Once again, some in the African American community are hammering President Barack Obama for doing nothing for black people. While I understand where critics are coming from, the president's detractors fail to take a 360-degree view of what they are demanding from him and ignore what he's actually done.

On many levels, Obama's commencement address at historically black Morehouse College on Sunday of last week was typical, filled with advice to graduates. But, unlike most speeches of this type, his was not delivered from on high.

No, in tone and words, Obama spoke to the black men of Morehouse as a familiar peer. He used his troubled past as a real-life example of how one's limited circumstances are neither destiny nor a hindrance to achieving the American dream as they define it. He urged the graduates not to make excuses, to aim high and to give back.