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9. See Alvin Benn, “Lafayette on Stopping Disruption: ‘Let President Speak,” Montgomery Advertiser, March 8, 2015, http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/local/selma50/2015/03/08/lafayette-stopping-disruption-let-president-speak/24600725/.
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10. Barack Obama, “Selma Voting Rights March Commemoration Speech,” Brown Chapel AME Church, March 4, 2007, http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamabrownchapel.htm.
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11. Alex Halperin, “Nastiest Conservative Responses to Obama’s Trayvon Speech,” Salon, July 19, 2013, http://www.salon.com/2013/07/19/best_of_the_worst_obamas_trayvon_speech/.
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12. For a different take on the notion of implicit racial agreements between Obama and whites, see black conservative author Shelby Steele’s argument about racial “bargainers” like Obama, who strike an agreement not to speak of race if whites agree not to remind them of their blackness, and racial “challengers”—blacks who accuse whites of being racist and then require them to absolve themselves of the charge by supporting affirmative action and cultural diversity—in A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can’t Win (2008; repr., New York: Free Press, 2014). The fact that Obama won, and won again, suggests that Steele’s core argument, first published as an essay in 2007 and premised on Obama’s inevitable loss at the polls, certainly possessed some insight but was fundamentally wrong then, and is more wrong now.
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13. Barack Obama, “Statement by the President,” July 14, 2013, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/14/statement-president. Obama’s brief and dispassionate statement included the requisite nod to law and order: “I know this case has elicited strong passions. And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher. But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken. I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son.”
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14. Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President on Trayvon Martin,” James S. Brady Briefing Room, the White House, July 19, 2013, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/19/remarks-president-trayvon-martin.
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15. Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President on ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ Initiative,” February 27, 2104, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/02/27/remarks-president-my-brothers-keeper-initiative.
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16. Clarence Page, “Millennials Are Just as Prejudiced as Their Parents,” Chicago Tribune, March 17, 2015. Despite a 2010 Pew Research Report which maintains that more than two decades of research confirms that millennials are more tolerant than earlier generations, analysts like Spencer Piston, an assistant professor of political science at Syracuse University, argues that a closer examination of the data reveals persistent bias. Piston “examined the 2012 American National Election Studies racial stereotype battery, in which survey respondents are asked to rate whites, African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asians according to how hard-working or intelligent they are, and found something startling: Younger (under-30) whites are just as likely as older ones to view whites as more intelligent and harder-working than African-Americans (among the older cohort, 64 percent felt this way, and among the younger cohort the number was 61 percent—not a statistically significant difference). ‘White millennials appear to be no less prejudiced than the rest of the white population,’ Piston told Science of Us in an email, ‘at least using this dataset and this measure of prejudice.’” See Sean McElwee, “Milennials Are Less Racially Tolerant Than You Think,” Science of Us, January 8, 2015, http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/01/millennials-are-less-tolerant-than-you-think.html.
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17. “Full Transcript: Obama’s Remarks on Ferguson, Mo. and Iraq,” Washington Post, August 18, 2104, http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/running-transcript-obamas-remarks-on-ferguson-mo-and-iraq/2014/08/18/ed29d07a-2713-11e4-86ca-6f03cbd15c1a_story.html.
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18. On January 20, 2009, the night of Obama’s first inauguration, several Republican leaders in Congress—along with former House speaker Newt Gingrich, conservative journalist Fred Barnes, and conservative communications specialist Frank Luntz—gathered in the Caucus Room steakhouse in Washington, D.C., to plot, among the fifteen white men assembled, to undermine and disrupt government under an Obama administration and make him a one-term president. “You will remember this day,” Speaker Gingrich said. “You’ll remember this as the day the seeds of 2012 were sown.” For a discussion of their meeting and its aims, see Robert Draper, Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives (New York: Free Press, 2012), esp. pp. xv–xxii.
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19. Cited in Michael Eric Dyson, April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Death and How It Changed America (New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2008), pp. 224–225.
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20. Keli Goff, “Could Gay Marriage Spur Black Voter Drop?,” The Root, September 17, 2012, http://www.theroot.com/blogs/blogging_the_beltway/2012/09/emanuel_cleaver_on_why_gay_marriage_could_cost_obama_black_votes.html.
