Professor Cornel West heaped praise onto President Joe Biden for his progressive policies while simultaneously taking swipes at his former boss, Barack Obama, for allegedly lacking courage.
During an interview on CNN International on Thursday afternoon, April 29, 2021, West likened Biden to former President Lyndon B. Johnson for tackling lightning-rod issues such as racial animus and police brutality. He also lauded Biden, 67, for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, demanding police reform, focusing on improvements to America’s infrastructure, and signing the American Rescue Plan.
This praise follows West’s previous belief that Biden would be a “neoliberal disaster.”
“He reminds me very much of LBJ, who started as a White supremacist from Jim Crow Texas and ended up one of the major forces for good against White supremacy. That’s why you never give up on people,” West said.
“You never know which way they’re heading. You never know what kind of change they can put forward, and if Biden continues in this way, he’s going to be very much like LBJ and will be a much stronger force for good against White supremacy on the ground than Barack Obama was.”
The Princeton professor shaded Obama, 59, further by saying the 44th president had the pedigree but lacked the substance and fortitude of his successor. “Obama had the symbols. He’s brilliant, he’s Black, he’s poised, and so forth. Didn’t have the courage,” West said.
West was clearly impressed that Biden addressed racism and law enforcement head-on in his first address to Congress this week.
“Didn’t have the willingness to fight that Biden does when it comes to this issue, when it comes to a variety of issues. So who would know? Who would think that Joseph Biden from Scranton, Pennsylvania, could become such a force for good for progressives?”
