Monday, Barack Obama took the ceremonial presidential oath of office for the second and final time. The fanfare was again deafening. The expectations for his second term again outsized.  Black voters who supported President Obama by more than a 9 to 1 margin in 2008 and 2012 can now rest, assured that he will have plenty of time to cement his legacy.

But fast forward to four years from now. Chief Justice John Roberts administers the oath to the 45th American president. At that moment, our first black president will officially become our first black former president. Who will be the second? Deval Patrick? Cory Booker? A newly ascendant member of the Congressional Black Caucus? Who’s got next?  And more important, how long will it take?

While black voters have proven that we can lead a diverse and powerful coalition to elect our preferred candidate, someone who actually looks like us, we continue to underperform in state, local, and midterm elections. This kind of inattention could mean another lifetime before we see a black face in the oval office again.

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Presidents rarely come out of nowhere like Obama appeared to do. Candidates who are not backed by tremendous power and money cannot persevere for extended lengths of time politically. They must see their moment and swiftly amass the resources to seize it. Though Obama did just that, his path to the White House can’t easily be replicated. To even consider a second black president, we have to develop the kind of institutions and tools that incubate black political talent. We have to be intentional.

How? Blacks can’t expect to compete for the White House every four years. At 12 percent of the voting population, we simply don’t have the numbers. So for starters, we don’t wait around for the next Michael Jordan to spring from the ether. We build a pipeline. The Congressional Black Caucus Institute is dedicated to training the next generation of political leaders and educating voters about political engagement. We need to support CBCI and organizations like it – the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, and others – to ensure that they remain faithful to their missions and prepare our young leaders for public service at every level.

Read more at The Washington Post.

Although there is still doubt, rumors dictate that the president may appoint Latinos in cabinet, yet the questions still remain the same: Who, when and where?

Last week, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda handed their letter to the administration in an attempt to remind the White House that there is a “wealth of competent Latinos.” The list included 19 potential Latinos from both the public and private sector who are seen as possible candidates. Rumors dictate that the White House is indicating it may appoint two Latinos.

Names such as Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa rumored to possibly be on the list for a higher appointment was also listed. Analysts believe because of his experience with labor, his influence with Mayors and charisma, it’s not unlikely to suggest he could fit as a Secretary of Transportation, if it becomes vacant, or Secretary of Labor.

“There’s no doubt that this administration is going to want to make sure that they have Latinos as part of their administration, so the million dollar question is where do you put them?” said Arnold Torres, former executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, who now works as a policy consultant.

The two vacancies include secretary of labor and secretary of the interior with Villaraigosa being seen by some as being qualified for secretary of labor.

“It is possible that they may just turn around and give him a position dealing with cities, the mayors, they may create a new position within the cabinet for that purpose,” said Torres.

He explained that the only other vacancy that is high profile at this point is the Department of Labor considering that Villaraigosa’s experience does not match in the secretary of interior. Other political analysts including David Bositis, senior research associate of civic engagement and government institute at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, indicated that there isn’t a lot of experience that is needed for the secretary of labor position.

“If you have good relations with organized labor, then you don’t have to have some specialty in order to be appointed to that position,” said Bositis.
 

Read more at The Huffington Post.

Since Barack Obama was inaugurated on the west Capitol steps four years ago, a dramatic 30-foot memorial to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. has been unveiled at the other end of the National Mall.

But a key part of the political landscape President Obama will survey as he is sworn in for a second term — that is, the number of black officials in top elective offices — hasn't changed a bit.

Obama's groundbreaking election in 2008 and his re-election in 2012 undeniably has affected the nation's racial politics, proving it's possible for an African American to win the nation's highest office and raising the aspirations of some black candidates. He sparked record turnout in two elections among African American voters.

"One of the many things significant that happened when this president was elected: It gave a much larger group of people an opportunity to be unburdened by who has traditionally done what," says Kamala Harris, who in 2010 became the first woman and first black elected attorney general of California.

"There's a bigger ripple than we tend to assign to it," says Kweisi Mfume, a former congressman and president of the NAACP.

In the admittedly short four years since the 2008 election, however, the Obama effect hasn't been reflected in more black candidates actually winning election to the Senate, the House and the nation's governorships. At the intersection of Monday's events — the federal holiday honoring King and the public inauguration of a black president for a second term — the path to the top jobs in American politics seems as steep as ever.

