Your Black World Reports:
President Barack Obama‘s recent speech at the annual Congressional Black Caucus dinner raised both eyebrows and tempers as he called on Black Americans to “take off their bedroom slippers and put on their marching shoes.”
While the president continues to have his die-hard supporters, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) called his language “curious”, convinced that he would never speak to AIPAC, women rights groups or the Latino community in such a condescending manner; Tavis Smiley completely lost his cool over the president’s perceived arrogance and the Associated Press faces charges of racism after transcribing Obama’s speech in the precise manner in which it was given, lapsed ‘g’s', ‘y’alls’ and all — language that he only seems to employ when speaking to Black audiences.
Since the long awaited speech was supposed to generate positive press for the president, the White House has had to enter the Spin Zone to clarify a few matters:
“I think at the end of the day, the president is familiar with criticism,” said Kevin Lewis, a White House spokesman. “It is nothing new to him. And I think the president’s remarks are being mischaracterized. I think what the president was saying was that he’s fighting for a lot of the folks that were in that room and fighting for the American people and calling on not only the CBC but lawmakers and folks who are in the room and across the country to join him.”
It remains to be seem if the president’s critics will be appeased by the official White House spin.
