Tavis vs. OBama? Where is the Unity?

[CatWoman]

As America unites for change, some things remain the same. The State of the Black Union, held annually and pulled together by TV and radio personality Tavis Smiley, has somewhat been overshadowed in 2008 by the presidential campaign. So what better way to gain attention than a rift, a rift between two brothers. Tavis Smiley vs Barack Obama ~ Did the rift begin a year ago?

Smiley's State of the Black Union apparently has invited presidential candidates to participate in the annual televised think tank for 2008. In a recent commentary as heard on the Tom Joyner Morning Show, Tavis mentioned he had receive one confirmation, obviously not from Barack Obama.

Both Barack and Michelle Obama have addressed the issue on radio, asking Smiley to understand Obama's obligations as he is running for President of the United States of America. Most of Obama's supporters in Tavis' radio audience seemed to be understanding of the issue judging by message boards. Many wonder why Tavis has singled out Obama.


Last year (2007) at the same time SOBU was taking place, Senator Barack Obama was making his announcement that he would run for President. From the outside looking in, one would have thought the two events would have coincided intentionally. However they did not. Immediate responses from those on the SOBU panel lead many to believe the esteem on board with Obama as a viable presidential candidate.

One year later, Obama has proved many including SOBU think tankers who are not yet on board for change to be WRONG. Thus the campaign trail continues and may not include a stop at SOBU though Michelle Obama offered to step in. She was turned down. Michelle Obama recently appeared on the Michael Baisden show to again address the rift in the union. Click the Podcast player for clip.

http://buzzoflife.com/2008/02/14/michelle-obama-responds-regarding-tavis-smiley-and-sobu.aspx

[elixir]

1. Sounds like Obama dropped the ball on this one. You can't be everywhere, I guess.

[wndycty]

5. Of course a Hillary supporter with NO UNDERSTANDING OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY

Would say that. Public opinion in the Black community is on Obama's side on this. We understand he is running for president of the United States, not the president of Black America. He needs to win in Texas and Ohio.

[CatWoman]

10. I'm not a Hillary supporter, and I'm black

and I don't understand why he can't be there :shrug:

[wndycty]

16. Because this year his priority on winning the presidency and most of Black America understands that

Most folks understand that Obama is doing what is ride by Black America. He doesn't need to be there to prove that. He offered up Michelle, but that was not good enough for Tavis.

He needs to be in the two states that matter on 3/4 and those are Texas and Ohio.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

53. If I read correctly Hillary...

has agreed to be there -- if that is so, I think it was a stupid mistake on Obama's part. I understand the need for him to campaign aggressively in the upcoming states, but I think it would be more important for him to go head to head with Hillary in front of such an audience. Since the Clinton's have long laid claim on "black votes", I would think he would want to get the chance to show that no ones votes should be taken for granted.

On edit: I wanted to add that he shouldn't look like he's taking anyones vote for granted, either.

[stillcool]

80. I thought these were some good points...

February 11, 2008
http://essence.typepad.com/news/2008/02/roland-s-mart-6.html
Why Obama should skip Tavis Smiley's State of the Black Union
-------------
Here is my analysis of the situation, and hopefully it will put this presidential campaign and the delicate task of navigating the waters of black politics in perspective.

1. Clinton MUST attend. She led Obama in all of 2007 among black voters by huge margins. But that trend has shifted -dramatically. At best, she's polling at 25% among African Americans. Her acceptance is critical because she needs to capture 30% to 40% of the black to really stop Obama.

The perceived racial slights toward Obama by Clinton campaign surrogates, as well as her husband, former President Bill Clinton, has done significant damage in the black community. His attempts to explain the comments haven't mollified African Americans. Her appearance at the event can help her restore her standing among a vital Democratic constituency, which she will need to turn out en masse if she wins the nomination.
---------------
2. Obama must look forward, not in the past. The Louisiana primary, which he won handily, was on Saturday. Why go back to Louisiana for an event on Feb. 23? That is not to dismiss the needs of people along the Gulf Coast. But the only way he can truly help them is if he wins the nomination and the White House.

Obama needs to be solely focused on Texas and Ohio. Those two mega-states offer a huge bounty of delegates, and he needs to win a large state to move ahead of Clinton. She polls strongly in both states, and they are a huge part of her winning strategy; so much of her time will be spent there in the coming weeks.

