Obama Draws censure Within Black Community For Refusal to Address Black Union Forum

(AHN) - Barrack Obama's nonattendance at the 'State of the Black Union'' conference prompted both argument and a reaction from the black community.

Presidential candidates Obama and Republicans John McCain and Mike Huckabee refused to attend the forum, leaving Hilary Clinton as the only candidate to address a largely black crowd of thousands in New Orleans' Ernest M. Morial Convention Center - where thousands of the city's poorest residents sought shelter after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Obama chose to focus his campaign in Texas and Ohio in hopes of delivering a knockout blow to Clinton in those states' presidential primaries on March 4.

Obama received criticism from Tavis Smiley, the organizer of the event, saying the Presidential candidate missed an opportunity.

Clinton, meanwhile, is attending because she has to try to woo back black voters who've deserted her in droves, political analysts say. Within a year, black support has flipped from favoring her to backing Obama by as much as 80 percent to 90 percent in recent primaries.

Courtesy AHN