What do you think about the idea of supporting the President, while also critiqueing him and keeping him accountable? Blind and biased critique or support will never be good, especially in a democracy, right?
Michael Eric Dyson on President Obama and White Panic Part 2
Posted byDrew G. I. Hart, PhDPosted inDominant Culture, Justice, Politics, racismTags:african american, america, Barrack Obama, black, Christianity, Faith, obama, Politics, racism, white
Published by Drew G. I. Hart, PhD
Rev. Dr. Drew G. I. Hart is an associate professor of theology at Messiah University and has 10 years of pastoral experience prior to teaching. He currently directs Messiah University's "Thriving Together: Congregations for Racial Justice" program and co-hosts Inverse Podcast with Jarrod McKenna, an award-winning peace activist from Australia. Hart is the author of Trouble I've Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism (2016) and Who Will Be A Witness?: Igniting Activism for God's Justice, Love, and Deliverance (2020). And he is also a co-editor and contributor to the recently published book entitled Reparations and the Theological Disciplines: Prophetic Voices for Remembrance, Reckoning, and Repair (Nov. 2023). Hart received bcmPEACE’s 2017 Peacemaker Award, the 2019 W.E.B. Du Bois Award in Harrisburg, PA, and most recently in December 2023 Life Esteem Ministries recognized him in Harrisburg with the Harambee Award for the Nguzo Saba Principle of Umoja—Unity for his faith-based activism and public scholarship in the community. Drew and his family live in Harrisburg, PA. View more posts
Drew G. I. Hart 
How wrong can one smart person be?
Don’t get me wrong, Dyson is a brilliant man, but when he says that’s the job, deal with it – that’s utter nonsense. No other President inherited such a disastrous state of affairs. He had to return America to the rule of law. He inherited two wars, plus the war on terror. He inherited the largest deficit in history. He inherited an economic meltdown.
The opposition said he was “palling around with terrorists”, said he was a secret Muslim, said he wasn’t born in America, said he was making America less safe.
Need I go on?
Brienne,
The job Obama ran for was a known quantity before he entered the race. So, I heard Dyson say the old equivalent of “If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.” I heard Dyson say the equivalent of – You knew what the job was before you ran – if you weren’t up to it you were the one to step aside. I heard Dyson say – Racism is as real as ever and politics are politics, so fish or cut bait buddy. I also heard Dyson say that he thought Obama WAS up to the job (including all the stuff you described) but for reasons unknown to him Obama wasn’t getting it done.
I can’t understand what you are trying to say, maybe that we should pity Obama for getting into more than he can handle and the opposition is too great?
The man’s been in office for a year. You expect him to right the wrongs of an entire generation in twelve months, when he has to deal with the Party of No, and moderate Dems who’ve already jumped ship?
Obama’s President – not God.
OK – I can see I may not be able be able to get in contact with the wavelength you are on in relation to what Dyson is saying. . . Which is only what thousands of people end up paying psychologists hundreds of dollars to finally learn:
– That we should have a plan and a set of core principles that drive and sustain us when nothing else supports us.
– That we are ultimately responsible for what we do or don’t do
– That we can not blame others for our lack of progress.
– That saying things like “If he, she or they would only… Then I could…” is NOT an excuse for not getting things done.
Dyson understands this and thus his comment: The job is to be President. Obama ran for it knowing full well and was elected to it – now – Deal with it!
Brienne, If you were actually asking me for my opinion – No, I don’t expect anything more than I have been seeing – I knew enough about Obama to convince me he wasn’t up to it. But, Dyson thinks he is capable and expects him to produce. I think the Peter principle kicked in long ago but I’m willing to let Dyson have more time to be convinced.
I don’t hear you addressing that. I hear you being frustrated that a left of center President and congress can’t convince a right of center nation to go their way. I hear you’re frustration that the bad policies enacted and the good money spent on top of bad money already spent have not done diddley to halt unemployment and a stagnant economy. I hear the frustration in your words that a man of hope and change has gone from a 70% approval to 40% in a year (which is the worst any president has ever done) because he can’t win for losing with the less than stellar proposals put forth by his administration and the Democrat congress. I hear you on that – But Dyson expects better.
“The way I see it, Obama is only gonna get one term so he better be determined to get done what he needs to w/o any side stepping.”
And this, my fellow Americans, is exactly why he will be a one termer – because all he does is side step. He is his own worst enemy – I can’t make him look any worse. He is self defeated. I listened to him blame everyone else in his state of the union address.
I can’t wait to vote for a housewife more qualified than him next time around.
I realize I can be quite hard on Mr. Obama. Trouble is – I voted for the first of his ilk – Jimmy Carter – and have learned to regret it ever since. That’s why I don’t want to see another like him occupy the oval office or the congress. It would be much better for the country if he would at least adopt a JFK style of economic platform.
Found the following to be very interesting:
“A new book by Scott Rasmussen, “In Search of Self-Governance,” has just been released. The pollster and president of Rasmussen Reports makes the case that “Americans don’t want to be governed from the left, the right, or the center. The American people want to govern themselves.” “