All his time must be on the ground. In Texas, he must blanket South Texas because of the Hispanic influence. He didn't do well among Hispanics in California, and he must change that.
-------------------------------
If Tavis wanted to have an impact, he should have held his event before Louisiana or before the Mississippi primary. As the saying goes, bad planning on your part doesn't constitute a sense of urgency on mine.
------------------------------
Spending the day with Tavis and his panelists is vital for Clinton. For Obama, time spent courting Latinos in Texas is more important.http://correntewire.com/did_barack_obama_just_diss_tavis_smiley

[ecstatic]

54. I agree. I like Tavis, but if this story is true, it sounds like his ego is getting a bit

out of control. I like the yearly forum, but at the end of the day it's just talk. It's time for some real action/change to take place.

[JuniperLea]

73. What a horribly racist comment... eom

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

38. Its impt for some to label Obama as Black, but he is also White

its all bs to try to manipulate and label.

[JuniperLea]

76. Even worse...

If you are anything but black, you can't possibly understand... I find that horribly racist. I'm sick of labels. Sick to freaking death of them.

[NOLALady]

48. Not really.

He's running for President of the United States.

He's not trying to win the title of Mr Black America.

Most of us get it.

[Olney Blue]

2. Sounds like Tavis's listeners understand Obama's scheduling conflicts.

[EffieBlack]

3. Why does Obama have to speak to black people through Tavis Smiley?

He is doing just fine thank you without going through Smiley.

Did you know that Obama is involved with the National Urban League's "State of Black America?" (which has been around much longer than Tavis' event). He spoke at the NAACP and the National Urban League conferences last year (so did Hillary). He participated in the Essence Cares Festival. And he's getting 80% of the black vote. Obviously, he is communicating just fine with black folk, even without Tavis Smiley acting as our gatekeeper.

[wndycty]

4. Tavis is going to lose this fight. . .

. . .most of Black America understands what is at stake and understands that Obama needs to be in Texas and Ohio. If you look at the Black blogosphere there is major backlash against Tavis at this point.

[CatWoman]

6. there was a major backlash against Tavis from the beginning

when Tavis wasn't gushing and annointing Obama as the next coming.

This, however, is just another instance.

[wndycty]

8. Well Tavis can do what he wants, I like him, we need him. . .

. . .but I think this is more about his ego than Black America.

[EffieBlack]

30. I agree - the only people I hear complaining about Obama not going

are people who people who don't support him anyway - and Tavis's PR people.

[BronxBoy]

58. I don't know if I totally agree with that Cat

I do agree that he did catch a lot of hell because he said that Obama had to be held to the same standards as White candidates. I have no problem at all with him adopting that stance.

But when he had a chance to pose questions to Clinton especially about some major things that affect Black folks that happened under her husband's term, he didn't have as critical a tone.

Of course, NO Republicans have committed yet. Nor did any of the major Republican candidates show for the debate he held. Nor did they show for any other debate sponsored by a major constituency other than White ones. That's a bigger issue

[EffieBlack]

15. If Tavis had really wanted him to be there, why not do it in Texas or Ohio

or in Louisiana a month ago?

[CatWoman]

72. are you really listening to yourself?

[anamandujano]

7. Who turns down an invitation from Tavis?

The guy is well known and respected.

My mother watches his show all the time, I get bits walking through the room. I'm not sure he has endorsed anyone yet but honestly, my stomach would sink if he jumped on the Obama train, maybe a little more than it did with Ted Kennedy, a little less than it did with William Pitt.(Yes, I was very disappointed in that one.)

[wndycty]

13. Its funny based upon your statement "my stomach would sink if he jumped on the Obama train"

Its obvious to me you are biased against Obama and ready to criticize him on this.

[anamandujano]

33. Bias based on his campaign, it's called choosing a candidate.

[EffieBlack]

19. Obama, obviously

And why shouldn't he? Tavis is a talk show host. That's nice. But we all know that if Tavis were white, we wouldn't be having this discussion. The only reason this is an issue is because apparently some people believe that Obama is supposed to fall all over himself upending his campaign in order to come when called by a black talk show host.

New day. New rules. Obama's his own man. He's got his eye on the prize and he's not going to fall into the trap of being labeled "the black candidate" as so many would love for him to do.