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"If race weren't an issue in this country, the place you would expect to see African Americans elected to statewide office with African American votes would be Southern states with large black populations," says David Bositis, an expert on minority voting and representation at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. "But it's becoming a white, conservative, Republican-dominated area of the country, which means that African Americans, with a few exceptions, are out in terms of statewide office."

Read more at USA Today.

African-American members of the U.S. House of Representatives recently held its special inauguration ceremony with new members, a new chairman and a renewed sense of commitment to continue the fight to ensure equality for blacks.

More than 300 people packed the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center's Congressional Auditorium to witness the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's biannual "A Ceremonial Swearing-In" on January 3. The two-hour event attracted spouses and family members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), leaders of national think tanks and corporate leaders, as well.

U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), who assumed the helm as the chairman of the CBC, said the organization will not be shut out of the national discourse on the economy and other vital issues.

"As the Congressional Black Caucus, we recognize the unique role that we have to play," said Fudge, 60. "We are not just the conscience of the Congress but of the country."

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David Bositis, the senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Northwest, said that despite the CBC's power among Democrats, they will have problems getting their agenda through Congress.

"They are in the political minority in the House and the House is run on a very short rope," Bositis said. "It is a very partisan place and the CBC will be on the losing end of most votes."

Read more at The Washington Informer.

Virginia’s Third District Congressman Robert “Bobby” Scott, a Democrat, joined the chorus of Representatives who voted against the recently pass legislation which allowed the Congress and the White House to avoid going over the fiscal cliff on New Year’s Day.

Scott said the legislation would add trillion of dollars to the existing federal deficit and may force legislators to cut the budgets of various social safety net programs supporting the poor and elderly to pay for the continuation of the Bush era tax cuts for people earning below $450,000.

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Not only does the legislation end the Bush era tax cuts for people earning above $450.000 a year, it also ends the federal tax holiday so there will be higher payroll taxes. There will be a delay in the automatic and drastic cuts to social programs or the defense budget for at least two months and it does not raise the debt ceiling, which President Obama wants the Congress to tackle on its next month.

It does extend the federal unemployment insurance for another year for some of the 12 million people still looking for work.

Scott outlined his position, highlighting that it adds some $3.9 trillion dollars to the national deficit.

“So how are we going to pay for all these new tax cuts,” Scott told the New Journal and Guide the day after the House voted to pass the bill.  ”The only option we have is to cut funding for Social Security, Medicaid, education, transportation and defense.”

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Dr. Wilhelmina Leigh, a senior research assistant at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies agrees that restructuring the Social Security and Medicare programs would be an option to bolster fiscal standing, but she does agree with privatizing it.

“I think that the Congressman took a principled plan,” said Leigh. “Once they revisit this issue they should consider raising taxes or changing how Social Security is funded and administered to strengthen it.”

Read more at the New Journal and Guide.

During the Congressional Black Caucus legislative week in 2004, there was a fundraising reception held for a young black politician from Chicago who hoped to represent his state in the U.S. Senate. The honorary chairs of the fundraiser were Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.), Artur Davis (D-Ala.) and Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.). They helped raise money for Barack Obama, who went on to win the Illinois Senate seat. We all know how the story ends. In 2008 Obama became the first black president of the United States and in November was elected for a second term.

The young black politicians who helped raise funds for Obama were known as the "the New Breed." They arrived in Washington during the mid- to late 1990s and early 2000s and were part of the hip-hop generation, the generation born between 1965 and 1984. Jackson became a member of Congress in 1995. Ford joined him in the House two years later. In January 2003, Meek and Davis were sworn in. And just two years earlier, in 2001, Kwame Kilpatrick became the youngest mayor of Detroit when he was elected at age 31.

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But what happened to these young men who came into office with such ambition? Unfortunately, their aspirations met reality, Gillespie said.

Ford and Meek, both from political families, ran for Senate in their respective states and lost. Davis, a Harvard graduate and former assistant U.S. attorney, wanted to be the first black governor of Alabama but failed to secure the Democratic nomination in his state.

"The younger generation actually thought that there were greater opportunities for them to be able to act upon their ambition, and because of that they took risks that older black politicians and earlier cohorts of black politicians didn’t take. Unfortunately they [the risks] didn’t pay off," said Gillespie. "In Artur Davis’ case he miscalculated. He took the Obama moment and hoped that it would transfer to success in the Deep South."

The tragic disappointment of Jackson and Kilpatrick is another story. After 17 years in Congress, Jackson resigned from his seat on Nov. 21 to "focus on restoring" his health. Jackson was diagnosed with bipolar II depression this summer. The former congressman remains under federal investigation for misuse of campaign funds. Kilpatrick resigned as mayor of Detroit in 2008 after a corruption trial that included a sexting scandal. He served jail time and is currently in court again facing more corruption charges.

