"it depends on what the meaning of snub is ..."
Posted on 02/23/2008 4:38:10 PM PST by jdm
H/T to Memeorandum for this story:
The annual State of the Black Union forum boasts a number of famous names as it gets under way in New Orleans, but this year’s event is getting much more attention for who won’t be there…..
…..”I think it’s a missed opportunity on Mr. Obama’s part,” Smiley told CNN. “Now, I am not interested in demonizing him for his choice, but I do disagree with it.”
But Smiley’s criticism has also prompted many people to come to Obama’s defense. The talk show host told The Washington Post he has been inundated with angry e-mails and even death threats.
“I have family in Indianapolis. They are harassing my momma, harassing my brother. It’s getting to be crazy,” Smiley told the newspaper.
He will be busy despite Obama’s absence. Some of the nation’s top black activists and politicians attend the State of the Black Union.
Smiley said he picked New Orleans as the 2008 host city to highlight the continued plight of its residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
“We owe it to them, those who survived, those who are still struggling to rebuild their lives,” Smiley said. “We owe it to them to raise these issues louder than ever.”
New Orleans continues to battle problems, including crime and lack of affordable housing. Entire communities still lack hospitals or emergency care.
Obama campaigned in the city before he easily won Louisiana’s Democratic primary on February 9, taking 57 percent of the vote.
But at least one Louisiana lawmaker praised Clinton for being there when the region needed help.
“I don’t support people just because they are black,” said Democratic state Rep. Juan LaFonta.
“I support people because they are qualified and committed to issues that affect my constituent base.”
Smiley criticized Obama for not attending, so he is threatened and harrassed, yet blacks worry about Obama’s safety?
Captain Ed feels that all three candidates should have made the time to attend this. I see this as a snub on the part of the Obama Campaign. I see this as him saying that he is black, but let’s not involve ourselves those kind of people.. I am reminded of a fascinating book by Lawrence Otis Graham, Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class .
I think he is walking a fine line now: he can’t be seen as too exclusively involved with the Black Community or he will be seen as parochial. When President, you are everyone’s President, not just a representative of your race.
He knows he’s already got their vote.
Have you ever listened to the recaps of these things on The Tavis Smiley Show or News & Notes?
They're absolutely ridiculous.
There are a few interesting panel discussions, and one or two panelists who aren't fruit loops, but for the most part it's the same aggregation of race hustlers, poverty pimps and political also-rans, including Tavis's lackwit friend from Princeton, spoken word impresario Cornel West.
Laura Ingraham did a segment on the SOTBU once and it was a typical freak show.
Maybe his white half is ruling him for a while.
I agree. I think Obama is smart to not get trapped into running as the black candidate. The Clinton strategy was to paint him into that 12 percent corner.
no! he knows, and probably been assured that they are already in his pocket. He also know if he hangs out with that group he will lose votes elsewhere, IMO.
He also knows that Tavis Smiley is known by fewer people than Keith Olberman. Obama will have plenty of time,(once elected) to stick it to whitey.
He disagreed with Wright on Farrakhan, too, but he’s still a radical lefty. Republicans use social programs to keep potential business competition down and put off needed military actions for margins today. Thus, McCain... Hillary is the same kind of socialist but with more genocidal/eugenic intentions (man-hater, family-hater...remember Reno). Obama is a make-work, labor socialist who’ll try to please everybody and draw a different kind of fire (Sinclair, Mafia, race-related, etc.).
There are your choices, volks. I’ll be honest with all readers of this thread on something.
IMO, keep Hillary out any way that you can do so now, because you can’t afford to risk having her in office. She’s the establishment’s punisher for both parties of the corporate/socialist regime, and she’ll put your families down.
Then support McCain. After McCain is elected, legally and honorably show your disagreement with the people running our system. Express negativities against the politics and business of today at every opportunity.
Does Obama think he’s above the very people he claims to want to help?
::::::::
Obama is very astutely placing himself ABOVE RACISM. To help people is one thing, but to pander to racism is yet another. A large part of Obama’s appeal comes from blacks and young people who hold racism (the likes of Jackson and Sharpton) in very low regard. Another poster noted it well, in that when you are President, YOU ARE THE PRESIDENT OF ALL THE PEOPLE, not just one sector of our society. Today’s Washington politicians have done a VERY POOR job of upholding that reality.
But he is a Black candidate. The fact that his upbringing was with Whites and Asians is not discussed.
The election so sar appears to have little to nothing to do with issues. It’s juvenile.
“Obama think he’s above the very people he claims to want to help?”
You don’t have to romance sluts. They are going to give it up anyway.
"it depends on what the meaning of snub is ..."
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