African-American leaders Wednesday he's trying to lay a solid economic foundation for the nation.

Speaking to a crowd at the African-American Policy in Action Leadership Conference, he also stressed he has not forgotten about black communities.

"Obviously, we have enormous challenges," he said. "The unemployment rate in the African-American community has always historically been higher than the norm. And since the unemployment rate generally is high right now, it is way too high when it comes to the African-American community. Many of the challenges that existed before the crisis have been worsened with respect to opportunities for decent housing, with respect to making sure that our schools are equipped to prepare our kids for the 21st century."

Though the administration has work to do, the president said a report that will be released on the White House Web site at www.whitehouse.gov/africanamericans will be "a compilation of everything we've done over the last three years that has not only lessened the severity of the crisis for millions of people, kept millions of folks out of poverty, made sure that millions of folks still had unemployment benefits, healthcare, et cetera, but also talks about the foundations that we are laying."

"The African-American community and communities all across the country of every stripe are going to have an opportunity to finally begin to rebuild so that we are seeing good, solid, middle-class jobs with good benefits that families who are desperate for their piece of the American Dream, that they're going to be able to achieve it," Obama said.

On healthcare, Obama said, "we are already seeing enormous improvements in terms of funding for preventive care, for community health clinics. But full implementation is going to be taking place starting in 2013. We'll have those [health insurance] exchanges, and suddenly families who did not have access to healthcare will be in a position to get it."

Obama told the crowd "many of you have been engaged in pushing Congress to pass the American Jobs Act. This is the only plan that [is] out there that independent economists have said would put people to work right now."