[anamandujano]

42. The truth is that Hillary is "the black candidate." She is more on their side,

has proved it in the past and will continue in the future.

Every group of people under the sun, from gays, to native americans, to WASPS, to evangelicals, even blacks, have the right and exercise it, to ask a candidate to clarify how they will work for their issues.

[EffieBlack]

43. Everyone has a right to ask. Everyone has a right to an answer. Everyone isn't required to get

their answer on Tavis Smiley's show.

[anamandujano]

45. Tavis will be here long after Obama is a distant bad memory.

Even if he somehow grabs the presidency, he will disappoint all those who have bolstered him based on nothing.

He will not disappoint Repukes and his corporate masters.

[wndycty]

46. LOL You really hate Obama don't you?

:kick:

[EffieBlack]

51. Whatever

[BronxBoy]

61. Oh Brother...

Just like Bill was the "First Black President"

:eyes:

[NOLALady]

49. Agreed.

If he falls into that trap, it's all over.

[knowledgeispwr]

9. Tavis is losing this fight

a lot of (perhaps most) blacks know that Obama has to be careful of not being pigeonholed into being the "black candidate." We realize he is running for president of the United States of America, not the president of "Black America."

Call-ins to black radio and the black blogosphere reflects this.

[CatWoman]

12. the same call-ins who keep pushing the line that the Clinton's were using

race baits against Obama?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

40. the Talking Heads are losing the fight, even Rush Limpballs is losing his power over voters

Sometimes I wonder about Tavis anyhow.

NPR stands for National Petroleum Radio anyway, just check into who funds it.

[butterfly77]

63. I listen to these shows everyday ,,,

and yes I am black and a lot of these callers don't know what in the hell they are talking about some of them haven't paid attention to the political process they are just voting for Obama because he is black.

I have really been getting angry at the way they are turning against other blacks because they are for Hillary, maxine waters and others, and now some of them want to pretend as though they hate the clintons. What really got me was when this host Warren Ballentine said we need to do the RIGHT thing as though something was wrong if we thought Hillary was the best candidate.

[BronxBoy]

68. Yes...That is True

A lot of our folks are voting for Obama simply because they want to make history. How many women are doing the same?

But I have no problem with Warren's position. He raises some very cogent arguments about Hillary's campaign as have a lot of other Black folks. And at the end of the day, Warren said to VOTE, no matter who the nominee is, even if it is not Obama.

And while a lot of these callers many not know what they are talking about, a hell of a lot of them seem like they do.

[CatWoman]

71. Butterfly,

I made the comment about those moran callers and was completely ridiculed.

Or they tried, anyway :)

[easy_b94]

11. Tavis....How much Hillary is paying you??????

As a black male I say that Obama DOES NOT have to attend this event.

[CatWoman]

14. LOL

You're cute.

[BronxBoy]

62. And Easy... n/t

[wndycty]

20. Welcome to DU

:kick:

[IndianaJones]

17. CatWoman, read this post to get an idea of Obama supporters opinion of Tavis Smiley..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4587294&mesg_id=4587709

Make of it what you will.

[CatWoman]

22. heh

thanks for the link.

Kinda whacky in there, isn't it? :)

[IndianaJones]

26. I don't think I've ever seen such a blatantly racist comment here...and used to defend Obama. nt.

[CatWoman]

29. those people are off their fucking rockers

and I just laugh at them :)

[BronxBoy]

57. How much Black media do you watch or listen to?

Not trying to be snarky. Just curious?

Because if you did, you'd know that a LOT of Black people have issues with Tavis who aren't Obama supporters. And a lot of the criticism is not that he's holding Obama's feet to the fire but that he has created a perception that he isn't as critical of Clinton or has bitten his tongue when he had a chance to ask her tough questions. He does a weekly commentary on Tuesday and Thursday on the Tom Joyner Morning Show and he has been getting killed over the past few weeks over this.

I liked Kucinich as a candidate. But I happen to agree with some of the criticism being hurled his way.

Here's a link to Tom's show: http://www.blackamericaweb.com/

I believe they have an archive of the shows. You can listen for yourself.

[Cameron27]

18. What's Obama's point?

Why not participate?

[wndycty]

21. He will be busy talking to the voters in Texas and Ohio. . .

. . .many of them Black, many of them white, many of them Hispanic and many of them Asian.

