Posted on 04/19/2010 8:15:25 AM PDT by jazusamo
Obama cabinet members such as Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Education Secretary Arne Duncan spoke at the heavily corporate-bankrolled four-day event, which featured top-echelon personalities drawn from the worlds of politics, business, labor, clergy, philanthropy and entertainment. The Obama administration believes the radical black civil-rights leader's newfound "pragmatic" style is a political asset. Yet the older, incendiary Al Sharpton remains just beneath the surface.
For an examination of how we got to this point, see my Special Report published last year titled Mainstreaming Demagoguery: Al Sharpton’s Rise to Respectability.
Al Sharpton is now arguably the nation's number-one black political activist, even more influential than his one-time mentor, Jesse Jackson. And like Jackson, as I discussed at length in a report published last year by National Legal and Policy Center, Sharpton has a history of public demagoguery in the service of social justice going back decades. A familiar racially-charged egalitarianism permeates his mission, as much religious as political. America, in his mind, remains a land permeated by white racism and hate crimes. As much as ever, blacks are its victims. Social inequality is primarily the product of white America's incapacity for self-redemption without moral guidance. That's why no matter how reckless his public behavior, Sharpton sees his presence as healing rather than divisive, an overdue effort to transcend stereotypes and foster a national conversation on race.
Flowing from this assumption is a familiar double standard whenever a crime with racial implications erupts onto national headlines. If a white person is accused of committing a crime against a black person, one can be sure that Sharpton, through radio broadcasts, speeches or mass demonstrations, will demand a presumption of guilt. Even if the action is committed in self-defense (as in the case of Bernhard Goetz, the so-called ‘subway vigilante') or not committed at all (as in the case of the "rape" and "assault" of Tawana Brawley), whites are presumed guilty. But let the tables be turned - i.e., a black is charged with a crime against a white - and then Sharpton will demand a presumption of innocence. Nor is this double standard something in the distant past, as his defenders often rationalize. During 2006-07, for example, he took center stage in transforming three white high school students in Jena, Louisiana into poster children for ‘hate crime' against blacks (they'd innocently hung a pair of nooses from a tree), while pulling out the stops to minimize the crime of a half-dozen or more black students at the same school viciously beating an innocent white student. In September 2007, he led up to 20,000 marchers through that town of 3,000 to protest the prosecution of the black assailants. That's hardly ancient history. Neither is Sharpton's flagrant federal and state tax evasion.
To those assembled at the Sheraton, however, they might as well have been. Speeches, sermons, panel discussions and awards ceremonies were the order of the day. Actor-comedian Bill Cosby and Grammy Award-winning singers Mariah Carey and Wyclef Jean provided uplift at the "Keepers of the Dream" awards dinner. Sharpton throughout the proceedings emphasized his desire to build bridges, to develop constructive approaches to complex policy issues, while avoiding inflammatory remarks. The old Al Sharpton, with trademark jump suits, gold medallions and loud confrontation, has undergone a metamorphosis, observed Krissah Thompson over the weekend in the Washington Post ("Sharpton, Once the Outsider, Is Now a White House Ally."). The article noted, rightly, that this transformation is the result of a deliberate image makeover strategy known at National Action Network headquarters in Harlem as "from the streets to the suites." What the article downplayed, unfortunately, is that all extremists by nature appear reasonable when victory is at hand. Al Sharpton in particular has everything to gain by affecting a distinguished, statesmanlike mien.
