Central Brooklyn Congressman Hakeem Jeffries may remain uncommitted on whether he will will challenge Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2017, but he’s serious about challenging President Barack Obama… in basketball.
That’s just one of the tidbits that came out in the following brief interview that KCP conducted with Jeffries on the Bay Parkway Promenade prior to the lawmaker’s hearty endorsement of Pam Harris for the vacant 46th District Assembly seat.
KCP: I heard you recently flew on Air Force One with President Obama to New Orleans for the 10th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. What’s you up close impression of the president?
Jeffries: President Obama is one of the most impressive men or woman that I have been given the opportunity to know in the course of my lifetime. He is both interpersonally generous as well as intellectually sharp in terms of his understanding of the issues and challenges that are facing America in an increasingly difficult geopolitical and economic climate.
What about anecdotally? What kind of person is he?
I can’t say I’ve gotten the opportunity to get to know other presidents, but I have gotten the opportunity to be in several meetings and personally interact with President Obama over the years and he is both an individual with the gravitas you would expect for the leader of the free world as well as somebody who truly spent a lot of time on the south side of Chicago as a community organizer who understands everyday Americans and everyday communities.
I’ve read that President Obama is a huge sports fan as well and that he plays basketball. I also know you used to play basketball on a pick-up assembly team when you were in the state assembly. Did you ever get a chance to take him one-on-one?
President Obama is an avid basketball fan and player, and I do hope that at some point prior to the end of his second term, we get an opportunity as members of Congress -both Republicans and Democrats – to go over to the White House grounds and challenge the president and the administration to a game of basketball.
I know as an accomplished attorney, you are on the House Judiciary Committee and remain passionate about criminal justice reform. How are you efforts in this going?
I founded a bipartisan task force with two Democrats and two Republicans on criminal justice and public policy. It’s a very important caucus in trying to capitalize on the momentum that exists to get criminal justice reform done in Congress this year – to end mass incarceration and create an important balance between effective law enforcement on one hand, but a healthy respect for civil rights and civil liberties on the other hand.
Do you think it’s a real possibility to happen this year?
There’s a very realistic possibility. I think there’s a strong likelihood of success as long as we can get past the partisanship that has made it difficult to get big things done in Washington in the past, but there’s a groundswell of support both from conservative Republicans as well as progressive Democrats within the Congress and in terms of outside groups. I’ve been impressed that people like people and organizations. I’m impressed that groups and people like the Heritage Foundation, Newt Gingrich as well as the Koch Brothers have all indicated that criminal justice reform is something that Congress should do this year because it’s important for our economy and its important for the American people.
So it remains a front burner issue?
It is a top priority because of its’ significance and the probability that we can get something done.
