I don't have much to say about this, but I think you guys will be interested. I think his critique on AIG is fine, but I don't get the citation of Ebony, or the seeming angst at being invited to the White House, or the idea that Obama can't explicitly embrace black people. I'm not sure what people want from him. He's the president. And mostly, I don't get this notion that Obama is scared to say Martin Luther King's name. It's all just mind-boggling.
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hehe Mikes just pissed he didn't get that invite. Someone needs some attention.
This clown has never had anything original of value to say, for too long he has cashed in on his willingness to quote rap lyrics which is just a part of his weak-as* theft of Cornel West's tv persona, but unlike West who is a profound reader and writer MED is just a made for tv talking head and I vote for this being the last time he gets any 'air' time here.
Dyson has books to sell. We had a discussion about this over at JJP..folks were not generous to Dr. Dyson, and these are those critical of The President.
Me?
Where is the PLAN he is presenting to The President? Where is his 10 Point Plan on ANYTHING that he wants to bring to The White House?
I know Jesse wants 1% Student Loans. Rev. Al is about Education right now.
What is the PLAN that justifies him getting facetime with The President?
The President has a bust of 'that preacher from Georgia' in the Oval Office, BTW.
Is it just me or is he slipping over into Tavis "why didn't Obama kiss my ring" Smiley territory?
It's not just you. And it's oh so pathetic.
Exactly.
Major black figure?
No, it is not just you; I was thinking the same thing. Mike feeling like Obama is not paying him the respect he (Mike) feels he is due.
This was entertaining to watch though. I was tee-heeing and chuckling throughout. I was especially amused by the we got "half-on-a-president" comment. (Reference: R.Kelly's "Half-On-A-Baby" for those that don't know.)
I have never been a fan of Michael Eric Dyson. I think he is more interested in promoting himself then adding anything substantial to Black Studies. Moving from University to University but leaving nothing of note behind in terms or accomplishments. At least Cornell West wrote Race Matters before selling out to celebrity.
He says so much but at the same time so little and for some reason, people think he is deep.
Off the top of my head. Inauguration speech - black folks all around, reference to slavery. AG Holder. TNC earlier reference to sit-downs with Sharpton. Fill in your own examples. Dozens.
It's not that our president doesn't embrace black people. He doesn't embrace Dr. Dyson. Man gets to choose his friends, even if he is the POTUS. President Obama doesn't owe Dyson anything. Next question.
Hmmm....I don't mind the criticisms of the president. I do believe that it is important to push him in and maintain high expectations so that he will be a better leader but; I am confused about what some of the black elite voices want from the president. After listening to this interview, I am left feeling like he has more personal issues with Obama. During Obama's campaign I have heard making a push to incorporate the issues of the black community into the broader mainstream America conversation. I really want to know what these folks want. Do they want invites to the white house? Do they want jobs in his administration? I agree with a previous comment....what is the agenda or the plan? I don't want to just hear the problems or the rants but I want to know what the strategy is to get the President's attention. I knew before Obama got elected that there was not a magic wand to solve the issues of black America....so what did Dyson expect?
Everyone seems to me lining up for that "Blacks Willing to Criticize Obama" gravy train. I mean, I get that we need to keep pressure on him out of the Black community so the Dems under his leadership dont take us even MORE for granted as they historically have. But as others said, let it be substantive.
Time-out on the politics of symbolism, please. The stakes are too high now.
just my opinion but I think Dyson cares more about Dyson than about anything else. I saw a book tv feature with him after the Cosby book came out and he seemed more impressed with showing off the powers of his intelect than he was with addressing the questions that were asked by the interviewer.
Agree. I question the intellect though. A snake oils salesman in my view. Rather we demand more of ourselves than from Obama. All politics is local.
Sounds like most academics - in love with the sound of their own voices.
Study the study.
Nice WIRE reference!!!!!!!! +15 for Jonathan!
So far, Sharpton has been to the White House more times, and for more close-up conversations with Obama, than the leaders of other long-established civil rights organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Urban League.
So Dyson doesn't get an invite to the White House, but Al has been there more than any other civil rights leader. Maybe he's just not that into you?
Advice for Dyson:
Get a nice-sized constituency going. Get your weight up homie.
Aint enough votes in the Ivory Tower to justify the genuflecting you expect.
