Oh snap!
West and Smiley, two Negros who probably haven’t been near a black neighborhood since the days of the Rainbow Coalition, revved up their Poverty Tour bus and rolled through Detroit today, and Detroit was not having it.
See, West and Smiley are butthurt about blog knows what, and seem to spend most of their time whinging about Obama: he’s not free; he’s ignoring black people; he “fears free black men.”
The seemingly incessant attacks have not gone unnoticed. Certainly in the blogosphere, the black community routinely calls out the Soul Patrol and their tenured, book-selling asses for their bullshit. But it came as a surprise (to me, at any rate) that the discontent had spread to, like, real life:
West and Smiley host a nationally syndicated public radio program and have faced sharp criticism for their stance against President Obama. They have launched an event they call the “Poverty Tour.”
Councilwoman Joann Watson is also coming under fire for letting them into City Hall and hosting the presentation.
Both Smiley and West told Action News reporter Val Clark that the event is not an anti-Obama tour, but do say they believe the President hasn’t done enough for the poor.
A spokesperson for the community organization “Detroiters for Better Government” says Detroiters will stand united against this event.
“We will not stand silent as Smiley and West criticize the man who brought us health care reform, one of the greatest accomplishments for the poor in our nation’s history,” says David Stephen. This event has nothing to do with the poor and everything to do with enriching Tavis Smiley. Detroit must send a strong message to Washington that although some elected officials may support this anti-Obama rally on government property, the people do not.”
(more WXYZ coverage here)
Apparently these Detroiters kept their protest plans secret so when West and Smiley rolled through, they could be like, “Surprise, bitches! Who’s smiley now?”
DAYUM! I’d say, “you got served!” if black people still said that sort of thing.
Oh, and THIS JUST IN: West’s lopsided ‘fro escaped unscathed.
(H/T @truthrose1!)
[via WXYZ]
LMAO West looks pissed and Smiley blaming shit on Obama without acknowledging the GOP obstructing like a muhfugga.
I guess Hamsher, Greenwald, Green, and others in the PL, frustrati, firebagger cadre are tweeting words of consolation to Smiley and West! Instead of “educating” the people of Detroit, West and Smiley got “served” with a reception they didn’t expect and “educated” about how petty they really are. LOL. Go, Detroit!!!
“Surprise, bitches! Who’s smiley now?”
Love it.
I hear a lot of complaints from Smiley and Corney. But what’s their plan, other than to bash Obama for being a oligarcy monarchy corporacracy elitist?
There really is something sleazy about this bus tour. Who’s funding them?
someone on twitter told me that they plan on staying overnight at some po foke’s house along the way.
how fucking tacky is that?
Go Detroit! I love your city, and love the smack down you served up to the Great Pretenders!
Amen!
West and Smiley are haters. Actually, they are petty haters. West complained that Candidate Obama stopped returning his calls and that he didn’t get an invitation to the inauguration, but a lowly hotel worker did (see the book “The Bridge”). Smiley is still po’d because Candidate Obama didn’t change his campaign schedule to attend his conference. The same conference Smiley has year after year after year – with what results, BTW? These two are irrelevant. Sure they’ve got some followers, but I think a lot of people are simply not buying their crap.
What I would like someone to say to Smiley’s face:
Hey Smiley!
The Debt Ceiling Bill didn’t end global warming, world wide whaling or get North Korea to disarm its nukes either. Surprised you haven’t added those to your repertoire of “what Obama didn’t get in the Debt Ceiling Bill.” The whole fucking country is collapsing economically but Obama is supposed to focus only on one demographic because he’s part of that demographic? I’m so glad LBJ didn’t have your style of reasoning otherwise the Civil Rights Act of ’64 and the Voting Rights Act of ’65 might still be a dream.
Obama is trying to pull the whole country out of an economic train wreck regardless of their race, gender, sexual orientation, political affiliation, etc. He’s the President of every person living within our borders/ territories and he’s doing his job as best he can in spite of the TP/GOP and your whiny ass, Smiley!
