As President Barack Obama’s final term is wrapping up, his critics are coming out of the woodwork to discuss his high and low points in office. Talk show host Tavis Smiley recently stopped by HuffPost Live to explain why he’s less than pleased with Black America’s economic standing under Obama.
“Sadly, and it pains me to say this, over the last decade Black folk, in the era of Obama have lost ground in every major economic category,” Smiley said. “Not one, two or three [categories], but every major economic category, Black Americans have lost ground.”
He mentioned that even after the economic hardships and police brutality that African Americans have faced over the past decade, Black people have refused to turn their backs on President Obama.
“Although Black folk have caught the most h— in the last 10 years, including being shot and killed in the streets by cops who keep getting away with that…Black people are still the most optimistic people, they’re still the most hopeful about their future. That has a lot to do with our faith, with our belief in each other, with our love for Barack Obama,” he remarked.
“We’ve been so caught up in the symbolism of the Obama presidency, we haven’t pressed as hard as we should on the substance of this presidency,” Smiley continued. “Black people and Black leaders have been too deferential to this president…because they know he was being piled on by the Republicans. They saw the obstructionism. They saw the name calling…the death threat…stuff that never happened with White presidents. So there’s a skepticism, if not a cynicism, about what’s happened to this president on his watch.”
Do you agree with Tavis Smiley’s point of view on Obama?
