Proud propagandists.
(Politico) — It was a speech intended to be a rousing call to arms for his 2012 re-election campaign and his jobs bill.
But when President Barack Obama told a gala dinner of the Congressional Black Caucus over the weekend that it was time to “stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying” and get to work, he instead gave new ammunition to some prominent African American critics who say the nation’s first black president gets tough only when he’s talking to other black people.
Three of the most prominent of them — Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Princeton professor Cornel West and talk show host Tavis Smiley — all criticized the speech, with Smiley setting the tone with his question: “How does he get away with saying this to black folk?”
But Obama pushed back hard. In a rare, one-on-one interview with a Black Entertainment Television reporter, he disputed the idea that such criticism was widespread, insisting there have been “only a handful of African-Americans who have been critical. They were critical when I was running for president. There’s always going to be somebody who is critical of the president of the United States.”
By the middle of this week, Obama’s sharp comments, the response from critics, and the debate and discussion they provoked in the black media seemed to mark yet another chapter in a relationship with African-Americans complicated from the beginning by questions about whether a mixed-race senator born in Hawaii was “authentically black” enough to win their support.
Last Friday, the day before his speech to the CBC, Obama hosted a private, off-the-record lunch with black commentators. The guest list included MSNBC host Al Sharpton, radio hosts Russ Parr and Michael Eric Dyson and White House reporter April Ryan, among others.
“It was an open and frank discussion,” said one of the participants, speaking under condition of anonymity since participation required confidentiality. Obama asked for their help motivating black voters because he is “very aware” that his support among them is slipping at the same time Republican opposition is growing.
“Folks are going against him and will continue to go against him,” the participant said, alluding to the president’s clashes with his African American critics as well as battles with Republicans. “But he is very convinced he’s going to win [in 2012]. That’s what I gleaned from it.”