Thank you Detroit for saying to these SOBs what the rest of us would like to say!
I love it! I love it! I. LOVE. IT.
Detroiters were not trying to hear Crabis and Cornflake’s bs. They think that Black folks are a bunch of lost sheep that need to be guided by their (Smiley and West)”wisdom”. But Detroit let them know!
I bet that Travers Peters person is on Crabis’ payroll.
Yay Detroit! Whodathunkit?! Has anybody figured out why they feel the need to tour? Is one of them running for president? At least Cosby comes with solutions. Smiley and West must like the sound of their voices as it reverberates through the auditorium.
West/Smiley 1 Obama supporters 0
Okay here’s what I saw when I watched that video:
Obama Supporters are rude and intolerant.
West/Smiley came off as victims.
West/Smiley got the last word.
West/Smiley spouted lies on camera and no one challenged them.
It’s not enough to show up and protest or disagree loudly or have a shoutdown with the ‘stars’ of this dog and pony show. Going to an event like this has consequences and the organizers seem to have failed to take into consideration how the news agency would edit the film that was presented to the public.
If the organizers had instead gone there with well-written leaflets that outlined everything the Obama Admin and FLOTUS have done for those in need and then contrasted that record with the record of West/Smiley and what they have done to exploit, I mean help those in poverty, then maybe they could have had an effect on the landscape. Making sure the Media gets a copy of that leaflet (they do read those things) would have helped, too.
Now that we know that West/Smiley are lying about what didn’t get done in the debt increase Bill (somebody please tell me when revenue has EVER been generated as part of a debt ceiling Bill) the next organizers can address that issue in their literature, too. The job of the organizer is to educate. The media is lazy and require educating because they can’t be experts on everything. If the Obama supporters, for instance, attend and are reasonable and civil, then West/Smiley won’t have any more video they can use to cast themselves as victims of the intolerant Obama people.
Better yet, if the Obama supporters stay outside the event and place themselves in the position of feeling unwelcome by the intolerant of dissent West/Smiley team, those optics are even better.
Most importantly, the organizers need to capture the contact information of everyone who attends these things and follow up later with more and better information on a sustained basis to undo the damage from the ‘trying desperately to stay relevant’ duo.
“West/Smiley 1 Obama supporters 0
Okay here’s what I saw when I watched that video:
Obama Supporters are rude and intolerant.
West/Smiley came off as victims.
West/Smiley got the last word.
West/Smiley spouted lies on camera and no one challenged them”
I respectfully disagree. What I saw was that West and Smiley now recognize that if they continue to go into minority communities spouting that BS, they best go with camera crew because AAs aren’t going to let them disrespect this President based on lies. Ain’t.gonna.happen.
In fact, what we will see more of this – 3 clips of Steve Harvey’s radio show and his take on this “Poverty Tour” http://www.v103.com/pages/sh.html?article=8939870
Maybe West and Smiley saw the Black Skin, but overlooked the Blue Collar.
So Prez Obama fucking saves the automobile industry and Corney&Smiley Inc. decide to start their “tour” in Detroit?
Tien Le,
I appreciate your taking the time to make your points, but I need to challenge some of your presumptions. First, the media outlet did a pretty good job of filling in some of the background info (controversial venue, reasons why protesters were pushing back), so even if your generalization is true that “…the media is lazy and require educating…,” in this case, for a local news story, the media outlet did a decent job. Second, regarding who “wins” and “loses” in the story, my perception is much different, and I’m frankly skeptical that your perception (Obama supporters are rude and intolerant; Smiley and West are victims who had the last word) is the prevailing one.
