Are liberal African-American pundits still blindly loyal to Barack Obama? Though you may not see this covered on MSNBC, there IS a growing division.
Case in point: Establishment Suck-Up Al Sharpton versus Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornel West. While the former spends every broadcast moment lashing out at those who dare to question the Dear Leader, Smiley & West take a different approach, holding Obama to a higher standard. As you'll see below, the difference is clear.
During Friday's syndicated radio show, Sharpton compared Obama's fate to that of (the apparently oppressed victim) Barry Bonds, saying the president's opponents "want to put an astik [sic] by his name":
SMOKEY FONTAINE (24 MAY 2013): The Tea Party has been reinvigorated based on a number of these things and I think it's imperative that we know what the truth is know what the facts are and have our President's back as he has ours to push through this like he has had to almost every single year he has been in office.
Rev. AL SHARPTON: Well there's no doubt about the ah the fact that they want to put I heard someone say I think it was Matthews that they want to put an 'astik' next to his name like they have done to Barry Bonds and others. They couldn't accept he was President they certainly could not accept that he got reelected so at least now let's smear him.
Yes, Obama should certainly "resist we much" that "astik", no question about it.
Contrast that with the relative intellectual honesty of committed leftists Smiley & West, who thought Obama's presidency would bring an end to the policies they opposed during the Bush years. Beyond that, of course, they certainly weren't expecting a repeat of the Nixon era! From Sunday's syndicated radio show:
TAVIS SMILEY (26 May 2013): The Washington Office that led this investigation which resulted in the tapping of these phone records, that was done by the Washington office and the Department of Justice headed by a black man and then Eric Holder, the Attorney to whom this brother reports is a black man and the President is a black man. I don’t have a language to describe how it makes me feel Doc in this process the primary culprits are three black men, the brother that ran the office, Eric Holder the AG to whom he reports and Barack Obama of course the first African American President celebrated as such. How is it your mind that three black men can be involved in this kind of violation with everyone of them giving speeches from time to time I’m talking about Dr. King being there hero and being a great American, they know what King was put through by these very same offices. How is it that they have the temerity to engage in that same kind of activity?
CORNEL WEST: I think it shows that we black people as magnificent beautiful and great as we can be we have no monopoly on integrity no monopoly on honesty and no monopoly on decency.
What are the odds of Smiley & West replacing Sharpton on MSNBC any time soon? With opinions that offend the sensibilities of touchy white "progressives", it's NOT likely.
