Chris
10-18-2014, 02:54 PM
Cornel Ronald West is an American philosopher, academic, activist, author, public intellectual, and prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America, according to Wikipedia.
Cornel West: President Obama Doesn’t Belong on Any Shirt with Martin Luther King and Malcolm X (http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2014/10/6/cornel_west_on_obama_eric_holder)
Yeah, I think that he not only falls outside of the black prophetic tradition, but unfortunately he’s oftentimes been identified with it and confused—and it leads toward confusion, because people think that somehow Barack Obama is the culmination of Frederick Douglass and Martin and Malcolm and Ida and Ella and others, and it’s the exact opposite, that he is as establishmentarian, he is as much pro-status quo, as a Bill Clinton or a Hillary Clinton or any other neoliberal opportunist. And that needs to be said over and over again. It leads toward unbelievable confusion, and in the end it leads toward capitulation.
Video at link, but here's the youtube version. The criticism begins arounf the 2 minute mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwQTby2h2O0
Cornel West: President Obama Doesn’t Belong on Any Shirt with Martin Luther King and Malcolm X (http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2014/10/6/cornel_west_on_obama_eric_holder)
Yeah, I think that he not only falls outside of the black prophetic tradition, but unfortunately he’s oftentimes been identified with it and confused—and it leads toward confusion, because people think that somehow Barack Obama is the culmination of Frederick Douglass and Martin and Malcolm and Ida and Ella and others, and it’s the exact opposite, that he is as establishmentarian, he is as much pro-status quo, as a Bill Clinton or a Hillary Clinton or any other neoliberal opportunist. And that needs to be said over and over again. It leads toward unbelievable confusion, and in the end it leads toward capitulation.
Video at link, but here's the youtube version. The criticism begins arounf the 2 minute mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwQTby2h2O0