Maxine Waters fired off at President Obama in the wake of his Congressional Black Caucus convention speech in which he told blacks to “stop complaining,” “stop whining’ and “stop grumbling” and to “start fighting.”
Waters took great umbrage at what she characterized as condescension and hypocrisy on the part of Obama, who she said doesn’t have the courage to dare utter such words at any other demographic in America, particularly to Jews, gays and lesbians, Hispanics and Wall Street.
“He would never talk to the gay, lesbian, or Latino communities in that manner,” Waters fired off. “I’m really kind of confused as to who he’s speaking to.”
Waters, who begged a group of black voters in Detroit to “unleash us on Obama” during their CBC jobs tour, has certainly spit a few verbal darts and nails at the president for questionable words and mystifying policy decisions in which some black political pundits believe he caved in to aristocrats, the tea party and the relentless Republican onslaught.
“I’m not sure who the president was addressing. I found that language a bit curious,” Waters said. “The president spoke to the Hispanic Caucus … he certainly didn’t tell them to stop complaining and he never would say that to the gay and lesbian community, who really pushed him on don’t ask don’t tell or even in a speech to APEC, he would never say to the Jewish community, stop complaining about Israel.”
Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, speaking on Tavis Smiley’s PBS program, rationalized the president’s words as that of a family member who cajoles and pushes a sibling or child to step up their game and stop whining about their circumstances.
But Obama did not cop this type of fatherly tone when addressing the Latino community, an important voting block he needs to gain re-election, over concerns about controversial immigration laws and all that entails. This language was not used with Wall Street barons and billionaires when they helped to sink the country into near-historic depths of economic turmoil with widespread corruption.
The nation’s most powerful banks certainly weren’t scolded like children when Obama decided to pour much of the nation’s wealth into their already bulging coffers. In fact, the very people that the Obama administration bailed out with untold billions were not told to stop complaining. But then again, if you are handed billions with no strings attached, there is very little to complain about.
So I’m with Congresswoman Waters on this one. Just who was Obama addressing? House Speaker John Boehner or Tavis Smiley. If so, then Obama needs to say those kinds of things directly to them, which he has not done. The very people who have been ravaged the hardest by corruption and the machinations of social reptiles are the only ones told to shut down the only means they have to let the country know how much they are hurting.
Obama came at the black community twisted on this one. He has to come better than this. And when the next election comes around and he doesn’t see the record number of black voters again, his advisers may be able to point to days like this where he gave the powerful a pass and told the demographic who cannot fight back to just take their beating quietly.