Smiley and West rolled into town in a stylized, hyped-up “Poverty Tour” bus; putting on obvious airs that this was some beneficent mission — a grand education about how Obama is betraying the poor and especially African Americans; and the people they deigned to “minister” to — you know, those feckless, hapless negroes in Detroit — weren’t having it. Do you not have a sense for how insufferably condescending those two must seem to black folks in Detroit?? Or how absolutely phony they seem to people who are suffering genuine deprivation?
You make some decent points about being better organized, but I think your perception about who wins/loses in the realm of public perception is just way the hell off.
Well it’s way off from what you perceived. Not way off from what I perceived. I’m talking about how I viewed the video and the message I personally took away from the editing of the piece. If I took it that way, I’m not alone. Not saying everyone who viewed it perceived it the way I did, but I can’t be the only person who came away feeling like it was a hit piece on the Obama supporters.
Insufferably condescending indeed …
http://www.frugal-cafe.com/public_html/frugal-blog/frugal-cafe-blogzone/2010/08/06/yes-shes-our-uptown-girl-michelle-obamas-ridiculously-lavish-vacation-in-spain-video/
“Everyone must sacrifice for the greater good… Everyone must have some skin in the game.” Barack Obama
I got so mad thinking about who’s sponsoring this tour, I went to the very swishy website these two have created, thinking I’d use the contact page to ask them. People need to see this website, if they’re in any doubt that these two are milking po’ folks’ misery for fun and profit.
http://www.smileyandwest.com/contacts.html
Does any of this risk making them mascots of oligarchs and corporations?
“Show Sponsorship
“Sponsorship of Smiley & West can help enhance brand image and provides organizations with a unique and valued opportunity to reach into a diverse segment of America.??
“Corporate Sponsorship?
Contact Denise Pines at 323.290.1182 or dpines@denisepines.com??
Sponsors of Smiley & West receive on-air acknowledgement for their financial support via two 15 second announcements that are broadcast during the program. Online sponsorship is also available. Sponsorship packages and commitment levels vary, and they can be customized.?”
Since I’m assuming that the “Smiley & West Celebrity Poverty Tour” is primarily sponsored by “Feeding America,” I decided to visit their website too. It’s a very nice, impressive, high-quality website. Clicking the “Get Involved” tab, you’ll see a link that says “Corporate Opportunities,” where I saw this:
“CAUSE MARKETING
“Ever wonder how companies earn so much goodwill? Through cause marketing efforts, your company can make a commitment and show your consumers that you care about the people around you.”
Naturally, I wondered which corporations might be interested in a “cause marketing opportunity” offered here? Well here’s a partial list — you’ll recognize many of them as corporate/oligarchs who influence Washington DC in ways that put people into poverty in the first place:
Con Agra
General Mills
Kellogg’s
Kraft Foods
Food Lion
Kroger
Nestle
Pepsico
Supervalu
Walmart
Bank of America
Big Lots
C&S Wholesale Grocers
Cargill
Clorox
Coca Cola
Morgan Stanley
Target
Safeway
Tyson
Unilever
US Foodservice
Walgreens
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield
Procter & Gamble
Smithfield Packaging
JP Morgan Chase & Co
Exxon-Mobil
So….WHY are struggling black folks supposed to believe Smiley-West.com / The Smiley Group, Inc. really has their best interests at heart but not black-mascot-of-corporate-oligarchs President Obama? How’s that supposed to work again?
Thanks for delving deeper. I went to their site looking for sponsor info yesterday and found the site so convoluted I don’t get what it’s trying to convey. But as you have demonstrated, thought so!
Clearly you are angry but I somehow doubt you are black. Cornell West and Travis Smiley are attempting to bring to light the plight of the poor and unemployed of our nation. The fact that so many people are unemployed or underemployed seems to have been missed by the President. West and Smiley are trying to help. It is people like you that make it even harder for those who are suffering to be heard. People should be protesting the wars, the lack of jobs and disintegration of the United States not people who are trying to help them. Simply not living in a majority black community does not cause you to stop being black or end your ability to see injustice or fighting to eliminate it. Ignorance is not bliss.
