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.

Esteemed Black Historian Deems Obama's Lincoln-Heavy Speech Ironic

Senator Barack Obama made his announcement at the Old State Capitol in Springfield Illinois...where Abraham Lincoln gave his "House Divided " speech in 1858.

Obama said:
"And that is why, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a divided house to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for President of the United States..."

"As Lincoln organized the forces arrayed against slavery, he was heard to say: "Of strange, discordant, and even hostile elements, we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought to battle through."
That is our purpose here today.
That's why I'm in this race."

But at the annual Covenant With Black America gathering in Virginia, historian Lerone Bennett called Obama's constant evocation of Lincoln ironic. Watch.