Smiley, West & Parker: On the Obama Hunt

               "Obama is a bad President.
                Black people, specifically, need to stop identifying with Obama on the basis of race, and realize    
                that his policies are ineffective for the benefit of Americans in general, and are a detriment to
                African-Americans directly."

This is the general rhetoric and conclusions that certain prominent African-Americans are touting.  The reasoning varies: Tavis Smiley and Cornel West believe Obama has merely become a puppet to the rich and powerful, the "true" power-brokers that run America.  Lobbyists, Wall Street minions and international conglomerates dictate favorable policies to the detriment of the middle and lower class.  Unfortunately, this is how the political system has devolved.  The rich have the time and resources to manipulate the system.  Politicians are on 4-year cycles and fervently need the cash and influence that these provisional supporters give. Yes, this sucks.

And then there are the Ken Blackwell's and the Star Parker's of the world.  These Black pundits note that African-Americans are a bit overdue in taking on the full responsibility of the civil liberties that thousands died for.  They also note that religious fervor and reliance on governmental programs blind African-Americans to the economic self-reliance they need to move out of poverty.  But they blindly disregard the institutional racism and invisible capital that are critical to the upward mobility necessary to achieve any longevity in the middle class.

Sure there are some that can and have navigated their way through this maze; we congratulate and honor them.  The sacrifices and fortitude to achieve these lofty levels, businessmen and women, CEOs, financiers, and yes, even a President of the United States.  And the latter is a club of one.  But the fact remains, so many others haven't risen out of the bowels of poverty.  There needs to be understanding and action items for both those wanting to get out, as well as those lost in the aftermath of the struggle for equality.

I think African-Americans have seen in Obama a light of what can be.  Yes, for many--across the world-- Obama's election opened new vistas of opportunity and the possibility of change for themselves, for African-Americans, for Americans and for the world at large.  But it also validates for many that the greatest achievement is not just to win a seat at the table, but to begin to define what meal is being served and who else gets to eat. That is not so easily done.

I do think that Smiley, West and Parker have had just enough of a taste of the power-brokers crumbs, to feel positioned to articulate how Obama has failed to right the wrongs that have been leveled (and are continuously being leveled) by some of the same people they expose.  The unfortunate fact of the matter is that there are slim pickings for qualified people of Democratic leanings, let alone people of color, particularly those who can navigate to such a level of influence without getting some dirt on their resume.  If Obama had chosen Smiley for a position, maybe the Right would have put him in the cross-hairs for the fact that he hadn't finished college.  Or maybe West would have been crucified for anti-Semitic or class warfare rhetoric.

No matter the influential power-brokers that line up to enter the Oval Office, Obama has to look at his African-American wife and two African-American daughters and know there is a lineage that they came from, and will be going back to, that they will have to reckon themselves with.  This is something no other President has had to do, or will have to do, unless pundits like these are effective in influencing Americans that there is a better job the President could be doing navigating us out of this mess, and get us to elect someone with different views into office.  President Bachmann? President Romney? President Palin?  Can you hear us now?