Melissa Harris-Perry Was Sloppy and Deceptive in her Critique of Cornel West

Chris Hedges is a prolific columnist, a bold opinion editorial writer with a flare for writing and allegory that few writers on the Internet today can match. Hedges conducted an interview with philosopher and author Cornel West. (It can be read in Hedges’ latest column, “The Obama Deception: Why Cornel West Went Ballistic.”)

Melissa Harris-Perry, a contributor to The Nation, chose to critique the words of Cornel West. Her critique was one of the top articles published yesterday.

Notably, Harris-Perry does not criticize Hedges for choosing to do an interview with West. She doesn’t explicitly address Hedges’ choice to anoint Cornel West a “moral philosopher” in a “morality play” depicting “Barack Obama’s ascent to power.” She, instead, excises an interview from Hedges’ article and addresses West’s criticisms in the context of her knowledge of the patronage model of politics that hampers black communities today.

Harris-Perry claims West has offered “thin criticism.” Rather than pick apart his many critiques of Obama, she opts to attack his right to be outraged. She chooses to assess his association with his friend Tavis Smiley, host of “The Tavis Smiley Show” on PBS. And, she decides to cast his political transformation as a result of his delicate ego being damaged.

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Lhall1016

STOP IT! Just like the Republicans, we “people” – as Ross Perot called us, are undermining everything we have fought for over petty differences. At least the Republicans are making far more ridiculous gaffes with their ‘birthers’ and that ilk. Just stop and think about what Obama has to deal with day by day, with the stupid wars and the economy.
We, as citizens, need to get our kids back in school, out getting exercise, and learning how to talk English again. We have a foot in the door with Obama in the WH. Let’s not screw it up!

http://www.facebook.com/people/Shakka-Zulu/1379420279 Shakka Zulu

Because we have a black man in the WH we should excuse him assissinating Bin Laden without the benefit of a jury trial, attempting to assissinate a head of state Gaddafi of Libya, and an american citizen in Yemen with multiple drone air strikes? This is unbelieveable what we will condone from this smiling black face, but when the white faces in the forms of Bush & Chaney were doing the same thing, we were screaming that they were wrong..This man expanded the Patriot Act to include wire tap, warrantless entrance into your homes, phone and internet providers can turn over emails and text msgs without notifying you, evesdroping on your phone calls, these were all expanded under his watch..AFRICOM was stood up in Djibuti under his watch to rape the African and Asian continents..Sudan was split into two countries, Syria and Iran are about to be invaded, with the US and UN freezing these countries assets..Talk about being the front man for white supremacy..He’s a damn disgrace..This man can put his hands on his father’s tribe and country and know from whence he came, more so than any other black person descended from slavery, and this is how he’s paying back the motherland?

Privatizing the education systems and turning it over to private corporations, some of whom are already in the private prison business (Heritage Corp), so the school to prison pipeline has been made much easier under his watch..I dont give a damn about Obama and his cute family, I’m more concern about my cute family that is seeing less and less disposable income..Whether Obama get out in 2012 or 2016, he is set for life..We the taxpayers will be funding his retirement for the rest of his life..I dont believe in the better of two evil, because it’s still evil..Research for yourself to see what this black man has been doing, and stop listening to the soundbites the lying media has been feeding us..

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QOJQQIPMNVFQMGLZMVTNEOJV4I MGJ

Stop voting republican negro…oh that’s right you are an African wannabe…

http://www.facebook.com/people/Shakka-Zulu/1379420279 Shakka Zulu

Who the hell said I was a democrat or republican? When you assume, you know the rest..I have always been a clear thinking, free minded individual and does not get caught up in personality issues like you noveaus to politics..You’ll get caught up in personalities, rather than with public policies, and how those policies will affect you..

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QOJQQIPMNVFQMGLZMVTNEOJV4I MGJ

Kevin…stick it.
Lynn in Teaneck

We should all feel free to voice our opinion about the President’s policies, but it is very easy for a public intellectual such as Cornell West to point the finger at Pres Obama. I give the President credit for being willing to take on the challenge of being President in the first place, an office that has never been safe for anyone interested in uplifting the masses of the poor, and the marginalized. I believe that Pres Obama is sincere in his desires for the least among us, but he is operating within a system that does not seek (on its own) to do so. Thus, he must constantly navigate the political and capitalistic waters. As President, I never expected Obama to represent only the interests of Black or poor people and I expect that I will continue to disagree with him on many issues. All that is happening in this country today does not get decided by the President. While we engage in this tireless debate, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and several state houses are waging war against the American people.

I recall that when he was asked during an election debate, who do you think the Rev Dr Martin Luther King would endorse for president if he were alive, today, the candidate Obama replied (and I paraphrase), “No one. Dr. King’s role was to hold the president and any president accountable”. I do not find Prof West’s intentions as holding Pres Obama or any of our elected representatives accountable. If they were, then why not run for office himself, or challenge the opposition in ways that would clear a path for the President to be more effective with the limited time that he has in the White House. I am not suggesting blind support of the President, but rather active engagement of the progressive left to suggest meaningful strategies for us to defeat the policies that undermine the middle, working class, under- and unemployed, and incarcerated among us.

Until then, I think Prof West should stop pointing the finger at Pres Obama and we should each point the finger at ourselves and ask “What am I going to do today to change things?”