Speak To Me

I was talking to a friend recently...a 76 year old black man who grew up in South Carolina and has lived in Washington, DC for many years. He is, by my appraisal, an average educated senior citizen; not an intellectual by any means but very informed. He lives in the inner city by choice, and he talks to a lot of people ranging from his neighbors on the corner to upper middle class friends in suburbia.

As we talked about our mutual displeasure with the way President Obama is responding to a lot of problems, my friend said three words that gave me pause. He said, "Speak to me". I asked him what did he mean. He said he and most of the black people he knows just want the President to acknowledge their existence. He reiterated, "Just speak to us." He said he didn't want or expect the President to make major speeches on the plight of the black community but a simple acknowledgement that we exist, and yes, that we African Americans supported him in record numbers. We gave our hearts and souls to his election and we thought he was one of our own.

My friend talked about an experience a friend of his had. His friend belongs to a black church in the economically depressed area of Southeast Washington. President Obama visited his friend's church, much to the parishioners surprise (it is always kept secret for security reasons). When the President entered the side door of the church everyone was excited to see him. The President took his seat on a front pew and looked straight ahead. When the service was over, he exited without so much as turning around to smile, bow his head in acknowledgement of their thunderous applause, or wave at the audience.

He didn't look at them. In other words, he didn't "speak" to them.

I don't know why President Obama ignores his base -- African Americans, Hispanics, trade unionists, liberals, leftists et al. while wooing independent voters he has to win over to be re-elected. He can acknowledge his base even as he courts independent voters. It appears to me that President Obama is trying to be the most centrist president in history. Could this explain why he keeps trying to mediate with hostile Republicans who would rather see him disappear from the the universe than bargain with him, even when it goes against their self-interests. They have never mistreated another President or debased the Office of the President as they are now doing. My friend and I agreed that it is painful to see this proud black man bow down to his arch enemies, and to come out on the losing end of the stick every time he sits down to negotiate with them. Why does he keep capitulating, and why does he keep going back for more punishment? Perhaps we will never know.

If President Obama continues to ignore his base I don't believe he will be able to rally these once enthusiastic voters -- a must for him to be re-elected. My friend and I will vote for him but I doubt seriously that I will go door to door, make hundreds of phone calls, or "give until it hurts" as I did before. My Washington friend said it is hard enough to get some black people out to vote because they don't feel that politicians are going to help them. In candidate Obama's campaign blacks had tremendous pride that a black man was running a very viable campaign. They gave of themselves because, as my friend said, "we wanted this 'brother' to win". Finally, we had a candidate of our own race, one who understood our problems and who promised to do something for us. The big question is, will the President recognize in time that he has to reconnect with us? Will he speak to us?

The President appears to be isolated from the average voter. He needs advisers who know what the people on the ground feel and think. Sure, he knows that jobs is the critical issue that will decide his re-election. He has economic advisers who can compute the numbers but does he have staff who can get him to talk about it from his heart? In other words, does he feel the pain of the suffering?

He needs to get rid of all the "yes" men and women surrounding him. He needs staff who can convince him that his bus tours need to include inner cities as well as the majority white small towns. He doesn't need to run from us. "We are his people and there is no need for him to act like he doesn't know us," said my friend. Whatever happened to the Obama who connected with the poor and the middle class voters...the man who stopped old men and women on the street and the children in their schools whose needs were great? They want to see the man who said he would fight for them, not the man who has disappeared behind the doors of the Oval Office. They want the passion and self confidence of a bid whist player, not the cool confidence of a chess master. They want to see passion and strength.

Finally, the President is not demonstrating the strength and fortitude of our historic black leaders. Wheres is that toughness and fortitude of people like Ida B. Wells, Thurgood Marshall, Congressmen Adam Clayton Powell, William Dawson, Lewis Stokes, James Clyburn, Charles Rangel and Maxine Waters? Where are the leadership skills of effective leaders like Frederick Douglas, Rosa Park, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ida B. Wells and Dorothy Height? These leaders didn't back down in a fight unless absolutely necessary and then they did it with a toughness that we admired. They knew how to negotiate without giving up the store.

My Washington friend said he feels a combination of pain and anger when he sees President Obama being "dissed" by the likes of Congressman Eric Cantor and the dunce Sarah Palin. "Every right wing white person in public life is rolling President Obama," he said. "We want him to stand up with strong broad shoulders, a bit of anger in his voice and a face that says, 'you'd better fear me because I'm going to kick you into a corner'".

Why can't President Obama call a White House summit of influential as well as ordinary supporters to request their support in fighting back? Why can't he flip the script with the journalists who have also joined the herd in beating up on him? Instead of finding a thousand ways that the President is ineffective, the President can change the focus to one which discusses a re-invigorated President who, with his supporters, are pushing back and changing the nature of the debate in substance and kind. The base is waiting for the President to say, "I need your help".

As things stand, there is a vacuum in leadership and people don't know what to do. One thing about power is when you're down even the weakest person will step on you. By now the President Obama has been pummeled so often and so badly that what we see is a man who looks like he is separated from his own spirit. My friend said, "It's hard to fight for someone who looks like he isn't fighting for himself."

Speak to us, Mr. President.