African American
In reply to the discussion: Cornel West Surrogacy highlights a major problem with the Sanders' campaign's outreach strategy [View all]The Polack MSgt
(13,186 posts)Over the years and he seemed to have been accorded the role of Black American intellectual on Meet the Press and other shows of that type.
Sometimes I agreed with him sometimes not. He was interesting and played the tv "debate" game really well - but - He was just another man selling an agenda as far as I could tell.
BTW - My favorite shows were when someone would screw up and book Chuck D. He would get loose and wreck their clueless ass assumptions. SO AWESOME! I miss the 90s. Unfortunately Chuck was seldom invited back.
Any way, I noticed that Dr. West became more and more hostile to the President and never knew why exactly. I quit listening to him because attacks against my favorite politician of all time didn't seem more believable just because they came from a black man.
I'm an old fashioned pro labor democrat from the coal mine hills of SW Pennsylvania. I have baggage regarding race that I can only hope to identify and correct in myself. So I never went on a rant (here or IRL) about Dr West's statements about the President - seriously not my place.
I did find it odd that he got such a prominent role in Bernie's campaign. I asked a good friend of mine (also a retired MSgt) who stays current on politics and he summarized it like this "Man fuck Cornell West, he expected the President to kiss his ass and got mad when it didn't happen"
I've never talked to any Back folks who don't admire President Obama - even the Republicans. Giving Dr West a prominent role seems to be a mistake. Not just with AA voters but with old school Dems as well