By Denise Clay
I remember comedian Bill Maher making a joke that alluded to the fact that he wished President Barack Obama was less Bill Cosby and more Super Fly.
He wasn’t alone in that sentiment. There are a whole lot of people, black folks, progressives, folks who are fans of ’70s Blacksploitation films, who wished that the Brother President would act a lot more Brother and not quite as Presidential.
Granted, that would have played right into the stereotypes that everyone had of the nation’s first Black President and it might have made some folks a little more comfortable in that regard, but that’s neither here nor there.
But I guess that between Cornel West and Tavis Smiley deciding to go on a cross-country tour to criticize him and the Tea Party wanting to straight up kill him both literally and figuratively, Da Prez decided that he’d had enough.
So he’s gone nationwide trying to get people to bug their congressmen (or women) to pass his jobs bill. He’s called out the Republicans on their shenanigans.
He’s even told the Congressional Black Caucus to, and I quote, stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying” and get to work,” something that led to his critics saying, basically, how dare he talk that way to us! He’s just saying this to us because he’s black!
(It’s amazing how this man is only black when it suits people. This same group of folks was just complaining no more than three weeks ago that he wasn’t being Black enough.)
Don’t get me wrong. I’m kinda glad to see that the man has finally gotten to the “had enough” point and said something. That it comes as the rough and tumble of the 2012 Presidential Elections come around the corner is no accident I’m sure, but I’m glad to see that he’s asserting himself.
But with all due respect President Obama, what took you so long?
You’ve had Republicans do everything they can to make sure that all of us are hurting financially in an attempt to make things so bad that those of us with short-term memory loss will give them back the keys to the national car, you’ve had Black folks with no programs of their own criticizing you, and people on your economic staff that you should have just plain fired for not doing what you told them during the Wall Street mess.
You had every right to line everyone up and smack them the way that Moe Howard used to smack folks on The Three Stooges.
So why didn’t you?
Had you decided to get your “I’m tired of your crap” hat out of the closet and put it on earlier, dude, you might not have lost the House in 2010. We might have single payer health insurance.
Hell, I may not have had to sign on for yet another unemployment extension and there might not be a whole class of people who are trying to figure out how not to end up homeless because their unemployment benefits have dried up!
I appreciate that you’re finally realizing that you’ve got clowns to the left of you and jokers to the right that you’re stuck in the middle with.
But you should have caught on to that, well, three years ago.
However, now that you have, break out the steel-toe Doc Maartens. I think you’re gonna need ’em!
You’re a little bit behind on your kicking butt, and taking names.
Denise Clay has been a reporter for 20 years, coveriing a variety of things including education and politics, which some might argue is the same thing these days. She blogs at http://themadpoliticalscientist.blogspot.com and can be followed on Twitter @denisethewriter.
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