2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Cornel West Backs Bernie Sanders [View all]Cha
(297,257 posts)with the President for 8 years..
"Cornel West v. Barack Obama" by Melissa Harris Perry
"Professor West says that Obama has a certain fear of free black men. But this is a pissing matchnot prophetic witness."
snip//
West begins with a bit of historical revision. West suggests that the president discarded him without provocation after he offered the Obama for America campaign his loyal service and prayers. But anyone with a casual knowledge of this rift knows it began during the Democratic primary, not after the election. It began, not with a puffed-up president but when Cornel Wests dear brother Tavis Smiley threw a public tantrum because Senator Obama refused to attend Smileys annual State of Black America. Smiley repeatedly suggested that his forum was the necessary black vetting space for the Democratic nominees. He needed to ask Obama and Clinton tough questions so that black America could get the answers it needed. But black America was doing a fine job making up its own mind in the primaries and didnt need Smileys blessing to determine their own electoral preferences. Indeed, when Smiley got a chance to hold candidate Clinton accountable he spent more time fawning over her than probing about her symbolic or substantive policy stances that impacted black communities. Fiercely loyal to his friend, Professor West chose sides and began to undermine candidate Obama is small and large ways. Candidate Obama ceased calling West back because he was in the middle of a fierce campaign and Wests loyalties were, at best, divided. I suspect candidate Obama did not trust his dear brother to keep the campaign secrets and strategies. I also suspect he was not inaccurate in his hesitancy.
West may have had principled, even prophetic reasons, for choosing this outsider position relative to Obama, but it is dishonest to later frame that choice as a betrayal on the part of the president. After what I had written about Senator Clinton during the campaign I wasnt expecting an offer from the State Department.
Much more..
http://www.thenation.com/article/cornel-west-v-barack-obama/
Yeah, we'll see if BS is as enthused about Cornel as some of his supporters.
I'd love to see that.. BS & Cornel VS President Obama. I'm thinking the candidate who wins the Dem Nom will want to have the Obama Coalition to help them win the Presidency.. not someone who's been pissing on him for years even before the Inauguration.. like Cornel.