(ThyBlackMan.com) This is the debate our community was waiting to have. It is a “must have.” We will discover everybody’s motives as this conversation shakes out. Those who claim they’re with Obama, and just want him to “do something” to help black people. They who claim they’re with Obama, and just want to “push him” to be “great.” Those who say they don’t hate Obama, they just want “what’s best for the people.” And they that are true Obama-haters, but can’t admit it lest they lose legitimacy with the very people they claim to represent.
Because the people love Obama, and three years of a difficult power transition has not caused their “Hope” to wane, some want to push their impatience on the masses of the people or give the impression Obama is losing support. Black people have tolerated 232 years of bullsh*t before seeing themselves in the ultimate power seat in America. We can wait a few more years until he straighten it out. This national “impatience” that others have around Obama, namely the Republican and the Tea Party, can’t drive our decisions about how we calculate our political future’s best interests and we can’t let people in our community, who never supported Obama in the first place, drive the hysteria.
I’d like to thank my friend, Tavis Smiley, for causing me to engage on this issue, with his so-called poverty tour and trust me…I’m in it to win it now. And we ain’t gonna go the route of Steve Harvey (who has since apologized for the name calling—but not accusation of disingenuousness tied to the poverty tour). Harvey should have never called them Uncle Toms. We can have differences without being disrespectful. Tavis Smiley and Cornel West are too invested in this community to be dissed like that. Last week, I just called them misguided on this issue and called for them to come clean on their anti-Obama sentiment. A national debate about Obama “accountability” will give everybody a chance to “come clean” or “piss test dirty.” Defend your claim. I don’t see anybody on the Presidential landscape that has our interests covered better than Barack Obama.
Yet, now we have to have a national conversation about whether President Barack Obama has “done enough” for black people to support for re-election, in the same way we had to have a national conversation four years ago as to whether then candidate Barack Obama was “black enough” for black people to support for Democratic nomination. And some of the same people who didn’t think he was “black enough” then, want to drive the national debate on whether he’s done enough now.
What a freakin “coincidence?” The “out group” wants to dictate what the “in group” does when it comes to how we support the President. Why they didn’t do that three weeks ago to the Republicans (the House’s in-group) had their foot on the Democrat’s (the outgroup) necks? Why didn’t the Congressional Black Caucus “fight harder” or “unleash” then? They’re just as many of them as there are Tea Party members? The Congressional Black Caucus didn’t throw down like the Tea Partiers did. They could have been as loud as the Tea Party while the fight was taking place in Washington. They waited until the recess to get loud, and oh, that’s right. They didn’t want to face voter backlash. They’re waiting for their constituents to “unleash” them.
In fact, they wanna “unleashed” black people now and so dysfunctional black leadership that didn’t have the vision to get us to the presidency and had little, or NOTHING, to do with Obama getting elected, can openly criticize him without fear of voter backlash. Now that’s some funny sh*t, right there. What do their constituents know that obviously their elected and self-anointed leadership doesn’t? Well, they see the only black man in the nation’s history is in a candy store (and America is a candy store, where money flows like candy), where nobody wants him and they’re following him all around the store. He has opposition on all fronts, hypercritical media that never gives him credit for anything he does, a panicked public for problems he didn’t cause, and political opportunists trying to exploit his apparent vulnerability to cause him to lose. Hmmm…you think the people see that? I think they do. I think they know he’s trying.
They know that President Barack Obama put 1.5 billion to prevent homelessness, put another one billion dollars in anti poverty programs-more by the way than any President in American history (check that fact) and has extended unemployment longer than any President since the benefit was started. Who do you think, the people think, it benefits? Well, who’s been out of work the longest? And what do you think the people think when they see in a poverty tour, and those trying to bring “accountability” sleeping with the homeless in Washington, D.C., when the very city the convener is from is the homeless capital of the nation? Did the tour bus go through downtown Los Angeles? You think they see some grandstanding going on? I think they do.
And what do you think “the people” think when they’ve been taught that it’s the “squeaky wheel” that gets the grease, but no grease ever comes their way. Their lives are just as rough as it was 20 twenty ago when they elected the squeakiest wheel in Congress, whose been representing them for over 20 years now, but can’t get her constituents the time of day with her community’s most popular figure—who they love and supported over squeaky’s endorsement of somebody else, and since she can’t call him—now just wants to “call him out.” But wants her constituents approve first. Hmmm…I think they see through that too. But what do the people think of that? Exactly what can we call that?
