By Jordan Fabian – 05/02/15 06:00 AM EDT
From Ferguson to Baltimore, the nation’s first black president is encountering the limits of his power when it comes to healing the nation’s racial wounds.
A series of racially-charged police killings, most recently in Baltimore, are quickly becoming a part of President Obama’s second-term legacy, defying predictions that his election to the White House would help bridge the country’s oldest divide.
Obama appears increasingly frustrated by the situation, this week lashing out at people rioting in Baltimore as “thugs” and “criminals.”
The president has also brushed off critics who say his administration should be taking a more forceful approach toward police misconduct.
“The challenge for us as the federal government is, is that we don’t run these police forces,” he said Tuesday during a Rose Garden press conference. “I can’t federalize every police force in the country and force them to retrain.”
The president has struggled to find the right balance between backing law enforcement and criticizing their questionable practices when police-related deaths of black men occur.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/240843-obamas-difficult-legacy-on-race
