The summer vacation for President Barack Obama is completely over. This month marks the beginning of a new season for political maneuvering and calls for Obama to stand solidly with black residents of the nation's capitol.

For many blacks in Washington, D.C., the historic election of Obama signaled the support – and potential passage - of perhaps the most highly-charged piece of legislation facing the District: Voting rights.

But today, black folks in the District - some call it “the last colony” - say they are disheartened because the voting rights bill has not become law. Some even blame Obama for not using his White House bully pulpit to support D.C. voting rights while proponents plan to aggressively step-up their hard-fought campaign in the weeks ahead.

Because Obama had been a co-sponsor of the voting rights bill two years ago as a senator, it was expected that as president, he would be more helpful this time around, black political aides told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

“Another person missing in action in this debate is President Obama,” political analyst Mark Plotkin wrote in The Washington Post. “He can go to Ben's Chili Bowl, but he refuses to say one public word about our lack of voting rights.”

This week, as Congress continues its fall session, some blacks in a city that is nearly 60 percent African-American are questioning Obama’s commitment to secure full voting representation in Congress and full democracy for residents of D.C., who pay federal taxes.

U.S. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said she understands the frustration from some of her constituents, but said the president’s power on this issue stops at the White House door.

“Many expected him to be more active at this stage, but there’s very little a president can do to get conservatives to support the bill,” Norton told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

Some black folks suggest that a bit of symbolism on Obama’s part could go a long way in signaling that he strongly supports voting rights. They point to the president’s limousine, which has not been equipped with the "Taxation Without Representation" license plates that have become the most visible complaint of D.C.’s void of representation in Congress.

Former President Bill Clinton added the D.C. license plates with the slogan "Taxation Without Representation," to the presidential limousine and motorcade before he left office but former President George W. Bush quickly removed the plates, making it clear that he opposed voting rights for D.C.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs downplayed the license plates issue, telling reporters, "I think rather than change the logo around the license plate, the president is committed instead to changing the status of the District of Columbia."

Residents have sent letters to the White House and held meetings to pressure Obama to change the plates, and now that Congress is back in session, calls for the new plates may even get more intense. In fact, the activist group D.C. Vote plans a major rally next month to support voting rights.

And while health care reform is clearly one of Obama’s top priorities, some black D.C. residents say they don’t want the critical issue of voting rights to get lost among the litany of other high-profile issues piling up on the president’s desk.

And several political insiders are also privately criticizing Obama for not speaking out more forcefully about gun running and the negative impact that illegal weapons purchases have on black communities in D.C.

They say neither Obama or his Homeland Security officials stepped up to protect the voting rights bill from the gun attachment which, among other things, would make it lawful to have guns in public buildings in D.C. and make it lawful to buy guns at gun shows .....

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