Two weeks before the November mid-term elections, black voters are examining a range of national social issues that could impact the quality of their lives for years to come.

For many black Americans, issues such as employment, affordable health care, access to quality education for public school students, poverty, home ownership, crime and the war in Iraq are serious concerns.

Democrats say they support policies that help black folks; Republicans say Democrats take black folks for granted.

Some civil rights activists argue that Republican candidates will still embrace White House policies that will adversely affect black Americans.

"George Bush is not on the ballot, but he is," Ron Walters, a political science professor at the University of Maryland, told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

According to Walters, President Bush is on the ballot through his Republican colleagues who support his social and economic agenda, and his steadfast determination to keep U.S. troops in Iraq.

Democrats say they will create jobs that stay in America, starting with raising the minimum wage, expanding Pell grants and making college tuition tax deductible. Creating jobs, Democrats say, will restore opportunity for all Americans, starting with raising the minimum wage and making college tuition tax deductible, and supporting civil rights issues.

Republicans maintain that they support issues of concerns to black Americans and point to the increase in job growth and helping more black Americans become homeowners. Republicans say there is now record home ownership among black Americans due to the American Dream Dowpayment Act.

Still, the black unemployment rate in America is twice the rate of whites.

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According to The Wall Street Journal, "Employers added 51,000 jobs in September, the fewest in almost a year, while the unemployment rate fell to 4.6 percent from 4.7 percent in August -- offering a mixed picture of the nation's jobs climate. Still, the new figures released by the Labor Department provided fresh evidence that the economy has moved into a slower phase of growth."

Regarding Pell Grants, Democrats argue that Bush has not funded Pell Grants, which are often offered to black students. Without Pell Grants, many black students may not be eligible to attend college.

"We found through much of our polling that many African-Americans are feeling like it just shouldn't be this hard," Amaya Smith, deputy press secretary for the Democratic National Committee, told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

"These are people who work hard, play by the rules and are trying to raise their family in a country where rising health care costs, skyrocketing tuition and high energy prices are making it that much harder to make ends meet," Smith said.

Peter C. Groff, executive director of the Center for African American Policy at the University of Denver and publisher of Blackpolicy.org, said the November election is a critical moment in history for black Americans, a chance to examine issues such as home ownership, small business opportunities and financial literacy classes in public schools.

"A main concern is that it's difficult for the African-American electorate to collectively focus on issues beyond the traditional civil rights paradigm," Groff told BlackAmericaWeb.com Wednesday.

"We can now say, with confidence, that the black community has reached a tremendous level of political and socio-economic maturity. Therefore, we have the capacity to examine a diverse array of domestic and foreign policy issues -- to go beyond those topics which simply strike an emotional chord."

"In 2006, the political stakes are high, so we'll need take a closer look at the public policy landscape beyond the usual hot button issues for African Americans on Election Day," Groff said.

"Certainly issues such as affirmative action, voting rights, racial profiling and the death penalty are all significant issues worthy of continuing discourse," he added.

"But," Groff said, "how can the black body politic expect to dominate the course or outcome of these issues if there is a failure to recognize the need for a coherent and organized public policy agenda or strategy? Whether or not we have comprehensive voting rights or preservation of affirmative action ultimately rests on our ability to accumulate political power and leverage."

For Democrats, there are several hot-button issues.

On Iraq, nearly 3,000 American troops have been killed so far in Iraq. One of the war dead is Lt Emily Perez, 23, the first black woman to serve as corps commander sergeant major at West Point.

"Unfortunately, the President made it clear that he intends to stay the course with his permanent commitment to a failed strategy in Iraq," Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement Wednesday.

"What the President doesn't seem to understand is that this is not a political crisis," Dean said. "This is a foreign policy crisis that requires more than adapting his rhetoric in response to falling poll numbers as Election Day nears."

On Iraq, according to the White House: "President Bush has ensured the safety of Americans by taking the fight to the enemy abroad before they have the opportunity to attack the homeland. Victory in Iraq is vital is central to the Global War on Terror to ensure that those who would harm the United States suffer total defeat."

On health care, Democrats also said they will join 36 other industrialized nations in making sure everyone has access to affordable health care, starting by fixing the prescription drug program and investing in stem cell and other medical research. In the last six years, Democrats say Republicans have supported initiatives that have resulted in raising prescription drugs and not provided Americans with affordable health care.

Bush, speaking on health care, said in a recent speech, "We've got an interesting debate in health care in America," Bush said. And I guess if I had to summarize how I view it, I would say there's a choice between having the government make decisions or consumers make decisions."

Republicans say they have pushed for Medicare Reform and prescription drug benefit package for low-income seniors, but civil rights activists say black seniors are paying higher prices for prescription drugs.

Democrats also argue that Bush has cut funding to many social service programs, including health care for Americans, and that more black Americans are now living in poverty and without health care than ever before.

On education, the White House website says, "The President signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) so that testing, accountability, and high standards will join with record new funding to help ensure educational excellence for every child. The early grades are seeing progress across America, but we must finish the job with high schools.

But Democrats say Bush talked good game but never funded No Child Left Behind, leaving teachers and parents struggling to help minority students achieve their goals. Democrats also promise to fund more education initiatives for public school students if they regain control of the House in November.

Many schools, according to Democrats, are not reducing the achievement gap between white and minority students, and closing that gap may take longer than the law's requirements.

"The consequences, especially for minority students, are more and more tragic, and you see it in the data," Sylvia Bruni, assistant superintendent of the Laredo, Texas, Independent School District, told The Christian Science Monitor.

"We have enormous dropout rates, in my community as many 30 percent of all students. ... Statewide there's a marked decline in the number of students who are prepared for higher education," she said.

On crime, Democrats insist that violent crime -- homicides and robberies -- in the nation’s urban neighborhoods is out of control and that black communities are impacted disproportionately. Democrats argue that Bush has not allocated enough funding for law enforcement to protect residents in urban areas.

Nationally, violent crime rose 2.2 percent last year, the first increase since 2001.

Democrats also say the Bush administration has failed black Americans with its slow response to Katrina and the hurricane’s aftermath in New Orleans.

A congressional report slammed the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, calling it a "failure of leadership" that left people stranded when they were most in need.

"Our investigation revealed that Katrina was a national failure, an abdication of the most solemn obligation to provide for the common welfare," the report said. "At every level -- individual, corporate, philanthropic and governmental -- we failed to meet the challenge that was Katrina. In this cautionary tale, all the little pigs built houses of straw."

Still, however, Republicans say they are working diligently on behalf of black Americans.

"From passage of the Voting Rights Re-Authorization Act to Medicare Reform, economic opportunity legislation and aggressive African American outreach efforts, Republicans have a positive record of achievement that is resonating in the black community," Tara Wall, a senior advisor for the Republican National Committee, told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

But Walters said civil rights leaders must outline the issues that are important to black Americans and not wait for Democrats or Republicans to lead the way.

"We must develop our own political strategy," Walters told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "Eliminating poverty is a big issue for us. Problems in education from K-12 are important to us. We must not miss the chance to rally our voters."

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Associated Press contributed to this story.