Cornel West Calls Obama Out for Dissing King Tribute – Inclusion

“I want to say that I’m deeply disappointed that my dear brother Barack Obama decided not to go pay tribute and lay his wreath for the great Martin Luther King, Jr. That Brother Martin’s profound love and deep sacrifice for black people, America and humanity is in no way reducible to political calculations, even for the campaign for presidency. That Martin Luther King Jr.’s deep commitment to unarmed truth and unconditional love can in no way be subject to strategies for access to political power.”

Ouch!

Was this a public back hand slap from West signaling to the public as well as to Obama his concerns about Obama’s calculated ambitions to the White House? Or, as many Obama supporters in the African American community are now speculating, is there both a personal and ideological rift between West and Obama?

Given West’s prominence and respect in the African American community nationwide, the Obama campaign knows that if West breaks publicly from the campaign he’ll take a substantial portion of black voters away from Obama come November, should Obama win the Democratic nomination.

Having won the majority of African American voters in the Tennessee primary, Obama may have felt he did not need to come back to the state to do face time. But black radio talk shows were abuzz with listeners calling in, expressing their disappointment.

Tavis Smiley, one of America’s most celebrated and respected media personalities and author of the bestseller The Covenant with Black America called into the Tom Joyner Morning show. Smiley asked listeners if Obama’s absence was another signal of Obama only courting the African American vote when it is political advantageous for him to do so.

But this charge against Obama by Smiley is not new.

When Smiley invited Obama to this year’s State of the Black Union, an event held annually during Black History Month and broadcast on C-Span, Obama declined, but offered to send his wife Michelle. The event gathers a “Who’s Who” of black intellectuals, pundits, activists, entertainers and politicians to discuss and brainstorm where black America is and where it is headed. And this year it was held in New Orleans to remind the American public of the Bush administration’s unfinished business with its displaced citizens from Hurricane Katrina. This year’s topic was “Reclaiming Our Democracy, Deciding Our Future.” But Obama declined, stating he needed to continue his bid for the presidency. And in an open letter to Tavis Smiley, Barack asked Smiley to reconsider the invitation to let Michelle stand in for him.