WASHINGTON — There was no big speech or fancy ceremony when President Obama observed the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday last month. Instead, for his first King holiday as president, Mr. Obama quietly installed a rare signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation in the Oval Office and invited a small group of African-American elders and young people to come see it.
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The private gathering — “an intimate discussion,” in the words of Dorothy Height, a 97-year-old grande dame of the civil rights movement — was typical of Mr. Obama, who has steered clear of putting race front and center in his administration. But that low-key approach is frustrating some black leaders and scholars, who are starting to challenge Mr. Obama’s language and policies.
On Capitol Hill, members of the Congressional Black Caucus are expressing irritation that Mr. Obama has failed to create programs tailored specifically to African-Americans, who are suffering disproportionately in the recession. In December, some of them threatened to oppose new financial rules for banks until the White House promised to address the needs of minority groups.
“I don’t think we expected anything to change overnight because we had an African-American in the White House, but the fact still remains that we’ve got a constituency that is suffering,” said Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland. “I think he could do more, and he will do more.”
Some black scholars fault Mr. Obama as failing to lead on the issue of race. The Kirwan Institute, which studies race and ethnicity, is convening a conference on Thursday to offer policy prescriptions. After analyzing the State of the Union address, the institute’s scholars warned that “continued failure to engage race would be devastating.”
Michael Eric Dyson, a Georgetown University sociologist and longtime supporter of Mr. Obama, is exasperated. “All these teachable moments,” Professor Dyson said, “but the professor refuses to come to the class.”
In an interview in late December with American Urban Radio Networks, a group of black-owned stations, Mr. Obama conceded that there was “grumbling” among African-Americans, especially about his jobs policies. But he rejected the idea that he should pay special attention to them — an argument that Earl Ofari Hutchinson, a black author and political analyst, called “disingenuous at best, and an insult at worst.”
Mr. Obama framed it this way: “I can’t pass laws that say I’m just helping black folks. I’m the president of the United States. What I can do is make sure that I am passing laws that help all people, particularly those who are most vulnerable and most in need. That in turn is going to help lift up the African-American community.”
Until now, black leaders have tended to tread lightly in criticizing Mr. Obama, and some find it personally painful. Black Americans remain overwhelmingly supportive of Mr. Obama; a recent ABC News poll found that 96 percent approve of his job performance.
But Elinor Tatum, the editor and publisher of the black-owned Amsterdam News, says that if blacks were asked “is he doing a good job for African-Americans,” his numbers would be lower.
“Every time someone brings up an issue that affects blacks, he says that’s an issue that affects all of America,” Ms. Tatum said. “But at the same time, if he were of a different race or ethnicity, he would be playing to the black community. So there’s a double standard there. Should we be the victims in that?”
The conventional wisdom about Mr. Obama is that he tries to duck the issue of race, but close advisers say he is acutely aware of his role as the first African-American president and is trying to advance racial consciousness in constructive ways.
Many black leaders view this as wise. The Rev. Al Sharpton, who is working with Mr. Obama to close the achievement gap in education, says the president is smart not to ballyhoo “a black agenda.”
Instead, Mr. Obama has been trying to shine a spotlight on the history that laid the foundation for his presidency. On Wednesday, as part of Black History Month, the White House will host a star-studded concert showcasing music of the civil rights movement, featuring celebrities like Morgan Freeman and Queen Latifah. Professor Dyson will be a guest.
The King holiday event offers a peek into Mr. Obama’s style. Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to the president, said it was intended as “an intergenerational conversation” in which guests could share their experiences in a “safe and private moment.” Before the Oval Office tour, they gathered in the Roosevelt Room, and Mr. Obama invited each to speak.
Dr. Height began with the story of her first encounter with the young Martin Luther King Jr., then 15 and trying, she said, to “analyze his own thoughts as he was trying to determine whether he wanted to enter the ministry, education or law.”
A local pastor, John Pinkard, recounted his dinner with the civil rights leader decades ago. Participants said the session seemed as much for the president’s benefit as their own.
“My impression was that it was deliberately something for him and for Michelle, and that it was kind of like medicine, it was healing for them,” said the historian Taylor Branch, who also attended. “It seemed to answer something personal for them.”
Race, of course, can be an incendiary issue in American politics — as a candidate, the biracial Mr. Obama was variously criticized as either too black or not black enough. He addressed the topic memorably during a speech in Philadelphia after the controversy involving his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.
Mr. Jarrett said, “He has communicated quite clearly his thoughts on the subject.”
As president, Mr. Obama learned the pitfalls of talking bluntly about race. His comment that police officers in Cambridge, Mass., “acted stupidly” when they arrested a prominent black Harvard professor, Henry Louis Gates, sparked an uproar, and the ensuing “beer summit” at the White House proved a distraction.
Charles Ogletree, a Harvard law professor who represented Mr. Gates and is close to Mr. Obama, said the president had never hesitated to talk about race but is more scripted now.
“I think there is a carefulness — not a reluctance — but a carefulness about what should be said going forward,” he said.
Professor Ogletree says he “finds puzzling the idea that a president who happens to be black has to focus on black issues,” and Dr. Height agrees. Having counseled every president since Franklin D. Roosevelt on matters of race, Dr. Height made a plea in a recent interview for Mr. Obama to be left alone.
“We have never sat down and said to the 43 other presidents: ‘How does it feel to be a Caucasian, how do you feel as a white president? Tell me what that means to you,’ ” Dr. Height said. “I am not one to think that he should do more for his people than for other people. I want him to be free to be himself
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