HE CHOSE POORLY: Obama’s Absence The Talk Of NAACP Convention. “The black leaders that attended the NAACP Convention here Thursday heaped praise on Vice President Joe Biden for a heated morning speech, but one question quietly pervaded the gathering: Where was President Obama? Obama’s decision to skip the annual convention in the heat of his re-election bid has been a point of of constant speculation here in recent days, providing a sort of microcosm for how the black community views the nation’s first African-American president as he nears the end of his first term.” Give him a break. He’s probably busy approving the bombing targets for Iran.