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Monday, April 11, 2011 | 11:39pm
SOUND OFF: Is Obama Doing Enough for Blacks or is he a ‘Mascot’ for the Wealthy
Cornel West & Captain African America Square Off in a Shouting Match to determine the President’s worth
@THEREVAL @cornelwest @MSNBC
I always get such a teary eyed sense of pride when I see two liberal black men argue on National TV counterpoints. Seriously…well only kind of seriously. Leave it to Black America and we’d follow the Pied Piper right into the river. The point is that most white folks especially conservatives believe that the vast majority of Blacks voted for Barack Obama based soley on skin color. So when Captain African America (Al Sharpton) and Dr. Hip Hop (Cornel West) went at each others heads on On MSNBC’s “The Black Agenda” special hosted by Ed Schultz the heated exchange was music to my ears. It was as if a warm Springtime breeze gently whiffed through the political environment.
The topic: Is President Obama doing enough for the African American community. Following their recent lovefest, Sharpton came to the President’s defense citing that most black politicians and leadership, save the President, are largely ineffective.
“Too many of us are putting it all on the President, if I see a [Paul] Ryan in Congress, where is the counterpoint to Ryan? That’s not President Obama’s job,” Sharpton said. ” He shouldn’t lead the civil rights marches against himself. Eveybody’s sitting around acting like we can’t do anything, Obama’s going to do it. That’s hogwash.”
Ahhh gotta love the SAT word “Hogwash.” Not feeling Poetic Waxation (don’t bother Googeling it, I just made it up) West jumped right in claiming the President is little more than a “black mascot” for the wealthy. At the same time he share an interesting theory on why the Congressional Black leadership is fearful of challenging Obama.
“They have a black constituency and there’s a context in the nation that a criticism of President Obama is an attempt to support the right-wing vicious attacks of Fox News and others.”
Hmmmmm… The Afro’d one might be onto something there. We as a society, if you think about it, have created a situation where leaders of largely African American districts MUST follow behind the President like a puppy or fear the back lash of their constituency. To further his point, West quoted a study claiming that over 72% of young black men have been stopped and frisked by the police in New York City but argued that Obama never addresses such issues but “if investment bankers were stopped and frisked,” West predicts Obama would have something to say.
All very valid points. One must be very hesitant to believe anything that comes out of the mouths of any of these politicians. They’re here to serve an agenda. That’s not a bad thing but if you’re not directly keeping them in office or infinitely more important, keeping their pockets fat, you’re not important. Like an excellent Marketer, politicians have a target market and focus all of their efforts on keeping them happy and abandon any funds and or energy towards delivering for those that can’t help them. This could be said of the President, his predecessor, Sentaor Boehner, hell even Captain African America…espeically the Captain. So that leaves me to my question. Are you in the President’s sweet spot? SOUND OFF: Is President Obama doing enough for you and Black People in general or is he as West so eloquently describes a “Black Mascot for the Wealthy”?
FILED IN Editorials, News
Do black people need a super hero to come save us all? I’m afraid I actually agree with the Captain on this 1. Why should Obama be the whole black movement all by himself? I dont know of any marches or sit ins or rallies that have been organized by Dr. West. I think he has a point about Obama carefully navagating which racial topics (if any) that he wants to speak about, but dont all politicans do that. Obama is a politician, why are we so suprised when he acts like one? I will say this though, I’ve heard him speak alot about community based leadership and groups helping develop and grow the change we seem to want him to magically create. Dr. West sounds a like a lot of people that expect obama to solve all of this socities ills in one term. Hogwash!
I agree Eru420… Obama is simply a politician, doesn’t matter what color his skin is…. majority of politicians deceive the masses to garner the votes, but at the end of the day they want to make sure they are happy and also their target market is satisfied…. F**k everybody else.. pure hogwash… my new word of the day/\…
I couldn’t agree more. He’s not a rapper. He’s a politician. He’s gonna break promises and skirt issues. He has to.
