By now, we’ve all had the opportunity to observe and reflect on the debacle surrounding attacks by Dr. Cornel West against President Obama and his lack of concentration on the disparities of poverty in the black community. A valid discussion about how a sitting president’s policies affect a certain constituency quickly turned into name calling and mudslinging by Dr. West, which has left many blacks with no use for him (of who may or may not have had any for him in the first place). At the same time, many blacks feel let down by Obama’s reluctance to launch an aggressive war on poverty with as much zeal afforded other national priorities. After all the smoke has cleared, it seems to me that we are at a dialectical stalemate.
Characterizations were rampant that Dr. West was out of character and off his rocker. From a personal standpoint, what some found to be disrespectful and over the top, I simply filtered out and focused on the core issues. I hear much more malicious assaults hurled at Obama, more frequently by the Tea Party Republicans. Thus, I don’t find it necessary to dismiss a respected scholar because he made some provocative remarks about the President of the United States. I have more important issues to be concerned with, than focus on Dr. West’s perceived view of blackness or some fringe group’s fascination with Barack Obama’s birthplace. The contention remains that, while Obama may have been influential in scathing off a ‘greater depression’, his efforts have not trickled down to those who have been traditionally passed over during every period of economic prosperity in this country.
In the midst of the discourse, we could not get away from some basic themes. On one side, we held that: ‘Obama is the President of the United States, not Black America; The critics are only highlighting the negative (what Obama has failed to do up to this point) and not including the positive accomplishments he has achieve; Obama is only one person. He can’t do it alone.’ On the other side, we found that: ‘Obama has not aggressively pursued the challenges that disproportionately affect blacks, a racial group which voted for him in large margin. They should maintain some social stock in the Oval Office.’ All these premises appear rather simple enough to answer.
Getting beyond the obvious, if you understand that Obama is not the President of Black America, you must also acknowledge that he has not aggressively pursued black poverty. It seems very odd that in a system which has been built on political exchange, now we must waive that application when it comes to political capital for Black Americans. A simple question also follows: ‘Don’t the policies that benefit the U.S. consistently benefit Black America too?’ This further begs the question of whether there is indeed a separate America being inhabited by Blacks. Of course, Obama was elected to serve the entire nation. He is not obligated to show race based favor to blacks, or favor to any group of people, nor has he ever suggested that he had any desire to carry the torch for a new movement in the Black community. That doesn’t negate his responsibility to realize the urgency of the matter and use his position to influence change in the necessary areas.
Receiving about 93% of the black vote in 2008, it’s safe to say that blacks put all their eggs in one basket. Whether you appreciate Dr. West or not, he has raised valid questions about Obama’s performance in the Black community. Instead of West’s critics directly addressing the questions; they reminded us that: a) Obama is the POTUS; b) he has plenty of positive accomplishments; c) he is not a dictator; d) he is not Jesus Christ. Not only are the responses to Dr. West’s criticisms nothing, in terms of advancing the discussion into some amicable consensus, they are the type of truisms which prohibit any intelligent dialogue in the Black community on all levels.
Whatever the case may be, this President’s reelection will not be as safe a landing as liberals hope for. I also suggest that he stands to lose some of support from the Black community he enjoyed in ’08. These concerns should weigh on the minds of those participating in the dialogue, much more so than to focus on unnecessary and irrelevant remarks from a guy who most of us will never personally interact with. Otherwise, one may get the impression that many Blacks just prefer to stifle any and all internal dissent of their revered President, rather than directly address the nature of the criticisms.
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