Maya Angelou: 'Barack Obama has done a remarkable job'

[WilliamPitt]

Maya Angelou. Photograph: Jemal Countess

Maya Angelou: 'Barack Obama has done a remarkable job'
Poet and veteran civil rights activist, Maya Angelou is the sage of black America. And for her, Barack Obama has delivered. She talks about her hopes for his-re-election – and receiving an award from his wife Michelle

Hugh Muir, Guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 15 February 2012

There has always been something bittersweet about the life experience of Maya Angelou. Think of the literature fashioned from a harsh and tragic upbringing in racially segregated Missouri and Arkansas: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; Wouldn't Take Nothing for my Journey Now. Think of her triumphs articulating the struggle of African Americans through the civil rights era. Consider that each year, her birthday, 4 April, brings with it both joy and painful memories. Who would share that anniversary with the assassination of her friend, Martin Luther King?

This year, if it progresses as Angelou expects, will exacerbate the pattern, bringing a momentous high, but not before some sickening lows. Don't worry about Barack Obama, says the chronicler of black history. He'll be re-elected. He deserves to be re-elected. But between now and November, it's going to get nasty.

"I think we are going to see a number of people who say: 'I have no racial prejudice in my heart, not in my conversation,'" Angelou says. "But in the next few months, as we wind up to the double campaign, I tell you we are going to see some nastiness, some vulgarity, I think. They'll pull the sheets off."

Obama has critics and doubters. Angelou, the sage of black America, now 83, has no time for them. "I think he has done a remarkable job, knowing how much he has been opposed," she says. "Every suggestion he makes, the Republicans en masse fight against him or don't vote at all." It's about him being a Democrat and being the first black president, she says.

The rest: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/15/maya-angelou-barack-obama-remarkable-job

[WI_DEM]

1. he has done a remarkable job given the GOP opposition and some dem opposition

too. The rules of the senate are stupid beyond compare in that the minority can block almost anything.

[zipplewrath]

2. And yet he gets stuff passed

He's managed to get stuff passed. Hasn't vetoed much either. So either he's getting predominately what he wants, or he keeps signing stuff he doesn't like. Which do you think it is?

[qazplm]

4. neither

as you've set up a false dichotomy.

Try harder.

[zipplewrath]

7. Any mix will do

He is either getting what he wants, or signing stuff he doesn't like. I'll accept any mix of the two on a bill by bill basis. And I'll also accept he doesn't get EVERYTHING he wants. But he is getting stuff passed so one does have to ask if he likes what he's signing or if he believes he's signing "the best crap that can pass". I haven't heard him claiming he's had to be holding his nose alot when signing bills, so I presume he likes most of what he's passing. A few notable exceptions in the early days, and the debt ceiling one stands out as something he appeared to feel forced to sign. Same way with the previous unemployment increase which included the Bush Tax Cut extension. That'd be about it though.

[babylonsister]

3. Really nice article; thanks! nt

[tabatha]

5. Yes, he has. And he has remained classy throughout.

He is so much better then the GOP riffraff.

[madokie]

23. The reptilicon old white mens club

thought they'd give President Obama hell and have, thinking that they will sour the majority of our minds to this black man in the white house but all they've really accomplished is let the real Barack Obama shine though and to show their bigotry and racism. I'm proud of my President as proud as I would be if he was my own son, in fact I feel that warmth that comes from a father son relationship with him. I haven't felt that way with many in my life.

[politicasista]

8. Kick

Heard her on Tom Joyner yesterday reapeating this. She is a treasure.

[AlbertCat]

9. Maya Angelou is the sage of black America.

God I hope not!

Yuk!

[CrawlingChaos]

13. My reaction as well

Might as well say Oprah is the sage of black America. It's anti-intellectualism.

[Number23]

10. K&R even though that "sage of black America" bit is kind of strange

I have loved Ms. Maya for so long.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. K&R

[Scurrilous]

12. K & R

[sarcasmo]

14. Kick!

[Bladian]

17. Hahahahah this is absolutely priceless.

[boppers]

18. The ugliest sheets: "It's legitimate critique".

Rinse. Repeat.

Add a quote.

Rinse. Repeat.

[demgrrrll]

20. Bin Laden dead. GM alive. Roy goofy

[blondie58]

21. that is very polite

Goofy.
Won't be long before he is tombstoned.

[The Doctor.]

25. The above post is an example of a 'flame out'.

It's not a very bright one, or a very hot one, but it is a smoldering admission of racism.

And now, back to your scheduled thread already in progress...

[lunatica]

27. Colon Powell??

Ups! I guess you just had a Freudian slip there!

Psst. Your racism is showing....

[joeybee12]

29. Enjoy your stay...nt

[Warren DeMontague]

30. She "isn't bias"? Oh, Roy, now your just casting asparagus!

You're right about no Reagan Jacket... Still, we did have Dubya Underwear.



Hey, if you guys play your cards right, you can get your Underwear covered in Santorum, too!


Just think how easy it'll be to keep your wife from "behaving like a slut", i.e. ever having sex with you, once you've got the glaring, piercing Jesus-eyes of Sticky Ricky peering out from your groin!

[eShirl]

22. kick for one of my favorite poets

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise

[NNN0LHI]

24. I stand with Maya Angelou

[HappyMe]

26. k&r

[Stellar]

28. I concur whole heartedly