A black woman who told U.S. President Obama she was “exhausted” defending him and waiting for him to bring about economic change, has lost her job.
Velma Hart, who told Obama she was worried about her family’s financial future, was laid off from her job as the Chief Financial Officer of a veteran’s service organization this week.
“I’m an American veteran, and I’m one of your middle class Americans,” Hart said in September during the Town Hall meeting. “And quite frankly, I’m exhausted. Exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for. And deeply disappointed with where we are right now.”
Her supervisor denies laying Hart off because she stood up to Obama.
“It’s not anything she did,” said Jim King, the national executive director of Am Vets. “She got bit by the same snake that has bit a lot of people. It was a move to cut our bottom line. Most not-for-profits are seeing their money pinched.”
He declined to say whether others in Hart’s department had also been laid off.
“Velma was a good employee,” he told a writer from the Washington Post. “It was just a matter of looking at the bottom line and where could we make the best cuts and survive.”
The tea party movement seized upon Hart’s comments to Obama as proof that Obama was losing touch with his hard core supporters – African American voters.
Despite chasing the black vote, Obama and the Democrats suffered a humiliating defeat during November’s midterm Congressional elections.