“…I somehow doubt you are black” What the everlovin’ F?
You say West and Smiley are “trying to help”. By spending money driving around in a RV and trashing the president? Who are these mythical “people” who should be doing the other things you list if not West and Smiley? Of course, your opening salvo about ABL not being black means I probably shouldn’t reply to you, but this kind of garbage doesn’t belong on this site.
Um. You’ve seen her picture, right?
you somehow doubt i’m black.
HA!
that’s amazing.
Didn’t some assclown on Twitter with the handle “HornyBlackLady” say this exact same shit?
Damn, gurl….you attract teh Cray-Crays.
“The fact that so many people are unemployed or underemployed seems to have been missed by the President.”
I’m sorry, but this statement is just jaw-droppingly silly. The only way you could believe this is if you willfully choose to ignore the volumes of practical and rhetorical evidence otherwise.
I can only conclude that your declaration results from feelings of disappointment at the growing misery out there among working-class and low-income people. I sympathize with that , but you’re directing your frustration/anger at the wrong target. Unless you get really clear about who is both advocating and getting real, measurable results and distinguished from people who strongly give voice to your anger and make you feel “heard” and “noticed,” but can’t point to any tangible, practical improvements they helped bring to everyday lives, you’re going to make yourself vulnerable to making a big mistake — and that mistake would be to swat down people who are getting results (even if they’re disappointing in the face of the magnitude of the problems) in favor of getting short-term emotional catharsis from hearing somebody with a megaphone roar in your behalf, only to get back in his luxury vehicle and drive away.
EXACTLY!
Because we all know the president has not been discussing this issue and is not going state to state on a fucking bus talking about jobs. No, no. It’s clear he’s missed that when the numbers are always shown and it’s all we talk about. You should email him and tell him this super secret info.
:roll:
Yes, among the downtrodden …
http://www.theuptake.org/2011/08/21/behind-the-scenes-of-obamas-3-day-midwest-bus-tour/
Right on, West. Right on, Smiley.
This is the same mindset that had Black folks lining up to support Clarence Thomas’ nomination to the Supreme Court and trashing Anita Hill.
And ain’t NOBODY smiling now behind stupidity. Obama’s (half) my color, but he’s not my kind. He’s a spineless, incompetent negotiator and a rudderless commander in chief. There’s no Democratic principle he’s unwilling to sacrifice to make a deal — regardless of how bad, how damaging to the welfare and future of everyday citizens that deal is.
If our president is a spineless, incompetent negotiator — how has he achieved the many progressive policies that he has under his belt? And which RW talking point are you going for here — that he’s an incompetent negotiator or that he sacrifices (negotiates) to make deals? It can’t be both. Negotiate: I don’t think it means what you think it does.
@Regina: Yes, “spineless [and] incompetent,” because he gave in to extending the Bush tax cuts before even sitting down at the negotiating table, cutting his fellow Democrats off at the knees in the process — and then publicly insulting/excoriating them when they objected. Spineless and incompetent, betraying poor, working-class folks and the middle class by letting the Tea Party control the narrative in the media and on Capitol Hill, tying the debt ceiling issue to budget cuts — until he felt (wrongly) that the only thing he could do was go along to get along (his standard M.O.). The results are: budget cuts that target the most vulnerable, least capable of managing with less; the rich continue to escape higher taxes; a flawed and sure-to-fail strategy that posits that the budget can be balanced only by spending cuts, without raising revenues (echoes of the Krugman-dubbed “Confidence Fairy” mentality that defies all logic); the creation a “super Congress” that flat-out flies in the face of “one person, one vote” — and a scenario that dragged out the debt ceiling drama for so long, and brought the public “discourse” to such a nadir of hysteria, vitriol and outright reckless foolishness, that, in the end, America’s credit rating was downgraded anyway. (Who can have confidence in a nation, the leader of which fails to lead, where lawmakers are hell-bent on obstruction?)