And no, book sales dont really count in this instance.
Dyson needs to think like a wrestler and get his weight down. No metaphors there, I just think he looks like he could stand to lose a few. Now I`m going to go think about Obama's abs.
Ouch! Below the belt! ha ha ha
"get your weight up, not your hate up"
I have also not been a Dyson fan, but I thought this clip was ridiculous. Some of the narrow points he's making are fair enough and there are many progressives who are frustrated by what they see as Obama's readiness to compromise. But if you look at the whole of his comments, then Dyson is just crazy.
Remember the caricature that conservatives once threw up about Obama? That he was going to cater solely to blacks, that African Americans were supposedly going to get some kind of payday once he was in office, that whites might actually suffer in some way? Remember that foolishness? Dyson comes off sounding like he thought that's the way it was actually supposed to be.
Excellent riff on Obama catering solely to blacks. Conservatives said that because that's what they've done, for their constituency of white males, for generations.
The President is so much wiser. This is what it is like when he have an intelligent person in office. It's been a loooooong wait. And it's really fun to see the Elmers so befuddled by his excellence. It's not even a contest.
As a quick refresher, Obama's DNC speech was on the anniversary of the MLK, I Have a Dream speech. Obama referred to MLK as "a young preacher."
Some people complained. I fail to understand the hyperventilation over this issue.
Agreed. It was a rhetorical flourish. Everyone knew it was the anniversary of the "I Have a Dream" speech. The media had been focusing on it for weeks. He didn't have to say King's name, it was maybe more impactful because he didn't say it.
For all the complaining that people do about Al Sharpton, I think it's worth noting that he's out there working constructively with Obama in a "post-racial" fashion, while people like Tavis and Dyson are impotently demanding he pay attention to their racial agenda.
Come on Mike! This smells like a fake controversy to sell books, because no one really cares about Cosby anymore. This is weak and you sound like the typical black intellectual who really is not in the trenches doing the work out here, but instead throwing verbal bombs at Barack. I have no problem with criticizing the President, he is not immune to that. But these comments makes you sound cartoonish. You might as well wear the black scarf like your boy Cornel, and go around on the bash Barack Tour, sponsored by Wal-mart with Tavis. Also, do some work at my alma-mater and get a real Black Studies program together instead of sounding like a race-hustler.
total co-sign.
President Obama embraces black people everyday. His wife, his children, and on occasion, i'm sure, his Mother in Law. I don't want or need a hug from him I want a President.
I really liked Dyson as a pundit and I also like his moving bio on Black Voices, but my man seems to be doing a "throwback". I mean Dyson was the main person champing the new racial civil rights movement that had less to do with the in .. "your face I'm black and proud or Kum ba ya circle" and more about how kids from the 80's perceive there ethnicity and there desire for a better life as something that is not constricted by the color of their skin, but by the circumstances of their lives. We don't necessarily need to hear black is beautiful cause we're already filling that, we want the same thing other americans want... we want a good job that helps us pay the bills. ... and to me I think Obama is working hard to accomplish this... So Dyson needs to take his side show to some people who trying to hear all that... And if Davey D who claims to be the voice of the Kids from 80's wants to retain his street cred, he needs to step it up and call Dyson on his B.S....
I'm sorry, I couldn't make it through the whole "interview" so disregard the rest of my comments if you wish. That was flippin' ridiculous. I can't believe that this man has taught at universities and wrote books. Maybe it's just me. The older I get, the less tolerance I have for him and his colleagues. His criticisms of Obama in terms of policy related to Black people are stale. This is yet another instance of where Obama said one thing during the campaign, his "supporters" believed he was just saying it for the benefit of White people so didn't take it seriously, and now that he is in office act shock and offended because he meant what he said. I mean were these dudes listening to him? Did they bother reading his books, listen to his speeches? I don't really think they did, because if they did, they wouldn't be spouting this foolishness.
I'm with just about everyone else on this board -- MED's simply jealous.
And am I wrong to think that it's ONLY these so-called "men of God" who get indignant when other important people fail to kiss their ring (Tavis not being a "man of God")? Discuss.
As for who endorsed whom: my best friend called me after BHO's speech at the 2004 Dem Convo in Boston and said this guy WOULD be the next president -- and he didn't need MED to tell him that.
