The Betrayal of Black America

When Barack Obama was elected as the president of the United States, black liberals dreamily believed that the numerous maladies in the black community would cease to exist.  They believed that his election was indicative of a vigorous wind of political and social change that was blowing across the country.  Barack Obama himself vowed that his election would demarcate the conclusion of grisly "politics as usual" from the commencement of political and democratic freshness.  However, as this administration continues on, it is abundantly clear that Obama has not only failed to deliver in a general sense, but he has also completely betrayed his most loyal constituency -- the black community. 

After passing a gargantuan stimulus plan that was supposed to fix the economy, the unemployment rate continued to rise -- until it only recently began falling.  Although we are currently at a 9.0 percent unemployment rate, the rate in the black community is at an unpardonably enormous 17.4 percent -- the highest of any ethnic group in the country.  It is also important to note that black unemployment was lower under Bush than it has been at any point during Obama's administration.  In point of fact, black unemployment was even lower under Bush than it was under Clinton.

More egregious than the high rate of black unemployment is the fact that Obama has been completely disconnected with the black community.  He has failed to articulate any policy that would deal with the crisis that is evident in urban America.  Rather, Obama is much more focused on articulating and enacting policies about issues that are close to his heart, such as allowing gays to serve openly in the military, as well as becoming a potent mouthpiece for the immoral Arab scam to steal Israeli land and annihilate the Jewish people. 

Cornel West

Any intellectually honest person in America must look at Obama's demonstrable disregard for black issues and come to the unavoidable conclusion that black America is the very least of Obama's concerns.  So obvious is this fact that even some of Barack Obama's most ardent supporters in the black intelligentsia have begun voicing strident denunciations of the president.  The latest assault on Obama from his left-wing compatriot Cornel West is evidence of this phenomenon.

Although West's critique of Obama was partly personal and laden with his characteristically asinine divisive racial rhetoric, there was some substance to his criticism to which left-wing Obama cheerleaders in the black community remain

willfully blind.  West accused Obama of being "a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats." 

While West foolishly assumes that support for black issues and being in favor of business are mutually exclusive, the unstated and basic premise in West's critique is that Obama does not care enough about, and expresses no interest in, black people and black issues.  As absurd as the rest of his intellectually messy ramblings are, West is right about that fundamental point.

 Obama's sycophants are used to writing off all criticism of the president coming from whites as racist, and they are equally used to describing all criticism from black conservatives as being the puerile rants of Uncle Toms obsequiously looking for approval from "the white man"; however, although Cornel West is one of the black left's most revered academics, they would much rather write him off as entirely crazy than to admit that any criticism he has of Barack Obama contains even a scintilla of merit. 




By Chidike Okeem