With regard to Obama’s negotiating skills — or, more accurately, his lack thereof — I do believe it is you who needs to return to the dictionary. “Negotiate” means precisely what it means. In negotiation, each of the parties involved sacrifices something in order to come to an agreement. The GOP gave up nothing. What Obama does — and did — in the debt ceiling fiasco was capitulate. Once again, he bent over and took it; he gave in. Negotiation/capitulation — there’s a huge difference that seems to elude Obama’s ken (and yours).
As a result, the nation has nothing at all to show for his “negotiating” (what a joke) but a weakened and more vulnerable safety net; a more cumbersome, potentially dangerously less democratic legislative process; a far more dismal economic future owing to more expensive borrowing and all that entails; a bleak fiscal future for the nation, because one cannot balance the budget on the backs of the neediest, or without raising additional revenues; and a weakened, more put-upon workforce, already reeling from high joblessness, lousier jobs (lower-paying and often without healthcare benefits, paid leave, overtime pay, or pensions); and a Tax Code that remains unconscionably regressive.
“each of the parties involved sacrifices something in order to come to an agreement.” As in temporarily sacrificing Bush’s tax cuts to keep unemployment. As negotiating a debt limit increase that would not throw the world economy under the bus… etc. We have a lot to show for his negotiating as opposed to political grandstanding. You still don’t know what negotiating means, you think it means getting everything you want.
@Regina
One of the surest ways to spot someone with a weak argument is when their method of debating is to twist or mischaracterize the position of another. You’re still trying — and failing — to tell me what I think, what I don’t know. “Grandstanding”?
No. Just standing.
What a concept.
your idiotic comment demonstrates that my writing is having the intended effect.
thank you, half-colored person!
“This is the same mindset that had Black folks lining up to support Clarence Thomas’ nomination to the Supreme Court and trashing Anita Hill.”
Wow, I hadn’t thought of it that way before…. Because the “mindset” and the circumstances have absolutely nothing in common, except your attempt to claim that it’s only skin color that motivates black folks to stand behind President Obama.
Transparent and stupid. And pathetic, because you expect Barack Obama to somehow get past all of the tactical obstacles ( How? I-own-no! ::shrug:: Negotiate better! ::stamps foot/folds arms/scowls:: ) standing in the way of getting the outcomes we all want. Hang your head in shame for trying to peddle that tired, half-assed shit here.
Only mental cretins find it impossible to disagree without willful disingenuousness, ad hominem attacks, profanity and vitriol. You’ve written nothing of substance, and so the only thing I have to offer is an observation: the above. You’re behaving like a trash-mouthed, ill-tempered child. *smh in contempt*
You likened blacks’ support of President Obama to “…Blacks lining up to support Clarence Thomas’…” and let it stand as if it’s some self-evident truth.
It wasn’t — it’s pretty damned offensive, and deserving of no serious rebuttal.
And no, you don’t get to put on airs that you’re somehow poised and more mature because you called out my use of profanity and insults. Your substance-free, ad hominem comment deserved an ad hominem rejoinder.
Shake your damn head all you want — your contempt is an unmerited affectation.
” a far more dismal economic future owing to more expensive borrowing and all that entails; ”
The trouble with you ratfuckers is that you never know when to stop humping that rodent. Noble effort, but there’s always a tell.
On the off-chance that you’re just another one of the Army of Hamquist, Smiley and West were on with Amy Goodman yesterday, and hilarity ensued:
http://www.democracynow.org/seo/2011/8/9/cornel_west_tavis_smiley_on_obama
O, mythical Sanders-like figure! The nation cries out for you to primary Obama!
Well, how about one of you do it?
Whaaaaaaat? Us?
Your firebagging friends spend their days spewing a lot of verbiage, and not a lot else.
Full disclosure: I am one of many depending on unemployment right now, and so my entire existence is owed to Obama’s recognition of what people really can’t do without.