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21. I am not arguing that these are the only kinds, or groups, of black people to criticize Obama in some measure. For instance, Harvard professor Randall Kennedy offers in his excellent book The Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency (New York: Pantheon, 2011) insightful criticism of Obama—his views on same-sex marriage, before he changed course; his “excessive cautiousness” on a range of issues; and his failure to stand up for the virtues of liberalism on the Supreme Court in the same way George Bush did for conservative justices during his tenure. But he is not visibly or vocally associated with a camp that was especially critical of Obama. Neither is Joy Reid, national correspondent for MSNBC and author of the very fine Fracture: Barack Obama, the Clintons, and the Racial Divide (New York: HarperCollins, 2015), an instant classic of political journalism that tackles the use of race against, and by, candidate Obama, and also features, besides a superb chronicle of the noxious racial forces Obama and his administration have confronted, unflinching engagement with Obama’s failure, for instance, to speak honestly about police brutality after Ferguson, and his relentless chiding of black America. I am simply arguing that these individuals and groups named here are among the most visible and vocal critics of Obama and can be easily identified as such.
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22. “President Obama, Congressional Black Caucus: No Meeting in 675 Days,” Politics365.com, http://politic365.com/2013/03/18/president-obama-congressional-black-caucus-no-meeting-in-675-days/.
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23. April D. Ryan, “CBC Chair Marcia L. Fudge Sends Letter to President Obama over Lack of African American Cabinet Appointments,” March 11, 2013, http://aprildryan.com/2013/03/11/cbc-chair-marcia-l-fudge-sends-letter-to-president-obama-over-lack-of-african-american-cabinet-appointments/.
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24. Evan McMorris-Santoro, “After Complaints About Diversity in 2nd Term Appointments, Congressional Black Caucus Thanks Obama,” BuzzFeed, July 9, 2013, http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/after-complaints-about-diversity-in-2nd-term-appointments-co#.reB9WOoO.
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25. Jeff Johnson, “Rep. Waters to Black Voters: ‘Unleash Us’ on Obama,” The Grio, August 17, 2011, http://thegrio.com/2011/08/17/frustration-boils-over-at-black-caucus-detroit-town-hall/. For a spirited defense of Waters, see Marcia Dyson, “Take Me to the Waters,” Huffington Post, August 19, 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcia-dyson/maxine-waters-obama_b_931276.html. Dyson argued that it “is high time for black folk to stop beating down on those of our race who dare lift their voices to offer constructive challenges to the White House. I don’t mean personal or mean-spirited attacks; there’s no place for that in our public discourse. I’m talking about well-reasoned and principled objections to this policy or that one, or the failure to lead in a political direction
that benefits our communities. The stakes are high and the situation is critical in black neighborhoods and households across the land. We don’t have time for bowing down at the throne of unbroken racial solidarity when our children are suffering, our elders are vulnerable, and our poor are teetering on the brink of economic and social disaster.”
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26. David Goldstein, “Black Caucus Treads Line Between Criticizing, Supporting Obama,” McClatchyDC, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article24699058.html.
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27. Kevin Johnson, “A President for Everyone, Except Black People,” Philadelphia Tribune, April 14, 2013, http://www.phillytrib.com/news/a-president-for-everyone-except-black-people/article_164f06d9-abf2-5f29-a531-10ff57edf5f2.html.
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28. Fredrick Harris, The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and the Rise and Decline of Black Politics (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).
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29. Fredrick Harris, “Still Waiting for Our First Black President,” Washington Post, June 1, 2012, http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/still-waiting-for-our-first-black-president/2012/06/01/gJQARsT16U_story.html. For the “first gay president” claim, see Andrew Sullivan, Newsweek, May 21, 2012, http://www.newsweek.com/andrew-sullivan-barack-obamas-gay-marriage-evolution-65067.
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30. Brittney Cooper, “Stop Poisoning the Race Debate: How ‘Respectability Politics’ Rears Its Ugly Head—Again,” Salon, March 18, 2015, http://www.salon.com/2015/03/18/stop_poisoning_the_race_debate_how_respectability_politics_rears_its_ugly_head_again/, and “America’s ‘Black Body’ Reality: How Selma, ‘Scandal’ & Ferguson Reveal an Ugly Truth,” Salon, March 11, 2015, http://www.salon.com/2015/03/11/black_bodies_are_still_white_property_what_selma_scandal_ferguson_reveal_about_america/.
