Tag: Cornell West

West and Smiley: Obama is Not a Progressive

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

Tavis Smiley, Cornel West on the 2012 Election & Why Calling Obama “Progressive” Ignores His Record

As the most expensive presidential election in U.S. history comes to an end, broadcaster Tavis Smiley and professor, activist Dr. Cornel West join us to discuss President Obama’s re-election and their hopes for a national political agenda in and outside of the White House during Obama’s second term. At a time when one in six Americans is poor, the price tag for combined spending by federal candidates – along with their parties and outside groups like super PACs – totaled more than $6 billion. Together, West and Smiley have written the new book, “The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto.” Both Tavis and Smiley single out prominent progressives whom they accuse of overlooking Obama’s actual record. “We believe that if [Obama] is not pushed, he’s going to be a transactional president and not a transformational president,” Smiley says. “And we believe that the time is now for action and no longer accommodation. … To me, the most progressive means that you’re taking some serious risk. And I just don’t see the example of that.” West says that some prominent supporters of Obama “want to turn their back to poor and working people. And it’s a sad thing to see them as apologists for the Obama administration in that way.”

Transcript can be read here

Obama is a ‘Republican in Blackface’

“In a recent interview on Democracy Now!, ex-Princeton professor and frequent Obama critic Dr. Cornel West lashed out against the president as well as pundits Michael Eric Dyson, Melissa Harris-Perry and Rev. Al Sharpton.

West called Obama a “Rockefeller Republican in blackface” and said Dyson, Harris-Perry and Sharpton were all “for sale.”

West, along with TV personality Tavis Smiley, has been one of President Barack Obama’s loudest and harshest African-American critics. Although West endorsed and campaigned for Obama during the 2008 campaign, he has since complained that the first black president turned his back on impoverished Americans.”

Cenk Uygur and Jayar Jackson discuss West’s comments and racial attitudes toward Obama in general. Is there a way he should act as both the president and a leader for the black community? How would he manage that?

Occupy Wall Street 10.05.11

Occupy Wall Street 10.01.11

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Legacy and the Reality

Russia Today TV had some interesting takes on MLK day, saying that to a large extent Dr. King’s message had been hijacked and distorted for other purposes.  One citation mentioned a Pentagon official, Dr. Jeh Johnson, who wrote that because of the complexity and changed times today, Martin would support our wars in Af-Pak, etc.

Sorry, I can’t get the video to embed, but the link is below.

Hijacking Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy…

… … American hero is invoked for various reasons. But once in a while, that legacy gets hijacked.  First there was Glenn Beck in a rally … , but that is wrong, argued Rudd. Like the movements lead by MLK, change can take place today by learning from the movements …

  Also, the Pentagon wrongly uses King to justify today’s wars.

Find it at…

Hijacking Dr. Martin Luther KIng’s Jr’s Legacy

Last week I heard Cornell West say in a speech that MLK was the greatest human being produced in the United States, on U.S. soil.  I agree with Cornell West.  Take the poll.