Tavis Smiley, Racism And President Obama

Black PBS broadcaster and author Tavis Smiley had an interesting interview with NBC's Lester Holt yesterday that sheds a lot of light on both black racism and the predicament of many blacks who continue to support President Obama.

Like his fellow racist Cornell West,Smiley is upset at the president because he feels he's refused to do enough in Smiley's opinion to put black Americans in a special, racially defined place on the food chain and delivered insufficient goodies to them.

"It's just not that black folks are hurting the most now. It's that there's no sign that it's going to get any better. There really are two questions in black America, I think, Lester, have to wrestle with. At least two questions. Number one: what is the pain threshold in black America? What is our pain threshold, number one. And number two, what is the presidency really worth? Is it worth not saying anything? Is it worth being silent when you're catching the most hell, when you're suffering the most pain? Especially, when you're the most loyal part of the President's base," Smiley said.

"That's not hating on the President, it's defending your own flanks. And whatever happened to that notion that to the victor goes the spoils? If anybody ought to be looked out for, it ought to be the persons who represent the most significant and the most loyal part of the base. That would be African-Americans."

In answer to Holt's question as to whether smiley would expect President Obama to 'carve out African-Americans as a special issue, because he's black" Smiley response is an unequivocal yes.

To get an idea of exactly how racist this little screed is, perform the following experiment. Read these direct quotes from the interview aloud to yourself and simply substitute the word 'white' every place Mr. Smiley uses 'black' or 'African American'.

What would happen if a white politician said that because we have a white president, whites should receive special preferences because 'to the victor go the spoils'?

Smiley goes on to say that he understands the political risk of 'going tribal' ( his exact words) but that he expects the president to take risks. And in a very revealing moment, he cites Lyndon Johnson, Franklin Roosevelt Abraham Lincoln as presidents whom took a risk...but only because blacks like Martin Luther King, A. Phillip Randolph and Frederic Douglas were 'pushing them' not because of any inherent decency or good will on their part about racial inequality!

Smiley's advice to Obama is typical of what he's been receiving elsewhere, to draw a line in the sand and 'fight', to ramp up the rhetoric and attack his 'enemies'.

Smiley's racism and embrace of faux victimhood is obvious, but I'd love to ask Smiley this simple question, if we're going down the racial politics road.

Since President Obama has endorsed policies that have a large part to do with black unemployment today, why exactly should black voters support him?

It's President Obama who has directed Attorney General Eric Holder to cease prosecution on literally thousands of deportation cases on illegal immigrants, giving them an easy route to a green card. And that's definitely impacted blackjob seekers, especially in industries like service employment, building trades and construction.

It's President Obama who pushed through the DREAM Act Congress rejected three times by executive order to try to shore up his political base with Hispanics at the expense of blacks, whose support he takes for granted. Not only has that affected black unemployment, it's affected black college admissions as illegal aliens are now able to compete with blacks for affirmative action and diversity set asides and positions in universities.

Both policies have also severely affected the black middle class, which was primarily created via government employment. Thanks in part to the financial costs associated with illegal aliens, many of these jurisdictions now have hiring freezes on because of budget crises.

And then there's President Obama's policies increasing the taxing and regulation on private industry, policies that have cut down on hiring in general.

Smiley's right in one respect. Having a black man in the White House isn't worth anything if you perceive it as merely a vehicle for special privilege and entitlement based on race and the president in question hasn't delivered to your satisfaction.

But that's the problem with racial identity politics. When there are lots of groups with their own differing agendas to satisfy, someone's always going to wind up gettng less out of the feeding trough than they think they ought to have at the expense of someone else.

Perhaps Smiley and those that think like him ought to try and overcome their conditioning and realize that the only good economic and social policies are those that truly treat everyone on a racially blind basis, and they they ought to vote with their values rather than with racial blinkers on.

That's probably too much a stretch for the Tavis Smileys of the world who live off manufactured grievance, but black voter in general ought to at least think about it. A rising tide really does lift all boats.

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