I suspect you, like Smiley and West, are fairly well sheltered from the impact of your own rhetoric.
This is a really exciting time for the ABLC team.
The volume of firebagger trolling is increasing exponentially.
Thanks for letting us know that we’re hitting the sweet spots that aggravate your perpetual butt hurt. We promise to redouble our efforts.
It’s fantastic, isn’t it?
Well, what else are they gonna do? It’s not like they have any ability to win elections (Hi there, Senator Lamont!) or influence legislation (Kill the ACA BILL!!!) If I was made of as much fail as the Firebaggers, I’d have slit my throat long ago. I think they might still want to consider that — then at least the rest of us would be spared their whining and their ratfucking lies.
What exactly are Smiley and West doing to help the poor during their tour?
Giving away food? (since they are sponsored by FEEDING AMERICA)
Registering people to vote?
How about having a traveling health clinic?
Clothes for kids since they are going back to school?
Job fairs? With all their sponsors surely they could arrange a job fair.
If Exxon is one of their sponsors, they could give away gas cards at their events.
What exactly is the purpose of this tour? Poor people know they are poor!
Seems to me all Tavis Smiley & Cornel West are doing is taking a vacation road trip, paid for by other people, on a luxury bus, getting CDs signed and hanging out in hotels.
I hope they get protests at every single stop of this “tour.”
Cornel West Fails His Own Purity Test
http://weeseeyou.com/2011/08/08/cornel-west-fails-his-own-purity-test/
Statistically, Detroit barely voted 51% in the 2008 Presidential election. Maybe just under 50% in the 2010 election. Many polling spots, voting lines were heaviest by early morning, modest, but not jam-packed, by mid-day and were a trickle by late afternoon. I saw it first hand.
Plenty of people still don’t have health care coverage a year after the bill passed. It’s still not going to be “cheap”, so for adults who doesn’t qualify for medicare (seniors) or medicaid (children), they’re out of luck, even now it’s illegal for Health care insurance groups to deny based on a pre-existing condition.
Whatever the complaints about Smiley & West, they’re not to blame for the horrendous voter turnout that consistently happens in Detroit. Also, it speaks ill for the intellectual discourse of black voters if “all” they do is uncritically accept “anything” that Pres. Obama does based on the notion of “well, it could always be worse”. Clearly, it could be. But direct engagement with urban, inner-city, and poor communities in general is needed more than ever by the federal government, and it’s not happening. Attacking literally any-and-all criticisms of current White House policy smacks of sycophantism. Why weren’t there protests in the Van Jones firing or the Shirley Sherrod firing?
George Curry hits the nail on the head about the hyper-sensitivity to critiques of the President. http://www.georgecurry.com/columns/ostracizing-black-leaders-who-criticize-obama
People can protest Smiley & West all they want. Bravo. But hopefully they’re also putting that same energy into making phone calls, emails and letters to their elected officials, including the President, and directly expressing their opinions on what their community needs.
Who said they were?
“People can protest Smiley & West all they want. Bravo. But hopefully they’re also putting that same energy into making phone calls, emails and letters to their elected officials, including the President, and directly expressing their opinions on what their community needs.”
You’ve nailed it, except that’s our beef with Smiley and West. You see, we are the folks who work on the ground, getting out the vote, phone banking, getting people to contact their Reps and Senators. We recognize that the President won’t be able to accomplish change on his own, and that even with our help, it’s a steep uphill climb. We feel that Smiley and West don’t (or pretend they don’t) recognize this, and instead encourage people to place their anger on the person of Barack Obama. In a place like Detroit, doing anything that would depress voter turnout is just crazy. Why aren’t Smiley and West working to get folks registered to vote, learn about how the legislature works and how to contact Congressional representatives, etc? Look, I’m just a nobody–I don’t command a lot of attention when I work my little nobody ass off to GOTV. But Smiley and West? They command attention! If only I could have that working for me when I work to GOTV. I’d love to see them using their attention-getting to do more GOTV and informing voters on how to contact officials instead of their offensive “mascot of Wall Street oligarchs” bitching about Obama.
