There is a good article in the Washington Post on how Obama should be treated by blacks post election. They quote “cousin” Jeff Johnson from BET.
Get past “Obama the personality” and see “Obama the president,” he says. “Otherwise all you’re being is a political-celebrity groupie instead of a citizen. . . . It starts with acknowledging he’s my president, and not my homie.”
Apparently Obama is still riding the post election wave of support from the African American community.
Love for the Obamas is thick among African Americans — 91 percent of whom view the president favorably, compared with 59 percent of the total population, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted last month — and as a result, the African American punditry finds itself navigating new ground.
Tavis Smiley talks about the effect of his open criticism of Obama had on him in the black community.
The push-back was “brutal,” Smiley recalls. Angry listeners called him a “sellout,” an “Obama hater” and “Uncle Tom.” Surprised and hurt, Smiley left Joyner’s show but now uses the rough patch to make the case for a new book he co-wrote, “Accountable: Making America as Good as Its Promise.”
Smiley justifies his criticism of Obama.
“If President Obama succeeds, there is the chance that we will have another person of color as president. If he succeeds, there is the chance that we will at some point have a woman as president. But if he fails . . . it may be another 400 years before we get another African American president,” Smiley says, arguing that tough questions will make Obama a better leader.
The article quotes Leutisha Stills over at Jack and Jill Politics defending black support for Obama.
“I cannot be on the Haterade fest,” Stills says. “It appears that whatever Mr. Obama tends to do, no matter what, somebody is going to put a negative spin on it. Whether I agree with his policies or not, from appearances’ sake he’s trying to do what he promised in his campaign.”