"Jesse Jackson, he wanted to break into the higher level offices that African Americans seldom win -- governor, senator," said David Bositis, senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Kwame, he said, "was a young man who didn’t view the world as a potentially dangerous place. I think to some degree, he thought he could pretty much do what he wanted."

Read more at SC Black News.

As the nation's first African-American president, Barack Obama benefited from and expanded his party's enormous advantage among minority voters.

But as he prepares to start his second term, Obama hasn't managed to usher in behind him many Democrats who are minorities to top elected office. Conversely, Republicans — despite their highly limited support among non-Anglo voters — have managed to elevate more top politicians from minority backgrounds.

"It's just an objective, empirical fact that more members of minority groups have done well winning in the Republican Party," says Artur Davis, a former Democratic congressman from Alabama who has switched allegiance to the GOP.

"The Republican Party has proven welcoming to minorities, and its voters will elect minorities as long as those minorities share their worldview, as long as those minorities are conservatives," Davis says.

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Still, reaching the top rungs can be difficult for African-American politicians in particular — because the vast majority of those holding elected office are in the South.

Neither Davis nor Ford was able to win election, and other blacks nominated to statewide posts in the South have done even more poorly.

In addition to the region's conservative nature, in the Deep South, "in terms of statewide elections, there's high racial polarization," says David Bositis, an expert on black politics at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Read more at NPR.

The latest installment of CNN's docuseries Black in America asked the question "Who Is Black in America?" and examined the issue of colorism: bias based not just on race but also on actual skin color. The news special cited well-documented research confirming that lighter-skinned immigrants earn more than their darker-skinned counterparts. But one topic the special did not explore is whether skin-color bias has a tangible impact on American politics, particularly at the national level.

Are Americans more likely to vote for a minority candidate who is lighter-skinned? The experts we spoke with said it appears so.

David A. Bositis, senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank specializing in research relating to blacks, said that the numbers speak for themselves. "You can't think of many [black politicians] who are very dark," he noted.

To his point, most elected (as opposed to appointed) black American politicians who have broken a significant barrier have either been extremely light-skinned or part white. Examples include Edward Brooke, the first black senator to be popularly elected; Adam Clayton Powell Jr., New York's first black congressman; Douglas Wilder, the first black governor in the U.S.; and David Dinkins, New York's first black mayor. Then, of course, there is President Barack Obama, who is not as light as the others, but is also not dark -- and whom most Americans are aware is of biracial parentage.

Read more at The Root.

For more than a year, Americans have heard a steady drumbeat about the dangers of the proverbial fiscal cliff from politicians, pundits and others.

When the clock strikes 12 on December 31, we've been told, an economic and financial time bomb will be triggered that will drag the country back into recession, cause stock markets to tumble, unleash another layer of unemployment and saddle middle-class Americans with thousands of dollars of additional taxes each year.

While dramatic, this scenario is unlikely to play out as forecast, said one local economist.

"On January 1, we will have started down a path where a range of people in a wide swath of life will suffer. We're expecting a hatchet on January 1 and everyone will be bleeding but it won't work out that way," said Wilhelmina Leigh, Ph.D., a senior research associate on economic security issues at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Northwest. "I think there are some clear, negative likely implications if we go off the fiscal cliff. Lights wouldn't go off but people may have to burn lights six hours a day and eat two meals instead of three. All the cuts will be spread out over the next decade so you won't see its effects instantly. This might have been done for people to buy time or it might have been the least painful way – if you have to suffer, it's better to spread it out."

Read more at The Washington Informer.

There was so much cacophony at the Republican National Convention in Tampa this summer that some unscripted remarks were not given the prominence they deserved. One of the most prescient, in light of Mitt Romney’s defeat, was this from South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham: “We’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term.” Graham’s bleak demographic assessment of the conservative future was confirmed by David Bositis, of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, whose harsh verdict was that the “Republican Party base is white, aging and dying off.”

Has the GOP really become a redoubt for “angry white guys”? Will Republicans put themselves out of business by not appealing fast enough to young voters? To put it at its most stark: Are conservatives going extinct? Graham’s view was echoed this past weekend by the Republican sage George Will. Pondering whether the Supreme Court will declare gay marriage legal, he said, “There is something like an emerging consensus. Quite literally, the opposition to gay marriage is dying. It’s old people.”

Read more at Reuters.