Now let me rant, black people, spanish people, whites whomever is blaming this man Obama for the state of blacks in this country needs to stop…. The problems in black America are deep, broken homes, health, jobs, LACK OF EDUCATION… but NO President, law, or congress can fix the mind states of black people in this country… The problem lies in us, we gotta pick the ball up and run with it… Help each other out first, before we rely on the government… the problem is deep within black america… we think selling drugs on the corner is the only way out of poverty… WE GET young smart black women pregnant then decide to walk away, leaving a baby to grow up with no Father or stable home… we gotta break this trend and cancer is destroying us… or the the cycle will continue… who is it that skips school to smoke weed… who taunts the young black girl or boy who wants to study so they can attend college…Fellas stop walking away from your marriages and children.. we need more strong black families we need to set values in our kids.. all i am saying is if you want to see change at the top it has to start from the bottom…. Obama isn’t at fault….
I HOPE U run 4 public office soon bcuz u would get my vote!!! Auchamp22 u get Comment Of the Day!!! We need 2 stop crying and bitching about what AmeriKKKA duz including myself and get our asses up and rebel not in a uprise way ……at least not yet , but get that degree hell get 2 or 3,FUCK STREET CRED get college cred.If u can’t go 2 college soak up and peep game from another perspective instead of that Street corner shit , and by the way a Rappers career last about as long well just ask….Black Rob, Whoa!!We as ppl of Color will always be scared 2 take a stand ….”cuz massa myt chop our foots off”.
I think your “party platform” above is exactly what I envisioned the Nation to do. Create a community of leaders who could come together, discuss issues, debate and venture out into our respective communities infecting knowledge where ever we go. I’m glad to see the plan is working. Clearly there still is a lot of work to do. We all have to have pigheaded discipline and determination to see it through.
They both have valid points Mr.West and Mr.Sharpton. 4 1 black people cannot xxxpect President Obama 2 try and end all the racial tension that AmeriKKKa as a whole bestows on US nor should he try , racism got worse since he has been in office even Stevie Wonder can c that. It’s justa blatant disrespect on the President that has never happened 2 any other President not even george HITLER w.Bitch got this shit on like this.Yet President Obama does not in my opinion ever talk about obvious issues that effect African Americans bcuz he has to be bias and not look like he is concerned with those issues that effect us. KKKonservatives and AmeriKKKa as a whole have Pres.Obeezee shook like Dice.He is basically addressing what he is told 2 address not what he wants 2 address .As 4 the reason I voted 4 him,I VOTED 4 Pres.Obama 4 the same reason AmeriKKKa “DID NOT” vote 4 him.
You right… oh GW got away with anything and everything… only to let it fall on Obama’s lap… America is afraid of change simply… black or hispanic they are scared to let us have a chance and succeed..Obama started off doing his thing.. got the health reform rolling, put a hispanic woman on the court… GOP(white people) seen this stuff happening and shit changed quick….. now they got us doubting our President… be realistic people, can Obama change every hood or pj… nope doubt it, but we can…positive actions are contagious….
Agreed. As soon as he starts discussing that black people stuff people will accuse him of playing his race card. But my opinion is eff it. They think that already and hell the White House has been playing the White card for generations. How about a little intermission.
Both are very valid points. I’m definitely wit 2NA$$TEE on votin for auchamp too!!! Our President is in a tough position on a lot of fronts and I know I wouldn’t want to have his job right now. A lot of us “black folks” did take that posture that our problems were pretty much solved with a black prez and got even more complacent that we already were. Regardless to what our views on all the issues that face our president (wars, economy, crises, etc.), our community won’t start to get better until we make tha changes to get ourselves and those around us better. To me, tha presidency has little to do with tha teen pregnancy rate or tha fact that my lil sister can’t take her Algebra books home cause her whole high school senior class is sharing books or tha lack of help at the local soup kitchen, meals on wheels, & The Boys & Girls Club. Those are things we gotta be tha H.N.I.C. on and in doing so we support tha black man who we elected. I hope that our kids and grandkids are reading that Barak Obama’s presidency was great time in this nation lead by tha many black communities pulling together and makin that a reality…if that’s true it will be omitted from history books tho right, hahaha!!!
