Nice riposte from my people over at the Prospect:
Ta-Nehisi Coates titles a post "Ludacris attempts to make Hip-hop more irrelevant" but it's hard to see how it's ever been more relevant. Nas is protesting FOX News on behalf of MoveOn, Ludacris gets a personal chin check from Bill Burton and when and Obama's choice to listen to Jay-Z's Black Album is an issue of "serious" political importance.
So while we're here ... did any other random black people who like Barack Obama say something that offended you today? If so, you should call Bill Burton so he can issue a denunciation. I hear that one of the goals of the transition team is plans for a new federal agency that will deal exclusively with issuing apologies on behalf of Barack Obama for anything black people do that offends you.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
no, i think you got this one right early, ta-nehisi. we need to win, not to make individuals feel good validated becuase they got to say what they felt. why drag any unnecessary slams into the campaign of the man you are trying to help elect. TAP's comment is just the knee-jerk freedom response, wrapped in rhetoric that makes its author feel righteous.
winning this election and stanching the life-threatening bleeding of the last 8 years is more important than shooting off your mouth. think tactically and strategically, people. obama sure does, thankfully. and i bet he hates having to issue these stupid denunciations, but he understands the goal is really, really important. more important than praising someone for exercising his, undoubted, shouldn't be interefered with right to freely call someone a bitch. that you can speak freely doesn't mean you always should.