[EffieBlack]

23. Because he's campaigning in Texas and Ohio - and the voters he's trying to win

probably won't be sitting around their houses on a Saturday afternoon watching Tavis Smiley's 8-hour "State of the Black Union" on C-SPAN.

That's why.

[CatWoman]

24. what are you two? Frick and Frack?

[wndycty]

27. Catwoman you know I love you. . .

. . .we just disagree on this.

[CatWoman]

31. LOL

:loveya:

:)

[EffieBlack]

32. No - we're just two of the apparent multitudes that disagree with you . . .

[CatWoman]

35. you're cute, too

[EffieBlack]

37. :-)

[Chovexani]

52. LOL

Peas and carrots, Jen-nay.

[anamandujano]

44. And yet Obama's supporters trumpet the percentage of black voters

Obama is entitled to in Texas and everywhere else.

You can't even see how badly you're playing it both ways.

[CatWoman]

47. see, that's where I am with this

very well put.

thanks.

[EffieBlack]

50. I've never heard Obama's supporters "trumpet" this - methinks you make this up.

[wndycty]

25. I love MEDIATAKEOUT'S take on it:

http://www.mediatakeout.com/21676/crabs_in_a_barrel_tavis_smiley_is_now_going_hard_at_barack_and_michelle_obama.html

CRABS IN A BARREL!! TAVIS SMILEY IS NOW GOING HARD AT BARACK AND MICHELLE OBAMA

February 14, 2008. MediaTakeOut.com is so sad to report this - but talkshow host Tavis Smiley is acting like a straight up BEE-YOTCH!!!

Here's what's going on. Apparently Tavis Smiley is upset that Barack Obama didn't come and kiss his booty before announcing that he's running for president. Since then, Tavis has been publicly criticizing the Democratic front-runner.

But things all came to a head a few days ago. You see, Tavis put out the word that he wanted both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to attend his State Of Black America conference in Louisiana this week. Barack reached out to Tavis and explained to him that he's busy campaigning in States with upcoming primaries, so he can't make it over to Tavis' event. And he offered to have his wife Michelle attend the event in his place.

Well that wasn't good enough for Tavis - who put the word out that Michelle Obama is not welcome at the event. According to Tavis - if Barack can't attend, he didn't want Michelle there either.
-snip-

[CatWoman]

36. I heard another analogy of that "crabs in a barrel" comparision

recently, in that perhaps the crabs are trying to push one another to the top, rather than drag each other down.

[BronxBoy]

70. I hope they don't push each other to safety in my house.....

They'll end in up in a pot of beer, old bay and newspaper.

:rofl:

[CatWoman]

75. ummmmmmmm

beer and crabs..............................



:9

[BronxBoy]

56. That's not what he said.....

Well not exactly anyway.

He said that the forum was for the Presidential candidates to come and address issues important to the Black community. He said that if Huckabee or McCain offered to send their wives that he would not accept the offer. And I sort of agree with him on this point. I mean, would we find it acceptable, if a Presidential candidate sent their wives to a debate they couldn't attend?

[tishaLA]

69. the link to MIchelle's radio appearance

is quite something. She is an amazing woman.

[BumRushDaShow]

28. There are literally

thousands of black organizations at the national, state, and local level. Each has its own agenda and focuses on specific needs, subjects, and community microcosms needing to be targeted, with some overlap across them all. There is no one over-arching organization that others should annoint as the "spokespeople" for the community. That's just silly. As was noted above, Obama was involved in the Urban League's 2007 "State of Black America" report during July 2007 and even wrote the forward for it, and those reports have been issued for over 30 years (since 1976).

The day the community stops responding to the separation pandering and divide and conquer mentality is the day that an Obama can truly transcend the artificial construct of "race" without some of the nonsense seen in this thread.

[EffieBlack]

34. Hear hear!

Welcome to DU!

[ellacott]

41. Very well said

Tavis is on he wrong side of this issue.

[my3boyz]

39. Tavis is one of the

10% of blacks that want the Clintons in the White House over Barack! I'm African American and I do not think Barack has to attend the Tavis Smiley event. Most black people understand that Barack is busy trying to win an election that that is more important than attending an event. If you look at the message board on that site, over 500 people replied and said they understood why Barack could not attend. All of them wondered about Tavis' motives. Anyway, all of the Hillary supporters that are smiling with glee can calm down. The black people can see through Tavis' stunt and they are still going to support Barack over Hillary.