And did we really need that music underneath the discussion? In my world, music is edited in when YA GOT NOTHING ELSE TO SAY.
To quote Colbert I. King of WaPo today: Give me strength.
I thought Dyson was a pretty intriguing figure until his most recent appearance on Real Time w/ Bill Maher this past March. He was part of a two-man panel with Andrew Beirtbart, who was huffing and puffing that old freeper meme about liberals being so elitist, and Dyson played right into the guy's hand. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. MED was so intent on establishing some sort of wannabe Cornell West rhythm to his speeches/riffs (the kind of thing Sorn mentions in his post above), that he failed to notice he was fulfilling the very charicature that Beirtbart was referencing. As someone who also teaches at the college level and works very hard to dispell the gross stereotypes that have emerged on the right, I was dumbfounded and disappointed.
Wow. Couldn't agree with this more. That was incredibly hard to watch. Breitbart was a bit of a clown, and I kept waiting for MED to really drop some knowledge on him. But he really just made a fool of himself. It seemed like maybe the crowd was enjoying it, but it was like nails on a chalkboard to me. It made Breitbart seem way more sensible than he really was.
Whenever I watch completely crazy conservatives on tv (Buchanan, etc) I always say to myself, "well at least people on the left don't give similarly "perspectiveless" liberals a platform. If he starts taking this show on the road, I may have to amend that. Dude: if you have to start quoting sources (Ebony, REALLY) that say how important you are, it's a sign that you've lost this battle. Also, I only have a BA in Communication, but I am 100% sure that the "the young preacher from Atlanta" thing was a rhetorical flourish.
This is an aside, but it totally bothers me how he's become this academic spokesman for the hip hop generation. I'm in my 20s, and was recently in college, and I would say that the values and political attitudes of that generation are not as binary as Dyson's are.
I don't know if we have any Boondocks fan here (I'm guessing we do), but I just watched this and couldn't help think of Tubesteak. Basically, it was a series of NSFW videos of a guy hating on Obama for not being Black enough. You can check the first one out here, and again, NSFW (language):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfpfIM-hcwc
Love the Boondocks most episodes.
Cool...I forgot to mention the creator of the Boondocks made these videos
I actually thought the content of Dyson's statement was on point in alot of ways.
I have NO problem with Black folk, like every other constituency, demanding and expecting the people that they vote for to address issues for them SPECIFICALLY. This is the very nature of politics.
I also don't think unreasonable for Black folk to demand and expect that the politicans whose careers they gave birth to will continue to PUBLICALLY embrace them (Black folk) and their icons (MLK), even as they enter 'the mainstream'.
After all, Dubya didn't have any problems wrapping himself in being the 'Pride of Texas', did he?
Mr. Dyson has played the pro Obama guy in a "is Obama good for blacks" debate before and is still actually very supportive. He should be critical of Obama, he's trying to address the overall pro Obama sentiment that has engulfed the nation, saying we need to make sure we are still critical of him. It's true that Obama's rhetoric going back to the campaign has been questionable, but we can't accept that, we should still fight to change his views that we disagree with. I agree it would be nice for him to offer solutions, but maybe you're expecting too much from a 10 minute clip. And I think Mr. Dyson's thoughts are that Obama hasn't exactly offered a ton of solutions himself. Many of the comments here are in my eyes the same sort of false criticism that they are accusing Mr. Dyson of.
Sorry for my incoherent ramblings.
I know what you mean, and I agree. But Al Sharpton and "post-racial" in the same sentence... LOL
MED implies Obama is scared of black folks. If that were true, would he choose a black woman as his life partner and mother of his children?
Would he have appointed Eric Holder, Lisa Jackson, Susan Rice, and Ron Kirk to his cabinet?
I'm all for insightful criticism, but MED's argument is intellectually dishonest.
Obama is so awkward about being black he's actually gone full circle and is now an awkward white person who tries to prove how cool they are by having black friends.
Give an example? If you can't I would say that this is GARBAGE
It might be garbage or it might be a joke on how "uncomfortable" with being black Obama has been perceived as. I`m really sorry you didnt get this was a joke, and I`m really sorry you had to use caps instead of language with impact.
Why is it when I listen to Dyson now I hear "Two Words" in the back of my head? Enough with Costco Cornel West, let's hear some substantive economic and cultural criticism please. He won't mention MLK's name? Don't play.