Well said, Beulahmo.
Thank you! I’ve been enjoying your responses too. :-)
I suggest you delve a little deeper into the provisions of medicaid and medicare. I think you’re in error.
That’s was really a sad display of venom spit in the wrong direction West and Smiley have traveled to black neighborhoods, and just because they are successful academic, you attack them? Sound like what the white racist Republicans want you to do. Well done!
West and Smiley could be your allies, but instead, you want to attack them because they tell the truth about Obama. That’s sad. They want to bring attention to an important issue such as poverty that is being largely ignored in the media and your best response to reject them in favor of a president who ignores you.
People won’t even stick up for their own. It’s your loss.
Peace,
Tex Shelters
By the way, “refudiate” is a word made up by Sarah Palin.
Are you sure you want to go there? To go where an ignorant racist white lady goes?
Peace,
Tex Shelters
Corney and Smiley have no problem attacking, why can’t others who don’t share their views counter their attack?
What makes you think Corney and Smiley are “our own”?
Unsurprisingly, you’ve missed the point entirely. But I’m probably just a puppet of white racists or something.
Whargarbble.
Further, my father is a black academic, and I think he’s the bee’s knees, so it might be a good idea to know of what you speak before you spew nonsense on a blog with which you are not familiar.
Best,
ABL
Reverse psychology??? oh please….CLICK
Question: There are always 2 faces to a coin the pro and the con I am for neither at this point, however as I read this blog and the comments I am hearing one side of the argument. Therefore what is the argument for the other side? Is there critical thinking going on or are “we” the people taking sides based on personalities but not the principals. People are inherently good, ergo there must be “something” good Smiley and West are bringing to the table. One thing WE all can agree on that there is a level of wealth and such a difference in the spread between the rich and poor in OUR country that is not just morally corrupt but it is criminal!!! I believe it is a crime against humanity when one family can feed on a gala of foods where a child can push away a meal because they don’t “like it” and that plate of food gets thrown away, while another family puts their child to bed crying with hunger pangs because there was no food to put on the dinner table. The amount of food that is wasted while others are starving to death is a CRIME!
Yeah, we can all attest to the defference and gap in wealth that exists in this country but whose fault is that? Where were people like you when Pres. Clinton lifted the regulations on corporations that sent our jobs to China, India, etc.? Where were you when W. declared that corporations were people? We won’t even bring up Reagan, because tax cuts for the rich actually started back then! Thirty (30) years ago. Were you standing up for principles then??
You can’t expect one man, as unequivocably intelligent as he is, to undo thirty years of damage in even four (4) years. He’s not God, he doesn’t even walk on water, he’s not a king nor a dictator. So, he is enlisting or soliciting your help, my help and mostly those on the side who think more about party and less about country to encourage republican congressmen to stop the games and start thinking about the people instead of the party. These are people who would rather die and go to hell before they “compromise” with a Black president and lose their “cash cows” of corporate america. They don’t care any more than Smiley & West about poor people. As far as corporate america is concerned poor people should just hurry up and die! THIS IS WHAT HE’S UP AGAINST!!! What are YOU doing to change politics in Washington??
“…there must be “something” good Smiley and West are bringing to the table.”
I can’t speak for others in the thread, but I think Smiley and West started with good intentions; somewhere along the way, their egos hijacked their better judgment. So now we have the two of them, accustomed to celebrity treatment, savaging the President as being an Uncle Tom to oligarchs–all while they hypocritically roll across the nation in a fancy tour bus, and sponsored by some of the very oligarchs they decry. Their egos have become so swollen they can’t see how the criticism they give President Obama applies to them as well.
“One thing WE all can agree on that there is a level of wealth and such a difference in the spread between the rich and poor in OUR country that is not just morally corrupt but it is criminal!!!”