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31. Brittney Cooper, “Black Girls’ Zero-Sum Struggle: Why We Lose When Black Boys Dominate the Discourse,” Salon, March 6, 2014, http://www.salon.com/2014/03/06/black_girls_zero_sum_struggle_why_we_lose_when_black_men_dominate_the_discourse/.
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32. Ibid.
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33. Ibid.
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34. Brittney Cooper, “‘Not Going to Lie Down and Take It’: Black Women Are Being Overlooked by This President,” Salon, June 17, 2014, http://www.salon.com/2014/06/17/not_going_to_lie_down_and_take_it_black_women_are_being_overlooked_by_this_president/.
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35. Ibid.
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36. Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, “The Girls Obama Forgot: My Brother’s Keeper Ignores Young Black Women,” New York Times, July 29, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/opinion/Kimberl-Williams-Crenshaw-My-Brothers-Keeper-Ignores-Young-Black-Women.html?_r=0.
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37. Ibid.
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38. Glen Ford, “2007: The Year of Black ‘Media Leaders’—Especially Obama,” Black Agenda Report, January 2, 2008, http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/2007-year-black-‘media-leaders’—especially-obama.
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39. Bruce Dixon, “Tired Old So-Called Leftists Give Same Old Excuses for Supporting Obama in 2012,” Black Agenda Report,August 15, 2012, http://blackagendareport.com/content/tired-old-so-called-leftists-give-same-old-excuses-supporting-obama-2012.
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40. Glen Ford, “What Obama Has Wrought,” Black Agenda Report, September 5, 2012, http://blackagendareport.com/content/what-obama-has-wrought.
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41. Glen Ford, “Angela Davis Has Lost Her Mind over Obama,” Black Agenda Report, March 27, 2012, http://blackagendareport.com/content/angela-davis-lost-her-mind-over-obama.
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42. Paul Street, “Obama Ticket Prices and the Invisible Ruling Class,” Black Agenda Report, March 11, 2014, http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/obama-ticket-prices-and-invisible-ruling-class.
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43. Thomas Frank, “Cornel West: ‘He Posed as a Progressive and Turned Out to Be Counterfeit. We Ended Up with a Wall Street Presidency, a Drone Presidency,” Salon, August 24, 2014, http://www.salon.com/2014/08/24/cornel_west_he_posed_as_a_progressive_and_turned_out_to_be_counterfeit_we_ended_up_with_a_wall_street_presidency_a_drone_presidency/.
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44. See Kimberly Nordyke, “Michael Moore Calls Obama’s First Term ‘Heartbreaking,’ a ‘Disappointment,’” Hollywood Reporter, October 25, 2011, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/michael-moore-calls-obamas-first-253253, and “Michael Moore’s Harsh Prediction of President Obama’s Legacy,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 10, 2014, http://www.ajc.com/news/entertainment/michael-moores-harsh-prediction-president-obamas-l/nhKHP/; Roger Hodge, The Mendacity of Hope: Barack Obama and the Betrayal of American Liberalism (New York: HarperCollins, 2010); and four articles by Diane McWhorter, “Don’t Punt on Torture,” USA Today,February 11, 2009; “Redemption in Birmingham,” New York Times (Sunday Review), July 9, 2011; “Good and Evil in Birmingham,” New York Times, January 20, 2013; and “Obama’s Atticus Finch Moment,” USA Today, July 28, 2010. In “Obama’s Atticus Finch Moment,” McWhorter writes: “So far, our first black president has seemed inhibited rather than empowered by [our racial] history. But only by transcending political necessity, risking failure for truth, will he earn a place alongside the heroes of our national mythology.”
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45. Chris Hedges, “The Obama Deception: Why Cornel West Went Ballistic,” Truthdig, May 16, 2011, http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_obama_deception_why_cornel_west_went_ballistic_20110516; “Tavis Smiley, Cornel West on the 2012 Election and Why Calling Obama ‘Progressive’ Ignores His Record,” Democracy Now,November 9, 2012, http://www.democracynow.org/2012/11/9/tavis_smiley_cornel_west_on_the.
