From the Metro Desk of Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper (A one-on-one interview with President Barack Obama (pictured) undertaken by Robyn Simone (pictured) of Radio One's 93.1 WZAK FM Radio Station in Cleveland during a campaign visit by the president to Cleveland to urge Ohioans to vote, and to vote early). CLICK HERE ON THIS LINK TO FIND YOUR VOTING LOCATION IN OHIO

CLEVELAND,Ohio- Ohio is a key battleground state on the road to the White House and President Barack Obama, through the Obama for America Campaign, gave Cleveland, OH its respect as he acknowledged the majority Black city's number one R&B, classic and soul leader by giving Radio One's WZAK 93.1 FM radio personality Robyn Simone an exclusive one-on-one interview.  (Editor's note: Read the one-on-one interview below this brief synopsis).

America's first Black president is reaching out to urban radio stations all over the country and courting the Black vote, just as he did in 2008. And during the interview with Simone, which aired on WZAK, Obama talks about medicare and medicaid, foreclosures, and efforts by Mitt Romney and the Republicans to cut taxes for the rich on the backs of the middle class and the poor. The president also discusses Obamacare, and he speaks on gun violence in response to the shootings earlier this year by T.J. Lane  in the Chardon High School cafeteria, shootings in the Chardon, OH. community that left three students dead and several people injured.

The assistant program director and mid-day radio personality  for WZAK who has been burning up the radio airwaves since 1998, Simone has made waves as a true leader and professional in her field. Her herein one-on-one interview with President Obama reminds the Black community, particularly in urban cities in the pivotal state of Ohio such as Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo, Akron, Youngstown and East Cleveland, of the importance of voting, and voting early.

The following interview was transcribed by Cleveland Urban News. Com Reporter Johnette Jernigan from a previously aired radio segment audio with the permission of Simone and Radio One's 93.1 WZAK FM.

INTERVIEW

Robyn Simone of Radio One's 93.1 WZAK FM Radio in Cleveland: We’re trying to get this thing together here.

United States of America President Barack Obama: I know that’s right.

Simone: We've got to vote! This election is so  crucial. What do we lose if we don’t vote?

Obama: Let me describe just what the choice is here. Mr. Romney’s main economic agenda is returning to basically what we tried under Bush. He’s just going to do more of it. Not only is he going to redo the Bush tax cuts, he’s going to do more of it. He’s proposing a $5 trillion tax cut, most of which goes to wealthy Americans. The average tax cut for folks making more than $3 million a year would be $250,000.00 a year. We just saw a study that said the only way you can pay for that is for middle class families to pay an average of an extra $2,000 a year.

Simone: Wow, we can’t afford that?

Obama: I know you can’t. This is a pocketbook issue for middle class families. This does not even include all the cuts he’s [Romney] proposed in education like the community colleges, and the work we’re doing for job training to the housing assistance and programs that obviously that are necessary to help Cleveland rebuild. [Whether it is] rebuilding roads and bridges that can put people back to work, summer jobs programs, you name it, he’s [Romney] looking to cut all that and he’s talking about [attacking] medicare and slashing medicaid.

Simone: What about foreclosures, because still in Ohio they are at their highest? There has been money that has been released and some families have been helped, but there are a lot of families that are still struggling with foreclosures.

Obama: The housing market is slowly beginning to improve. We have been really pushing Congress to pass a bill that would allow every homeowner to refinance at historically low rates, and that would save the average family about $3,000 a year, which obviously would be good for the economy as a whole because people would then have more money to spend.

Simone: We've got to talk about gun violence because a lot of people are concerned here in Northeast Ohio, which is going through a tragedy  in the Chardon, Ohio community, and now the Colorado shootings.  Are there going to be new gun laws in place?

Obama: Well, I think what we need to do is  pull everybody together, including law enforcement, faith based communities and elected officials, and just have a discussion generally about how we reduce violence. There is no reason why we should not be strengthening background checks and making sure we don’t have AK7's and automatic rifles on the streets.

But part of it has to do with what kind of mental health services that are  being  made available in poor communities including in African American and Latino communities. These communities are often underfunded when it comes to mental health. It’s important for us to have positive situations inside of schools so everything we’re doing on school reform is important.  The more we give young people positive paths to move forward where they can see where their lives are going, the less likely they are to engage in destructive violent behavior, so that has to be a priority.

Simone: On Obamacare,  how did you feel when [the U.S. Supreme Court upheld The Affordable Care Act earlier this year]?

Obama: What was satisfying was knowing that 30 million people who don’t have health insurance are going to be able to get it, and if you already have health insurance the insurance companies won’t be able to jerk you around in the same ways they've done in the past. People are going to get free preventive care and young people will be able to stay on their parents plans until they are 26 years old. All those things, and knowing how many families I've met that would be impacted by it, makes all this worthwhile.

Simone: The platform you started with hope and change, what is going to be the platform theme for the next four years cause I already know you are going to win this thing?

Obama: It’s still about hope and change, its still about believing in America and believing in American workers and American manufacturing American energy cause we have the best tools to beat any nation.  We have the best workers, the best entrepreneurs. We have all the ingredients for us to compete, we just have to solve some of our political problems in Washington. That’s why people turning out to vote this time out is so important.

So if you are listening here today, take the time, get registered, make sure you’re vote especially you young people out there, you have no excuse.  The whole thing will take you 15 minutes and you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you are making the country better.

To follow Robyn Simone at Radio One's 93.1 WZAK FM CLICK HERE