This is what started it all: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/11/tavis-smiley-quits-radio_n_96246.html
Tavis Smiley has patterned himself as the keeper of Black America. Our gatekeeper of sorts. He's been at it for over 30 years and if anyone has paid attention to him lately; it is obvious that he does not like President Obama. I noticed it during the first election race. Tavis had several people on his show summarizing the future president and it just appeared to me that he couldn't muster up a compliment of any kind. This went on until Obama won. Everyone was happy--except Tavis. Moment after moment, Tavis would criticize Obama for many things; then he and Dr. Cornell West decide to do the Poverty Tour. Now, mind you, I find it noble to champion the cause of those who are economically deprived; but both Tavis and Dr. West are very rich men. Yet, they criticize many of the policies of Obama.
More recently, Tavis has made negative comments because in his opinion, he didn't feel that Obama is the reality of Dr. Martin Luther King's dream--just a down payment. His words.
A footnote to this: As a child, Tavis was so good at memorizing and performing Dr. King's speeches, he got paid. This continued in college. More frankly, Tavis always saw himself as the legacy to Dr. King's Dream....then Obama came along and messed it up.
Most of us who are over 35 got to know Travis when he was a guest host on BET in the early days. Now he has his own talk show (if you wanna call it that) on PBS. He's come a long way.
I could go on and on...but you get the point.
Reading through all of it, I just have to be real and say that in my honest opinion; Tavis is jealous of the President.
What do you think?
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