Let’s call it “the Audacity of Dope.” That’s it. Because you got to be dopey as hell to think anybody falling for that okee-doke. But we are willing to entertain the conversation, if it means we can move past this, and get Barack Obama re-elected President of the United States. This conversation is taking place at a critical where have people asking rhetorical questions, like, “Are we any better off after integration, at the same time Presidential candidates are telling people that “slavery wasn’t so bad.” Can you see where they’re going with this, and some of us would gladly back with them.
We can play these rhetoric games if we want to, but we know blacks are better off after integration—like we know most white folks segregated again after Reagan (they just forgot to tell y’all) to obstruct and disrupt the politics of anti-poverty and like we know one President is not going to cure poverty. We know that we have people that have gone from organizing in Watts to living in Hancock Park in twenty years, so if “the people” haven’t made progress—somebody’s making some progress. We also know people who went from organizing on the Southside of Chicago to living in the White House in less than ten years. I think that’s progress that wouldn’t have happened in the segregation era (for those dumb enough to go backwards). So let’s stop playin’ stupid’ like we don’t know what’s up here. The CBC knows the obstruction game bein played here.
Moreover, it’s not like the CBC doesn’t understand the obstructionism that has taken place the past three years. But instead of helping the President fight against it, some of the CBC have chosen to become a part of it, and like the other obstructionist group, namely the Tea Party, use extreme statement in the media to gain press where there otherwise would be none—knowing the media is all too willing to play “divide and conquer” with black people given how well it has worked in the past. So now “our” so-called leaders are calling out the President, instead of calling out Congress or business leaders who are busy writing Republican Presidential candidates million dollar checks to defeat him. This not about taking our community for granted. This is about the folk in the field (CBC) refusing to fight the other folk in the field (Tea Party) who are obstructing the President from doing what he can for the poor and despaired. I guess since they figured they couldn’t beat em, they joined em. But that doesn’t help us. Politics is a war fought on many level. The President is winning at his level. From what I’m seeing we’re losing this war in the battlefield field. The Tea Partiers Congress people are getting the best of all the rest, but the CBC claims the President needs to fight harder.
Hell, our members in Congress need to fight harder. And activists in the community need to fight big business to pay their share. Why make this about Obama?
Poverty is a function of society unwilling to contribute to the good of the whole. That’s the President conversation about “shared sacrifice” and the rich not being willing to pay its way. The last two American generations are the only to not have invested in the nation aging infrastructure, now pushing 90 years old. This President has and it has created more jobs than in all of George W. Bush’s eight years in office. It may not be enough to pull the country out of a recession, but it’s a damn good start. And the only thing we can say is he hasn’t done enough on poverty or jobs? PA-LEEEASE!!!
Let’s have the conversation and not one side of the conversation. So, we’ll play along with this “rope-a-dope” and let y’all pound on the President for a minute. Just know after y’all are all punched out, the people’s knockout is coming because we’re not leaving his side. And because there’s no real reason for us to have this conversation in the first place, beyond some people’s personal agenda, one of which, I am convinced, is to see Barack Obama lose. So now, consider me, UNLEASHED. I’m willing to have the accountability conversation, as long as it swings both ways and we have accountability conversations about those who are “calling for” accountability conversations. What are all our roles in the play? The “people” want to know. Let’s do this.
I’ve never been one on a leash, nor have I been one to allow anyone to try to put a leash on me but I’m signing out until week, when we pick up this conversation again. And again and again, if we have to. This is Samad…UNLEASHED!!! Dueces.
Written By Anthony Asadullah Samad
Official website; http://www.AnthonySamad.com
Stop playing the damn race card, its sooo old and tired. God, how looong can you be a victim, doesnt it get boring? I have tits and feminism got boring a long time ago.
Stand the fuck up and get some self esteem.
People do not hate Obama because he is Black, they hate him because he is a globalist fuck who lied to them. He played them like a sad, tiny, violin, and they bought it, and now they are pissed off. The others never believed the BS anyway.
Get a grip, this guy will not even visit your low income housing, The govment cheese is OVER, black white red yellow. Better start looking towards self, instead of govmnt Cheese handouts. The Govmnt is broke babies and your welFre is going to be the first to go. So get up off your asses and look for alternatives to big daddy govment fixing your problems, which apparently are many, for like 150 years!
“Because the people love Obama, and three years of a difficult power transition has not caused their “Hope” to wane, some want to push their impatience on the masses of the people or give the impression Obama is losing support. ”
You are out of your fucking mind. This article is full of shit from start to finish. A lazy, no good worthless piece of propaganda. Obama has done nothing but destroy America in the theme of globalism and world domination which he said in his books he would do, and has done. He ran on anti-war and has started 3 more wars going towards a 4th, plus a few other minors no one talks about. Wow. You are just a big liar, as is Obama. The man is destroying the country, taking his orders from the UN. He has not been accountable to the people or to Congress, is second place for Worst President Ever, right behind Bush.