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46. “Cornel West: Al Sharpton ‘the Bonafide House Negro of the Obama Plantation,’” Real Clear Politics, August 31, 2013, http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/08/31/cornel_west_al_sharpton_the_bonafide_house_negro_of_the_obama_plantation.html.
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47. Lesley Stahl reported on the May 22, 2011, show, in a segment titled “Al Sharpton: The ‘Refined’ Agitator”: “Sharpton told us that having a black president is a challenge: if he finds fault with Mr. Obama, he’s aiding those who want to destroy him. So he has decided not to criticize the president about anything—even about black unemployment that’s twice the national rate.” When she asked him if he had told other black leaders not to criticize the president, Sharpton answered: “What I’ve told them is to be genuine about it. There are some blacks that said: ‘He needs to go with a black agenda. He needs to do this.’ He said when he was running he wasn’t gonna do that. Duh. Surprise.” When Stahl asked, despite Obama’s not campaigning on the issue of black employment, why Sharpton wasn’t proclaiming the need for more to be done, the civil rights leader said: “What I don’t want to see is because he is black that we act like he’s not the real president. ‘He ought to be leading the black cause or the labor cause.’ He’s the president. To minimize who he is, I think, is an insult to the achievement of having him there.” http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/al-sharpton-the-refined-agitator/.
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48. See these claims, and my extensive engagement with West’s criticisms of Obama and other black figures, in “The Ghost of Cornel West,” The New Republic, May 2015, http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121550/cornel-wests-rise-fall-our-most-exciting-black-scholar-ghost.
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49. Jonathan Alter, The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013), p. 272.
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50. Just a few months after Obama’s first inauguration in 2009, I said to radio host Davey D—in terms that the left-wing Black Agenda Report, my perennial critic, labeled “scathing words of criticism”—that we “are so grateful for having a black person in the office we don’t demand anything of him,” and “I expect the president of the United States to address issues of race
.” I argued that Obama has “fallen short and we must hold him accountable.” In 2010, on a panel convened by talk show host Tavis Smiley, another vigorous Obama critic, I argued in Cornel West’s presence that Obama is “Pharaoh, not Moses,” and that black folk should not expect a politician to be a prophet even as we press him to respond to black needs. Later that year, on MSBNC, I said: “I think that we should push the president. This president runs from race like a black man runs from a cop. What we have to do is ask Mr. Obama to stand up and use his bully pulpit to help us. He is loath to speak about race.” At a 2011 Congressional Black Caucus press conference held to criticize the Obama administration’s failure to address chronic black unemployment, I said that this “is an American crisis that demands an American response at the highest echelons of our government, and that does include the White House. As gay and Latino and other Americans have done, we have to leverage our political power and voices to make this happen.” In 2012, when I replaced Smiley as keynote speaker for a Martin Luther King Jr. luncheon for the city of Peoria, Illinois—Smiley was ousted because of his relentless and heated criticism of Obama—I began my speech by saying: “Tavis Smiley is a very dear friend of mine. I think he’s an extraordinary human being . . . who’s doing what he thinks is best . . . Dr. King would have taken some controversial stances, and did. He got disinvited too, trust me; Tavis is in good company. I support President Obama, but not without criticism, as you shouldn’t. Nobody who’s worth your support can be exempt from your critique.” And in 2014, on Face the Nation, I argued that Obama should be far more vocal about the fires of unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, in the wake of the police killing of unarmed black youth Michael Brown: “This president knows better than most what happens in poor communities that have been antagonized, historically, by the hostile relationship between black people and the police department.” I said that it “is not enough for him to come on national television and pretend that there’s a false equivalency between police people who are armed, and black people [who] are vulnerable . . . He needs to use his bully pulpit to step up and articulate this as a vision.” Following my remarks on television, I penned an op-ed in the Washington Post, where I claimed that Obama’s remarks on Ferguson were largely tone-deaf and that he should provide more viable leadership on race and policing. These comments riled the White House and caused a heated exchange with a senior presidential adviser.
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