Views » May 15, 2008

Obama Not Feelin’ the Love from Smiley

By Laura S. Washington

Now that Sen. Barack Obama has taken care of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Tavis Smiley appears to be the next black contender for an ‘08 smackdown with the presidential candidate. But this time, black folks are taking care of it on their own.

Obama’s April was a month full of stormy Mondays, thanks to Wright, the senator’s former spiritual adviser and longtime pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago’s South Side. Obama’s campaign endured a hail- storm as the controversial preacher dominated the cable talk fests, a presidential debate and multiple news cycles.

Wright’s April 28 appearance before the Washington Press Club provoked Obama to do something he should have done more than a year ago — deep-six Wright and his anti-American rantings.

Now, it’s Tavis’ turn.

In the last decade Tavis Smiley, a self-appointed spokesman for black America, has morphed from a little-known mouth at Black Entertainment Television into a one-man multimedia machine. Smiley hosts a nightly talk show on PBS, a weekly program on Public Radio International, writes and publishes books, runs a foundation and mounts museum exhibits. That’s just the short list.

His website, TavisTalks.com, pitches his branding slogan: “Enlighten, Encourage, Empower.” He wants black people, as he puts it, to “feel the love.”

He also knows how to bring in the bucks. Some of America’s best-known corporate monoliths have backed his enterprises: Allstate Insurance, ExxonMobil, McDonald’s, Verizon, Wal-Mart and Wells Fargo.

But lately, Smiley has run into a bit of trouble with the love. The Internet has been sizzling with commentary about Smiley’s big dis of the Democratic presidential wannabe.

It all started at Hampton University in Virginia, at Smiley’s 2007 State of the Black Union confab — an annual series of discussions Smiley has with some of the biggest names in black America.

Smiley, it seems, was ticked when C-SPAN’s broadcast of the conference was interrupted for the kickoff of Obama’s presidential campaign in Springfield, Ill. He went on to preside over a lot of grousing among participants, like the Rev. Al Sharpton and Princeton Professor Cornel West.

Back then, I dropped a dime on Smiley for his backbiting of Obama. I noted that Obama wouldn’t take the White House by pandering to the Smileys and the Sharptons. The race men don’t care if Obama gets anywhere — unless they get a piece of the action.

Cut to February 2008: Time for another State of the Black Union. Smiley extended an invitation to Obama but, again, Obama was rather busy — this time immersed in a brutal Democratic primary battle with Sen. Hillary Clinton.

In a letter responding to the invite, Obama praised Smiley’s conference: “The exchange of ideas raised at this annual symposium are invaluable as our nation strives to address the critical issues facing not just African Americans, but Americans of every race, background and political party,” he wrote.

However, Obama added, he must concentrate on the crucial March 4 primaries. “In the final stretch, I will be on the campaign trail every day in states like Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin, talking directly with voters about the causes that are at the heart of my campaign and the State of the Black Union forum.”

Smiley made his displeasure clear and gave Clinton a prominent role in the event. “I think it’s a missed opportunity on Mr. Obama’s part,” Smiley told CNN at the time. “Now, I am not interested in demonizing him for his choice, but I do disagree with it.”

Smiley’s pique has turned off many of his fans. The talk show host says he has been barraged with angry e-mails, and he told the Washington Post that he has even received death threats. “I have family in Indianapolis. They are harassing my momma, harassing my brother. It’s getting to be crazy,” Smiley said.

Black people are no longer feeling the love.

That’s the problem. It’s all about Smiley. Until Obama landed on the national scene, Smiley was enjoying an oversized media profile as an arbiter of African-American culture, values and politics. Now, like Wright, the possibility of America’s first black president is overshadowing his oversized ego.

Like Wright, Smiley is putting Obama in a no-win position. And he is beginning to wear out his welcome with the black folks.

Those corporate sponsors may not be far behind.

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• Reader Comments

  Incisive analysis!  Everyday the Democratic primary is proving to be the quintessential “change election” as all the ego-driven, establishment “spokesmen” are finally getting their comeuppance.  That goes for the Clintons, the Sharptons, the Smileys and all the other fools who are financially invested in the status quo and who wish to maintain racial divisions so they might continue to pick the pockets of hard-working Americans.

  Posted by littlefun22 on May 15, 2008 at 1:29 PM

  Anti-American rantings?

  Hilarious.

  How’s this for a new tagline?

  “In These Times—Home of totalitarian thought since 2008.”

  Posted by shmooth on May 15, 2008 at 5:25 PM

  What else would “shmooth” wish to call the irate and self-interested rantings of the so called “reverend” Jeremiah Wright?  I find the illiterate tagline of “totalitarian” to this respected journal particularly insulting.  Especially given this commentator’s willingness to defend and apparently embrace the words of a man who endorses the racist, irrational and otherwise laughable “theology” and “thought” of Louis Farrakahn.  “Shmooth” should be ashamed of him or herself.

  Posted by littlefun22 on May 15, 2008 at 7:52 PM

  Now that Sen. Barack Obama has taken care of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright ...

  Or the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has taken care of Sen. Barack Obama.  Whatever.

  Posted by scorp on May 15, 2008 at 11:30 PM

  Only a totalitarian would be proud to describe themselves as ‘pro-American’, or to describe their detractors as ‘anti-American’.

  How limited does one’s scope of thought have to be to think like that?

  I thought that whole ‘hate-America crowd’ meme was reserved for right-wing hate radio. Did it just migrate over into the left independent press?

  Disagree with Israeli policy? Then you’re an anti-Semite, or anti-Jew, or anti-Israel, or anti-something-or-other.

  Disagree with US policy? Then you’re anti-American, or you’re part of the ‘hate America crowd’, or you’re a ‘leftist commy pinko’.

  Like I said - hilarious.

  That the author of this column and littelfun22 are not capable of understanding the irony of these ‘anti-America’ rantings is pretty funny.

  As for the quality of In These Times, it will not suffer greatly from this. Too much good, not enough bad. Yet.

  It’s obvious that the author of this opinion piece is very involved in defending Obama against any criticism - and she’s willing to use the establishment when it suits her purposes, and not when it doesn’t. It’s hypocrisy, of course, but it’s not the end of the world. It’s just a poorly-written, intellectually dishonest column. No biggie. Life will go on.

  Now, laughing off the death threats being made to Smiley’s family - that’s not something I’d be too comfortable with as a publisher—but In These Times is run by grown-ups - they can make their own editorial decisions.

  Posted by shmooth on May 16, 2008 at 8:43 AM

• extended discussion >>>Continued...

  Discussions with more than 5 comments are continued on our special discussion page to encourage continuity and ease of use. There are currently 6 posts.

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