Opiate for Liberals-Obama's Speech on Civility\ Martin Luther King-Where Do We Go From Here

Cornel West frequently points out the inherent pitfalls of American Optimism because it's rooted in exceptionalism, which  makes us overly susceptible to shallow "good news" fluff instead of honestly dealing with the harsh realities that plague America and it's people.


A tragi-comic example of this is the wave after wave of baseless, mind- numbing euphoria that has overtaken liberals after Obama's speech calling for a "New Era of Civility in U.S. Politics.  
New York Times columnist, Gail Collins actually gushed in her Op Ed entitled "Obama Brings it Home" Jan 12, 2011 ,  "President Obama was saving the magic for a time when we really needed it." 


It's  clear that Ms. Collins has vastly different needs than most of America. And the only thing Obama brought home was hopeful but utterly impossible obfuscation, in short, opiate for liberals.

Meanwhile, the Tea Party/right wing( funded by an ever- emboldend,  ever- richer Corporate Empire)  after taking over The United State's House of Representatives has no intention of playing along.  And of course,  this Corporate Empire grows even richer and powerful under the Obama Administration.

Two weeks after Obama's speech, liberals are still singing Kum Bah Ya. But The Republican leadership ( and their troops) march on.  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell via a spokesperson, called President Obama a hypocrite. One of the Tea Party's founders, Judson Phillip laid all the blame on Obama's followers. And Sarah Palin evoked the term "blood libel" to describe herself ( and other conservatives) as  victims of liberal persecution. The term "blood libel"  itself has historic roots as an accusation against Jews accused of murdering Christian children to use their blood in baking Passover Matzo.

The shooting in Arizona could have been a wake up call for liberals (to turn progressive) and finally say to President Obama that we've had it with his melodious words. And demand that he use his bully pulpit to make a critical speech about the real poisonous political climate, where six percent of the population controls 80 percent of the wealth and what this means to American. What we need is for Obama to make a speech about the fact that the banks who continue to make more profit than ever before are still refusing to bail out America.  Telling the truth about America would have been a far more fitting and lasting tribute to nine year old  Christina Taylor Green who's remarkable intellectual curiosity about how our Government actually works, lead her to that fateful journey to visit with Congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords, where she was shot and killed.


The fact is that the Tea Party Movement are the storm troopers for the most dangerous movement since the South took back the country after American Reconstruction needs to be the topic of conversation, not  an impossible call for civility at a time when we need to be sounding the alarm. Today, as some of us  celebrate  Martin Luther King's birthday, I am reminded of how Dr.King not only gave us  melodious words but used them to capture what was real  going on in America. I am reminded of the truth telling of Dr. King's speech "Where Do We Go From Here" where  Dr. King talks about honestly addressing our short comings: 

Now, in order to answer the question, "Where do we go from here?" which is our theme, we must first honestly recognize where we are now. When the Constitution was written, a strange formula to determine taxes and representation declared that the Negro was 60 percent of a person. Today another curious formula seems to declare he is 50 percent of a person. Of the good things in life, the Negro has approximately one half those of whites. Of the bad things of life, he has twice those of whites. Thus half of all Negroes live in substandard housing. And Negroes have half the income of whites. When we view the negative experiences of life, the Negro has a double share. There are twice as many unemployed. The rate of infant mortality among Negroes is double that of whites and there are twice as many Negroes dying in Vietnam as whites in proportion to their size in the population. 

In other spheres, the figures are equally alarming. In elementary schools, Negroes lag one to three years behind whites, and their segregated schools receive substantially less money per student than the white schools. One twentieth as many Negroes as whites attend college. Of employed Negroes, 75 percent hold menial jobs. 

Obama on the other hand gives nothing but platitudes. Until we demand that Obama start telling the real truth about America our country will continue to take on water in these ever increasing seas. And judging from our expectation of him, this will not be likely.