The West-Smiley Chronicles

Trying to stay relevant in the post 2008 election world is a bitch for "cultural commentators" and frequent Obama critics Cornell West and Tavis Smiley. They've hit the road for their damn we really screwed up when we didn't jump on the barack bandwagon tour. I was pulling for these race warriors to get some props from camp Obama early on, I mean why antagonize right? But Axelrod and company had their keep the Blacks at bay plan firmly in place and they stuck too it with winning results. Now Chief Crazy Hair and Tavis "I Stomped Off The Tom Joyner Show In an Obama Tizzy" Smiley are in no man's land. They're hawking books and walking a tightrope. How DO you pull off being congratulatory towards someone you trashed, probably thinking he'd never end up being the most powerful man in the world?

Barack Obama Snubs "Covenant With Black America"?

Hey David Axelrod.
Come here for a second.
Lookit.
Are there any Black people at AKP? If there are, do you listen to any of them? Because I'm sure they could have told you quick, fast, and in a hurry that the annual "Covenant With Black America" was today...and it is a HUGE deal. Not among Black people in general - because there are millions who don't care about Tavis Smiley's forum on all things Black - but among Black people who VOTE...it's big.

The Black peop...um person in your office would have told you that his aunts and uncles and cousins would not be standing out in the cold watching Barack Obama talk about Lincoln on Saturday. They would be bundled up in front of the TV watching Tavis...that is until PBS interrupted the proceedings to show the junior senator from Illinois.

No matter what you've told yourselves about not having Barack align himself with the steeped-in-the-civil-rights-movement-Black-power-vanguard...these folks matter.
Don't get me wrong. We get it...Obama has to be the candidate of inclusion, and he's got corporate money so he doesn't need little Black man money, etc. etc. But scheduling Obama's coming out party on the exact same day as the CWBA meeting was a slap in a collective and frowning Black face. See?



Even Obama supporter Charles Ogletree (Harvard Law Professor) says Barack made a mistake.




Fine Team Obama. Push ahead with your strategy and minimize the Jackson and Sharpton photo-ops. But don't do stuff to openly antagonize. Announcing on Presidents Day? Better. Sure, it is not a slow-news-day Saturday...but it is a holiday so none of the bigwigs would be in the offices at the newtorks - ensuring some fluffy coverage.

Believe me.
Or don't.
But just remember. Next year when you're trying to think of somewhere else to be, Hillary will be more than happy to take your seat at the "Covenant" table - or worse...she'll send the man who has already been dubbed America's First Black President to take her place.