lol they will certainly omit that from the history books…
Well I think because the President came up as a community organizer people still expect him to govern from that micro perspective. He can’t. I think ColeTate makes an excellent point. We are the ones on the micro level who need to pay attention to his YouTube speeches, State of the Union and radio addresses and act locally so that he can look good on the Macro level. Clearly there’s a lot of work to do but if we all do a little something We’ll move the needle. Am I delusional? Am I asking too much?
your not asking to much… the issue is we aren’t moving the needle enough…. we are a melting pot, our attitudes and actions as a country reflect that… we aren’t on the same page…. sadly it took 9/11 for us to ban togther… how long did that last? a month or two… then wee all went back to doing our thing.. black people you do your thing, white people you do your thing etc etc… like you said lots of work to be done… i hope people turn the mtv and Bet off for a second becuz simply to move the needle, we have to be informed and have knowledge… we need more platforms like HBN
Yo Cole Tate , u as Vice Prez. U r so right. All these intellegent ppl on this site , u know the Government is going 2 start monitoring this site and have all our Alliases in a Data Base..Lol .No he won’t be in the History Books 4 anything positive but will be in the His..story books as the worst President of the 21st Century .They will never say anything positive about President Obama, hell they won’t even acknowledge that he was born in the US, they still think Hawaii is off the coast some 3rd world country.
Ya, that’s it. Obama hasn’t done enough for Black America.
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Some of these so-called experts need to just shut the f**k up.
Cornel is normally my dude but he talking like a straight bama on this one. Obama is pres of the united states not just black people. He cant cater to any one group and if he were any other race no one would expect him to. He has over 300 white people, aka the republican party in congress, dedicated to seeing him fail. I know a lot of cats aint pay attention in civics class but we do have 3 branches of government and they all work together to formulate and enact and enforce laws. He can’t change this country on his own. He’s a president, not a king. Obama has done more in 2 years than most presidents do in 8 and has certainly done more to help people of color than Bush ever did. If anyone thinks they can do better then please get yo black ass elected president. If you can’t than please shut the hell up and support this man unconditionally. If you can’t do it for him, than please do it for your country cuz we know what republicans will do if they get the presidency. And trust me, they have absolutely no love for people of color unless u got Oprah money. The time for hating on this man has passed. Step up, vote, and ensure that Obama gets a second term. If you don’t think he deserves it check out http://www.whattheheckhasobamadonesofar.com/. If u ain’t convinced after that than immediately KILL YOSELF cuz u probably a uncle tom and the world is a better place without u!!
Chris you the man, i like the website… folks need to wake up…
Where is my 40 acres and mule that Obama promised?! LMAO! Everyone is making good points. I knew going in that President Obama wouldn’t or couldn’t deliver on all his promises, so I’m not disappointed in him.
Chris is that dude!
I definitley gotta cosign the part about 300 republicans trying to do him in. Obama needs a second term to cement his policies and get rid of Bush’s. The thing that most people (black or white) dont want to admit is that they really want him to fail. If he succeeds with his agenda, then there is no way history can erase him, thats why Donald Trump and all these other racist motherfuckers is trying to manufacture this story about a birth certificate. Most people are aware of all the security and background checks neccessary to become a US senator let alone president of these united states. Hogwash! We as a people and as communities need to adopt a “each one teach one” attitude for our shared succeess. We need to make super heroes outta CEO’s lawyers, doctors, and community organizers. its 2011 and we can be more than atheletes and D boys.
President Obama is not able to undue 400+ year of White man Laws which have done some good and some bad. Ultimately Congress is the folks with the “POWER”. Obama can only “VETO”. Agendas to bring financial and social equality in the USA will never come by the hands of President Obama solely because “white” America still sees us as nothing more than a “HOUSE” NIGGA a “FIELD” NIGGA or a “PORCH” NIGGA. Reality hurts. No WHITE man is going to take money out of his pocket to help no BLACK man progress. Point blank.