Airing Dirty Laundry

Should President Barack Obama have a “black agenda”? Michael Baisden, host of “The Michael Baisden Show” has always said that President Barack Obama cannot and SHOULD NOT fix what ails black America all by himself. He reiterated that on his show recently, as he talked about the Tavis Smiley/Rev. Al Sharpton brouhaha that had been brewing on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. Baisden made some excellent points. Among them were: We all have to be held accountable for the state of black America (Many of these issues LONG predate a Barack Obama presidency). Each neighborhood, each household has to do its part. If black businesses are faring worse in this recession, Baisden said, is that President Barack Obama’s fault alone when many blacks don’t patronize black businesses? Baisden added that when we do patronize black-owned businesses, we generally write them off forever if they make a mistake. But the same people don’t close their accounts with banks that have gotten bailout money, dealt in risky speculation, and contributed, in part, to homes being foreclosed on, and the entire economic meltdown. Tavis Smiley feels that black leaders have given Barack Obama a pass on black issues. And he said that if we don’t RIGHT NOW hold a black president to accountability that it will lead to our sure demise. He said how can we, in good conscious try to resurrect a black agenda with the next president if we don’t demand the same with Obama. He said with all due respect, if he were the next president of the United States and white, he would basically tell black leaders to “Get Lost”. You didn’t ask this of President Obama”, Tavis argued, so you have no credibility. Rev. Al Sharpton feels that to assume the duly elected President of 50 states can have a black agenda alone is asinine. Instead, he feels that we have to help the President so that he doesn’t have to compromise his tenuous position as the President of ALL people. Example: A jobs bill. Although unemployment disproportionately affects blacks, Sharpton knows a bill can’t be called “The Brothas & Sistas Jobs Bill: Puttin Uncle Leroy Back to Work. He also said, How does it look to tell our young black kids to go to school, study hard, and that they can achieve anything, and not support a black man who is president with his black wife and kids?? The man, Sharpton argued played by the rules, went to Harvard and excelled. Sharpton also said that he believes that if people aren’t out there on the front lines trying to get RESULTS for blacks, then they are just ego-tripping. He said blacks don’t need more meetings and televised town hall meetings. They need ACTION!! He said he doesn’t agree with everything Obama does, but his goal is always to see where he can find common ground with the president, and said that the President has always been receptive to his suggestions.

Two-Faced Media: Love/Hate Obama

If you are one of those people that believe everything you see and hear in the news, then it’s clear: The American people have turned against President Barack Obama. We’re led to believe this because of the health care bill that Obama signed into law. But the media’s coverage of the growing malcontents had started even before then. Judging by what we see on the news every night, one would conclude that the 66,882,220 Americans that voted for Barack Obama (43% of that 66 million were white) now regret that decision and favor immediate impeachment! It’s hard to believe that 14 short months ago, the nation’s 44th president and the first African-American president took office amid a groundswell of adulation and support. The media talked about Obama as being a transformative president before he was even sworn in. Said that his very election would usher in a new era of race relations in this country. Headlines declared we were now in a “post-racial” America. Because he had such appeal among white voters and was, in fact, bi-racial himself, it was said that Barack Obama transcended race. We saw story after story of whites in tears, side by side with blacks as Barack Obama took the oath of office. The country, after its long and terrible history of hatred and discrimination was finally united. That was the picture that was portrayed by the media, not too long ago. I admit, I bought into it too. After all, electing a black president was a very big step forward. I thought that maybe, just maybe the country had matured over night, and that old, entrenched feelings on race were now a thing of the past. Now, I’m starting to think that this unified picture of a happy, healthy, color-blind, race-aloof America was Act I in a sinister script that now has the media showing images of the old, pre-Obama America, except we went back, not to 2008, we went back 50 years before that to 1958! So Act II is the bombardment of images in the media of violent, racist Tea Party demonstrators spitting on black congressmen and calling them ‘Nigger’. Act II is also the constant mention of the re-emergence of radical civilian militia groups, and whites going to their local gun shops and buying guns in record numbers. And as if to further emphasize (and escalate) this point, much was made over the recent comment by Sarah Palin, telling Republican supporters to “re-load, not retreat”. This comment was made, I believe the day President Obama signed health care into law, and was meant to rally Republicans around the idea of trying to repeal the legislation. To all this, I say, so much for the “pass” that critics say Barack Obama got by what they claim was a chummy, pliable media during the 2008 presidential election. [Source: CNN for 66,882,220 votes for Obama; The New York Times exit poll showed 43% of those votes were white.]