President Obama, facing a large loss of Democrat-held congressional seats in this November's elections, sees this makeover as paying political dividends. This is quite an about-face from two years ago, when Obama's top campaign advisers, fearful of Sharpton's reputation, informed the Reverend that his presence in his camp would be a distraction or worse. But with Obama president, Sharpton in short order has become a de facto member of the White House brain trust. He was one of three civil rights leaders, for example, whom Obama invited to the White House to discuss black unemployment. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, a speaker at the last two NAN conventions, says this of Sharpton: "He's been an extraordinary partner. The fact that we're working together has been great, but the level of his engagement, it's been phenomenal. Duncan, Sharpton and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, in a spirit of bipartisanship, last year toured schools in five U.S. cities. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, speaking at a Wednesday NAN policy forum on black health issues, vowed to establish a special office within her agency to address racial disparities in health. And while President Obama was unable to attend the gala event, he offered this written note of congratulations on April 16 to Sharpton, which read in part:
Since its founding, the National Action Network has stood up for those without help and without hope. While many are talking about the need for transformational action, this organization is working to see it carried out. Today's forum, "Measuring the Movement," offers an opportunity to advance more solutions to the challenges we face as a nation.
We know that too many communities of color were living on the margins even before the recession hit. My Administration is dedicated to turning these great challenges into greater opportunities that significantly improve the lives of many throughout the country.
That's real clout when the President of the United States writes a thank-you letter like that.
Sharpton, now 55, hastens to note his beliefs are the same, even as his style has evolved. "I haven't worn a track suit in 20 years," he said. "You have to understand - I grew and matured in public. Like Nelson Mandela said, you have to have core principles and everything else is a tactic." Sharpton, for the time being, isn't a rabble rouser for a simple reason: He doesn't have to be. Administration officials regularly promote their policy initiatives over the airwaves on his daily three-hour radio talk show. He coaxes generous donations from such major corporations as Citigroup, Home Depot, Toyota and Wal-Mart. And while he remains on the Left end of the Democratic Party spectrum, he has courted friendships and even alliances among such prominent Republican conservatives as Newt Gingrich and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, the latter also a speaker at last week's NAN confab in midtown Manhattan. He has won the profuse gratitude of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He can call President Obama almost anytime and get an audience. That's more power than he ever could wield through his street-hustler persona.
With the help of his public relations consultant, Rachel Noerdlinger, Reverend Sharpton has become the Jay Gatsby of civil-rights activism. People come far and wide to rub shoulders, talk and party with him, happily willing to ignore his long track record of aggression and corruption. Not to worry, though. Sharpton still knows how to win through intimidation. Just rub him the wrong way and see what happens.
Related:
Are Republican National Committee Donors Now Bankrolling Sharpton?
RNC Chair Steele Refuses to Cancel Speech at Sharpton Event
RNC Chair Steele Should Withdraw From Sharpton Event
Wall Street Journal Is Wrong About New, 'Pragmatic' Al Sharpton
Gingrich Must Sever Ties With Sharpton
Colgate-Palmolive Denies Supporting Sharpton Group In Wake of Rush Limbaugh/NFL Controversy
Sharpton's Corporate Supporters Funded Anti-Rush Limbaugh Campaign
Did Colgate-Palmolive Accept Sharpton Award — or Not?
Sharpton Fined $285K by FEC as Result of NLPC Complaint
How many people died in the fire he incited?
Shovel?! You’re going to need a backhoe!
The only thing new about Sharpton is that he’s honed his grifting skills.
Yep, the race pimp and shakedown artist still hates "whitey"/Jews and blames the troubles of "his people" on everyone but themselves.
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
I’ve never heard Obama say that Sharpton “acted stupidly” in any of his stunts.
Thanks for a little comic relief. :-)
Tell me, What's up with that? What's up with that? Ooooo weeee, What's up . . . with . . . that!
We noticed.
But you might want to at least consider eating a salad.
Mr. Resident:
By all means, work closely and associate yourself with Al Sharpton.
Signed,
Patriots who want your muslim azz out of office come 2012..
shakedown artist still hates “whitey”/Jews and blames the troubles of “his people” on everyone but themselves
That’s how he makes a living and remains relevent. That’s what puts the chow on the table for him.
Dog doodoo eventually loses its pungent aroma but no sane person picks it up and puts it in his pocket.
Obama is looking for this to pay dividends? Is he hoping to get 98% of the African American vote instead of 97%?
Thanks, Diana. That’s a great graphic and a keeper!
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