[BronxBoy]

55. Actually...

this is just the tip of an even more interesting issue. Apparently while Black voters are overwhelmingly supporting Obama, Black political leadership does not support him in nowhere near those numbers. So the question is being asked if Black political leadership, especially those who have been prominent in the civil rights movement, are out of touch with the average Black voter. Factor in that a lot of younger Blacks seem to be getting involved in this Presidential campaign and they are not as beholden to the trappings of the political legitimacy bestowed to older politicians in the civil rights era and you have the potential for a very interesting political divide open up.

And what will really make things interesting is that if the race does come down to the superdelegates and Clinton wins it with the support of some very prominent Black leaders, what the political fallout will be in the Black community. I heard Warren Ballantine make a statement today on his show that he was speaking with someone in Georgia last night about the support that Rep John Lewis is giving to Hillary Clinton and this person told him that if the above scenario plays out that Rep Lewis would be in danger of losing his seat. Now I have NO idea how true or accurate that statement is but just the fact that it was uttered on national Black talk show is nothing short of astounding.

So I think this Tavis-Obama thing is just a very small symptom of a much deeper issue. Actually, I'm not even interested in this dustup. What's more important is not what Tavis is saying but more what the hosts of some of the major Black national radio shows are saying.

[CatWoman]

59. happy valentine's day, BB

:loveya:

p.s. -- I'm still plotting on how to steal you from your wife!! :)

:hi:

I listen to Warren nearly every day, but missed this caller -- however, believe it.

These folks have lost their fucking minds.

[BronxBoy]

60. Hey Cat!!!

Happy VD.

I've been getting on her nerves lately so you might be able to have me for the right price. :-)

It wasn't a caller, he was relating a conversation he had with someone here in GA. I think he was in town last night.

I agree. I don't know know how you throw Rep Lewis under the bus after all he's done because he supports Clinton.

[NJObamaWoman]

64. See MANY Black Leaders Today are so concerned with their image

in the history books that they have forgotten about our struggle. As one of the black youths you have described I'm a college educated female who blames the leaders in this community for not doing enough. Yeah so blacks in the projects now have a little more money to spend under the Clinton years but what have many done with this money but get Bling, Food, Cars etc. Young black people are getting an education but then what? What happens when you graduate and can't afford an apartment or car. What happens when you can't find a decent job and the job you do find allows you to only live pay check to pay check. So many of us can't even afford a damn house in this country. Lets not even talk about paying back college loans. See thats my problem with many black leaders because yeah money was flowing but the cost of living kept going up which makes it harder for the every day person to survive.


I agree that this is a deep issue that the Dems should be concerned about. For such a long time it was thought that blacks were poor, we are on welfare etc. But No many of us are educated middle class. Honestly I am conservative in some ways but I am a Dem. However, if HRC gets this ticket off of the race baiting her camp performed and the SD's, I probably wont vote this year. Now in the next GE (2012), if the Repub party had someone who really appealed to me I would really consider switching over.

[BronxBoy]

66. Welcome to DU...

I understand your frustration. And your next to last sentence says it all.

The Democratic Party has been terrible at taking care of their most reliable voting bloc over the years. Just think about it, just this year alone, the leaders of the Democratic Party allowed a racist judge (Southwick) to be appointed so that they could make headway on a spending package. Couple that with the fact that the leadership of the Democratic party has done zilch to address the disenfranchisement of many of our voter. even when it hurts the party, then a lot of people are going to feel the same way you do.

It cracks me up to come here and here progressives salivating about the possibility of the Christian Right starting a third party or sitting out the election , all the while oblivious that the same thing may happen n the Black community.

[ulysses]

65. hey!

Not to hijack your thread or anything :), but http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=146x5291

[CatWoman]

67. lol

thanks!!

:hi:

:loveya:

[THUNDER HANDS]

74. this has obviously hurt his support in the black community

he's now down to 90%

[CatWoman]

77. you know I love you, Jason

but that was silly.

[THUNDER HANDS]

78. my dear, from you

I take that as the highest compliment.

:P

[CatWoman]

79. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!

:loveya: