This heated exchange between the Rev. Al Sharpton and Tavis Smiley (via Oliver Willis) isn't over whether or not Obama should have a "black agenda." We can argue over whether the administration has done enough to help deal with black unemployment -- he hasn't, just like he hasn't done enough to deal with unemployment in general -- but that's not really what Sharpton and Smiley are arguing about. Their exchange is over whether or not Obama should be talking about a black agenda.
Smiley accused Sharpton and other black leaders of "suggesting publicly in the media that this president doesn't need to have a black American agenda," citing this New York Times article about how black people have opinions about Obama. What the article actually says is "The Rev. Al Sharpton, who is working with Mr. Obama to close the achievement gap in education, says the president is smart not to ballyhoo 'a black agenda.'"
Obviously that's very different from what Smiley was saying, and Sharpton was irritated. "The president doesn't need to get out there and do what we should be doing. Saying the president shouldn't 'ballyhoo' a black agenda is not saying the president shouldn't be held to a black agenda or deal with a black agenda."
"I think the president focusing on something, and the president becoming a black exponent of black views to feed into Glenn Beck and them to stop legislation that would help black people is just stupid," Sharpton added later.
Smiley has taken the same sort of position that Republicans take on national security issues -- Republicans say Obama doesn't say "terrorism" enough, while Smiley doesn't think Obama engages in enough direct public advocacy on behalf of black Americans. Smiley doesn't actually engage on the question of whether or notObama's attempts to de-racialize black issues have been successful; hejust seems to think that if Obama simply talked about black issues more, problems would get solved.
It seems strange, but it's Sharpton who supports Obama's decision to de-emphasize race, while Smiley wants more racial grandstanding. While both men have been justifiably ridiculed for continuing to play the increasingly archaic role of "racial spokesman," it's funny to think that over the years Sharpton is the one who has mellowed, while Smiley still seems mired in the identity politics of the mid-1990s.
-- A. Serwer