Black Lawmakers Must Rally Voters Back Home

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama implored black voters on Saturday to rekindle the passion they felt for his groundbreaking campaign and turn out in force this fall to repel Republicans who are ready to "turn back the clock."

In a fiery speech to the Congressional Black Caucus, Obama warned that Republicans hoping to seize control of Congress want "to do what's right politically, instead of what's right - period."

"I need everybody here to go back to your neighborhoods, to go back to your workplaces, to go to the churches, and go to the barbershops and go to the beauty shops. And tell them we've got more work to do," Obama said to cheers from a black-tie audience at the Washington Convention Center. "Tell them we can't wait to organize. Tell them that the time for action is now."

His speech acknowledged what pollsters have been warning Democrats for months - that blacks are among the key Democratic groups who right now seem unlikely to turn out in large numbers in November.

"It's not surprising given the hardships that we're seeing across the land that a lot of people may not be feeling very energized, very engaged right now," Obama said. "A lot of folks may be feeling like politics is something that they get involved with every four years when there's a presidential election, but they don't see why they should bother the rest of the time."

But he said he's just begun rolling back a devastating recession that's come down "with a vengeance" on African-American neighborhoods that were already suffering.

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