No. You are a lair, obfuscator, and general apologist, which is just crazy right now. The President needs to be removed from office for being weak and basically insane. 5 Wars?
WTF? He represents No one, unless they just have skin color, half in mind.
Truth hurts. Some people can’t bear to hear the negative truth about the President anymore. Hopefully his actions in the future will be positive.
“you see where they’re going with this, and some of us would gladly back with them.
We can play these rhetoric games if we want to, but we know blacks are better off after integration—like we know most white folks segregated again after Reagan (they just forgot to tell y’all) to obstruct and disrupt the politics of anti-poverty and like we know one President is not going to cure poverty. ”
I disagree with this fully and challenge to show some metric to prove this assertion.
Dell Gines,
I was going leave this matter as having been concluded with my last entry. However, you have asked a question which deserves an answer. What is the solution?? Would you know the solution, Mr Gines, if it looked you in the face. And what would you do with the solution, Mr Gines once you founded it?? A smart lawyer once said, you should not present a question, which you do not already have the answer to. Of course I have a solution Mr Gines. Being a person who does economic development for a living, I ask you Mr. Gines to present and challenge your economic friends with this solution and see if is not solid. Now, here it is Mr. Gines. Let change the world!! Our economy needs to create 250,000 to 300,000 jobs each month to sustain a healthy economic recovery. The President and Congress can act now to make this happen by changing the laws governing Social Security to allow 9,600 baby boomers who will be retiring each day over the next 18 years to take partial distributions of $20,000.00 dollars from their Social Security principal. Congress, by extending the partial distribution option, which is required among private pension funds( private pension plans must present this option, among other options also, at the time you are thinking of retiring and rolling over your retirement funds), to Social Security and waiving the taxation on the first $20,000.00 dollars withdrawn from a retirement fund, Social Security included, effectively creates a pool of capital big enough, to stimulate the economy, creating jobs. Boomers could dump as much $192,000,000 million dollars into our faltering economy each day, based on the waived taxes benefit, and the $20,000.00 dollar partial distribution, ( $20,000.00 x 9,600 ) which amounts to approximately $70 billion dollars a year, AS THEY PURCHASE PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND REDUCE DEBT TO COMFORTABLY RETIRE. Imagine, that number doubles to $384,000,000 million dollars per day pumped into the economy if the partial distribution is raised to $40,000.00 dollars. Our objective should be to have Congress enact legislative changes to Social Security to make this possible. And put our country back to work !!! ( I feel it s/b offered to all retirees @ 66 years of age who are taking down “full” retiree benefits ). You see, Mr Gines, it does not take 10 years. http://www.sslumpsum.com
James, I applaud what you are fundamentally saying about coming with solutions.
Dude, I do economic development for a living, and work with some of the best economist in the nation. This kind of financial calamity is the greatest in the history of America next to the Great Depression.
You can’t frame this in the context of winning and losing because it isn’t a game, the variables are two complex, and Obama doesn’t control all the pieces.
You are talking about a 10 year turn around, as I mentioned, in the case of both a recession and a financial crisis. Presidential terms are 4 years. You do the math.
No only that, we had the Japanese Tsunami, the European issues (Greece, and others). All of these are WAYYYYYYY out of Obama’s control.
So if you are evaluating him solely on jobs, you are doing him a diservice. The President is not God, he is a politician.
Dell Gines,
The conclusion of this matter, is that it is not I who is judging this President. He himself once said on the “60 Minutes” television program, that he understands if he is unable to overcome the issue of creating jobs in this faltering economy,he would be a one term President. Look, the reason we loved “Ali” as a boxer was because he was a winner. The reason there are winners is because they win. If we want our President to win and I DO, WE MUST HELP HIM!! Because he was dealt a bad hand from former President Bush and he was, does not mean he cannot win. What he needs from us as a collective is for us to stop making excuses for the circumstances he’s been put in, as you are doing and put our collective heads together, and come up with a “solution” that will take him and us to victory. Once we find a solution, we should mainstream it and challenge the the Tea Party and the Republicans. We need to call spade a spade and say to those and the orginizations they represent, the time for excuses is longed pass. Help press this issue of job creation just as our President is doing or please get out of the way. http://www.sslumpsum.com
James, I understand what you are saying, but using ‘jobs’ as the sole measure of evaluating a president is not smart.