Right. We DO all agree on that, and it hurts to see the situation getting worse while our economy struggles and unemployment — especially for black folks — remains so high. So everyone agrees that improvement of this situation is long overdue and progress seems slow, if not invisible in our everyday lives. There’s good reason to be frustrated, but Smiley and West are directing their anger at the wrong target–Barack Obama–the leader of the only political party that gives a damn about us right now. And Smiley and West are helping to spread dissatisfaction, along with a notion that maybe Obama shouldn’t be our president. But they don’t acknowledge this: Obama is NOT a dictator. He needs the support of enough Congressmembers to get better laws passed to help us. Instead of inspiring dissatisfaction with Obama (and potentially losing voter support for him), what Smiley and West should be doing is helping to convince Americans they should stop voting for politicians (Republicans) whose platform puts more and more space between the “haves” and “have nots.” They should be making sure low-income Americans are voting, and encouraging people to contact their Congressmembers often to demand protection and expansion of programs for struggling Americans.
It seems like the way Smiley and West have decided to channel anger has more to do with their own dissatisfaction with President Obama, and less to do with effective outcomes. Because the problem in DC isn’t the President–it’s all the forces working overtime to stop him. I believe Smiley and West are intelligent enough to be expected to understand this.
And the best place to, as you say, “give a damn” is …
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/200144/20110818/obama-vacation-marthas-vineyard-2011-rental-blue-heron-farm.htm
Rightwinger @RBecker–the points you’re trying so hard to cleverly make are lame, simple-minded, right-wing, “gotcha” bullshit. FAIL. Scram.
Martin Luther King, Jr
“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”
delivered 3 April 1968, Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters), Memphis, Tennessee
….And another reason that I’m happy to live in this period is that we have been forced to a point where we are going to have to grapple with the problems that men have been trying to grapple with through history, but the demands didn’t force them to do it. Survival demands that we grapple with them. Men, for years now, have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it’s nonviolence or nonexistence. That is where we are today.
And also in the human rights revolution, if something isn’t done, and done in a hurry, to bring the colored peoples of the world out of their long years of poverty, their long years of hurt and neglect, the whole world is doomed. Now, I’m just happy that God has allowed me to live in this period to see what is unfolding. And I’m happy that He’s allowed me to be in Memphis.
I can remember — I can remember when Negroes were just going around as Ralph has said, so often, scratching where they didn’t itch, and laughing when they were not tickled. But that day is all over. We mean business now, and we are determined to gain our rightful place in God’s world.
And that’s all this whole thing is about. We aren’t engaged in any negative protest and in any negative arguments with anybody. We are saying that we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people. We are saying — We are saying that we are God’s children. And that we are God’s children, we don’t have to live like we are forced to live.
Now, what does all of this mean in this great period of history? It means that we’ve got to stay together. We’ve got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh’s court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that’s the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity.
Secondly, let us keep the issues where they are. The issue is injustice. The issue is the refusal of Memphis to be fair and honest in its dealings with its public servants, who happen to be sanitation workers. Now, we’ve got to keep attention on that. That’s always the problem with a little violence. You know what happened the other day, and the press dealt only with the window-breaking. I read the articles. They very seldom got around to mentioning the fact that one thousand, three hundred sanitation workers are on strike, and that Memphis is not being fair to them, and that Mayor Loeb is in dire need of a doctor. They didn’t get around to that.
DR KING
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm
It’s a shame when people are so blindly loyal to someone that they don’t even allow for mild criticism of their leaders.
It’s a shame when people are so blindly loyal to someone that they don’t even allow for mild criticism of their leaders.
There is literally nothing factual about your statement. Take your firebagger script back to Salon or FDL or DKOS. No one here is buying it.
if you want to air some “mild criticisms” then have at it. Don’t speak in generalities. It makes you look foolish.
Cheers,
ABL