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OBAMA TO NATIVE AMERICANS: 'NO LIP SERVICE....I'M ON YOUR SIDE'
By Yunji de Nies and Sunlen Miller
ABC News
November 5, 2009

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/11/obama-to-native-americans-no
-lip-serviceim-on-your-side.html

Convening a conference with 386 federally recognized tribal nations,
President Obama today assured the Native American community that "you will
not be forgotten as long as I'm in this White House."

"I get it. I'm on your side. I understand what it means to be an
outsider,"The president said recalling that he grew up in Hawaii raised by
his grandparents and didn't have a lot of money, "so even though our
experiences are different, I understand what it means to be on the outside
looking in."

The President admitted that many in the Native American community would be
skeptical about this outreach yet promised that his administration would be
different.

"I know you've heard this song from Washington before. I know you've often
heard grand promises that sound good but rarely materialize. And each time
you're told, 'This time will be different,'"Mr. Obama said. "I want to be
clear about this: Today's summit is not lip service. We're not going to go
through the motions and pay tribute to one another and then furl up the
flags and go our separate ways. Today's sessions are part of a lasting
conversation that's crucial to our shared future."

Mr. Obama's remarks came at the opening session of the day-long conference
at the Department of the Interior. Senior administration members will sit
down in breakout sessions with tribes throughout the day to hear their
concerns. The President will make closing remarks at the end of the day
today.

The statistics on Indian reservations are staggering: 80% unemployment rates
in some areas, 1Ž4 of all native Americans living in poverty, 14% of all
reservations homes don't have electricity, and 12% don't have access to safe
water supply.

"Without real communication and consultation, we're stuck, year after year,
with policies that don't work on issues specific to you and on broader
issues that affect all of us. And you deserve to have a voice in both,"the
President said.

Part of the strategy, the President said, to bring help to reservations will
be through health care, noting that more than half of all Native Americans
and Alaska Natives, especially those in remote areas with limited access to
care, rely on the Indian Health Service for their most basic needs.

"That's why we invested $500 million in the Recovery Act in strengthening
and modernizing the IHS. And that's why my budget proposes an increase of 13
percent in IHS funding. We're also closer than ever to passing health
insurance reform that will finally make quality insurance affordable to all
Americans who don't have coverage, and finally offer stability and security
to Americans who do, and that includes our first Americans."

The President also touted the $170 million for Indian education and the $277
million for Indian school construction within the Recovery Act.

Last summer while campaigning throughout Montana then-Senator Obama visited
the Crow reservation. While there he was adopted into the Crow Nation by
Mary and Sunny Black Eagle, both of whom were at the summit today. Mr. Obama
joked today, "I know what they're saying now: Kids grow up so fast. Only in
America could the adopted son of Crow Indians grow up to be the president of
the United States."

And already the president showed he's thinking about the road ahead. During
the question and answer session with the leaders, Mr. Obama said he would be
helping them for the next eight years, well make that three years and one
month instead.

"For the next eight years -- next four years at least -- let me now jump the
gun. For the next three years and one month that I'm assured of this current
position, we are going to make sure that we put the infrastructure and the
framework in place so that a new dynamic, a new set of relationships have
been established."

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Published by David Sunfellow
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