Our President was face with both a financial crisis, and a recession. These two things rarely occur at the same time, and when they do recovery is much much longer.
If you factor that in with a global recession, plus a fundamental change in the way economics is occuring in this global, techno new economy and you have to take a much broader look at what is occuring.
Jobs are a function of business. Major corporations had a net loss of jobs over the past 5 or 6 years, and the businesses that created the net new jobs, were small gazelle stage 2 companies.
But getting these up again is a challenge. Because of the financial crisis and the reaction, regulations have increased, lending is down, banks are sitting on money until they see where the economy is going, and access to capital for growth has slowed.
So how exactly is this Obama’s fault? You have an incompetent congress, and they set the budget, and you have other nations that are looking at us like WTF which causes increased economic global instability.
All of this was HANDED to Obama by Bush, and now we thing he is supposed to be THE WIZ is fix it by having Dorothy click her heals?
I say this as someone who is not pro-Obama, just a rational observer of events.
Mr. Samad, there is no conversation to be had other than one. That’s the conversation of jobs and how this President will create them!! It matters not, if Mr. Obama is Black or White. The Smiley and West tour and the drama it generated is meaningful, only if it led to creating jobs and it did not!! The Congressional Black Caucus as an organization is bankrupt of any ideas in regard to creating jobs as is, the Urban League and the NAACP. These organizations are bording on on being completely useless, in this fight, unless they genuinely refocus their attention on legitimate job creation plans. Republicans have the votes to block any grant and give away programs and the aforementioned organizations continue to present those type proposals as answers to job creation. They are merely shuffling paper in the name of progress. Sophisticated and intelligent brothers and sisters are not deceived as these organizations and people like you attempt to direct our attention from the core problem. WE NEED JOBS BROTHER!!! This President will not win re-election unless he presents a credible jobs creation plan which doesnot involve grants and handouts. So stop wasting valuable air time, about these side debates which we can have later once we are working again. Start writing about your plan for job creation, than send it to our President. There is no question, he is loooking for “the” job creation plan that will pull the country and Black unemployed brothers whose current unemployment rate stands at 17%, out of the deepest recession since the great depression. http://www.sslumpsum.com
DG, basically, you and the author both agree that we should “Support Obama because he is Black, that has symbolic value and is the lesser of two evils.” But you also understand why some would choose to criticize him. But no matter which of the two we choose, we should look for strategic ways to engage the system collectively regardless of who the president is. I like the way you have laid out the options. Could there be others?
I am not a Democrat (nor a Republican) so the only reason I feel anything about Barrack is BECAUSE he is Black. I don’t buy the liberal ideology nor process as it is currently constituted and I don’t think there is true political will by our President or Congress to make substantive changes in the Black condition.
When have you EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER…heard our President have substantive, and policy oriented conversations around the prison industrial complex, legitimate reparation conversations, strategic Black targeted economic redistribution initiatives? Which brings me to my next point.
Secondly, out of all available candidates, he is the one who IS going to do the most for Blacks (in this particular upcoming election). But saying that is like asking whether you want someone to pee on you or take a dump on you. That is what we are forced to choose from in this dichotomistic two party system which forces you to choose between two sides neither of which have your best interest in mind. If under current liberal ideology redistribute does not constitute wealth and power acquisition. It is broadly dispersed and too accessible across a broad spectrum to truly revolutionize our Black condition.
When you understand that it is the SYSTEM itself that is the problem, who ever within the system becomes immaterial, white, Black, Hispanic or whatever.
So let me make this a systemic issue as opposed to an Obama issue. First of all to be elected President the majority of your support has to come from Whites. The majority of your funding comes from Whites. The majority of people who you will have to network with and leverage for political gain will be White. So fundamentally you have to ask yourself can any President, Obama or other, truly have a pro-Black agenda. The answer is resoundingly NO. Jesse Jackson came the closest.
If we are left to vote for the lessor of two evils, Obama is the best candidate obviously. BUT just because he is a brother doesn’t put him above criticism, doesn’t warrant folks who have worked hard in the community who have criticized him be called uncle Toms, and doesn’t mean he is a “good” President. It just means he is the best available candidate.
So we are left with a few decisions. 1) Support Obama because he is Black, and that has symbolic value and is the lessor of two evils (which I believe it does and he is) 2) Criticize Obama because he is Black and we feel he should be doing more for us (which some do, but HE can’t do more because of the system) 3) Look for strategic ways to engage the system as a group collective so we can leverage OUR interest in better ways regardless of who the President is.
Just my thoughts.