Al Sharpton bashed on Anthony Weiner today, threatening "pushback" and dismissing his blaming of Obama as "over the top." (h/t Adept2u)
Sounds like African-American Civil Rights leaders see Obama standing up for the interests of the poor and marginalized.
In other news, in his open thread today, Kos claimed that there is no one seriously talking about a primary challenger to Obama. Howard Fineman seems to concur.
But then there's Clarence B. Jones...
On tonight's Tavis Smiley show, Martin Luther King's lawyer and long-time Civil Rights leader, is talking about his recent article about the need for a primary challenger to Obama.
See a preview here: Clarence Jones on Tavis Smiley
Jones' article nostalgically recalls Obama's election within the sweep of Civil Rights history. And yet the words of his friend and partner, MLK himself, seem oddly fitting at the present moment as a summons to speak against Obama:
"A time comes when silence is betrayal." For Dr. King, it was "time to break the silence."
From that article, two other money quotes:
You don't have to be a rocket scientist nor have a PhD in political science and sociology to see clearly that Obama has abandoned much of the base that elected him. He has done this because he no longer respects, fears or believes those persons who elected him have any alternative, but to accept what he does, whether they like it or not.
The pursuit of the war in Afghanistan in support of a certifiably corrupt Afghan government and the apparent willingness to retreat from his campaign commitment of no further tax cuts for the rich, his equivocal and foot dragging leadership to end DADT, his TARP for Wall Street, but, equivocal insufficient attention to the unemployment and housing foreclosures of Main Street, suggest that the template of the 1968 challenge to the reelection of President Lyndon Johnson now must be thoughtfully considered for Obama in 2012.
Jones' detailed list of capitulations, including the recent tax compromise (which Jones considers the straw that broke the camels back), got me thinking. What are other African-American leaders saying about the Great Tax Compromise?
A quick glance through the list of signatories protesting it shows twelve African-American members of Congress (of course all now regrettably confined to the House of Representatives.)
This is certainly not a sweeping majority, but it is a substantial number. A bit of math puts it at about 36% of returning African-American Representatives. (NB: This does not count Clyburn and Rangel because of their situations, one as a negotiator in no place to sign a protest letter, and the other in no place to sign a protest letter after his recent Congressional censuring.)
As it happens, 36% is roughly double the rate (around 16-17%) at which non-African-American House members are opposing the tax compromise.
It is also interesting that two of the three African-American Representatives from Obama's home state are on the list, Jesse Jackson, Jr., and Danny K. Davis. The only politician to ever defeat Obama, Bobby Rush, is the sole exception.
Finally, there on the list is John Lewis, the living legend of the Civil Rights Movement.
The names, their comparative proportion, their respective pedigrees, and their personal and geographical proximity to Obama, make me wonder for how many African-American leaders Clarence Jones is speaking.
Mr. Sharpton's comments make some sense within a certain vein of local NYC politics. They make more sense as a defense along the lines of what Lawrence O'Donnell has recently been doing--getting downright angry about the short-term consequences for poor persons, but apparently for the purpose of making space for the Clintonite realpolitik move toward the middle as the path to re-election.
But his comments seem oddly out of place, even over the top given the sentiments being voiced by other African-American leaders.
As you can see and hear in Jones' interview, it is out of "tough love" that he refuses to go along quietly with any more compromise, even to the point of advocating a primary challenger to Obama.
The deeply loving yet deeply troubled voices of the Civil Rights Movement are starting to warn: the heir of their work is losing his way.
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UPDATE:
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Various sources (TPM, WaPo, ABC) are reporting on the Congressional Black Caucus coming together to oppose Obama's Tax Compromise and offering an alternative much closer to the original House resolution (h/t brooklynbadboy).
The policy response from the CBC at this pivotal moment is quite serious, yet still quite cordial as well (from the WaPo article):
Lee said Friday that CBC members "don't see this as a personal issue at all" against Obama and would welcome a meeting with him to discuss the plan further.