When I met and talked to Professor Cornell West and Talk Show Host Tavis Smiley at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, the concern then was, as Professor West put it, how we (African Americans) use the historic election of Barack Obama as what was then the Democratic Party’s first black presidential nominee as a force for change.
Now, with our Worldwide economic credit problem, it seems that rather than help Obama, for West and Smiley the objective is ‘how can we hurt Obama?” You may ask why?
The short hand reason is that President Obama, as he reminds people, has to serve as the American President, not the President for Black People As Directed By Smiley and West.
For this blogger, it seems that some African American leaders can’t get over the idea that we as a part of America are far more mainstream than the time when their voices were loudest. The new direction is not exclusive of other types of people.
Plus, Tavis has behaved as if he’s really jealous of Obama’s rise. This goes back to his comments when Barack skipped the State Of Black America even Smiley produced in 2008. Tavis forgot that Barack was working to get elected president; now it seems Tavis has forgot that President Obama has to get reelected.
Stay tuned.
Bill Carroll