Bizarre, Politics

Obama Embraces Al Sharpton With Major Appearance

President Barach Obama launched his reelection bid this week with a video announcement on the Internet — which generated fewer hits than a parody by the Republicans. Now, in his first major appearance since the announcement, Obama will be appearing with Rev. Al Sharpton and speak at the annual convention of the National Action Network which Sharpton founded. Sharpton’s history of race-baiting and demagoguery has made him one of the most divisive figures in American politics. Yet, the President is about to share a podium with him. For liberals who denounced Republicans for their association with Sarah Palin, the question is whether they will be heard with equal vigor in the association with Sharpton.

The NAN website is all about Sharpton, featuring numerous pictures of Obama with Sharpton (including one in the Oval Office). The Republicans are likely to be featuring the same photographs. The website proclaims that Obama will be appearing with Sharpton. Strangely, NAN posted a press release on Obama’s decision to join Sharpton but added “***THE INFORMATION BELOW IS FOR PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR DISCLOSURE***” Notably, also joining Sharpton is “MSNBC PRESIDENT PHIL GRIFFIN,” who will be “honored” by the Reverend.

Sharpton has a long history of alleged corrupt practices , tax disputes, and federal investigations. He came to fame with his infamous role in the Tawana Brawley hoax that led to civil liability for Sharpton.

Obama, however, is willing to embrace Sharpton in anticipation of a tough reelection — another example of politics overcoming principle.

Source: NY Daily News

61 thoughts on “Obama Embraces Al Sharpton With Major Appearance”

  2. you may not believe this but IMO the Rev has more clout and respect than President Obama in the Black Community.

    Eniobob that’s a fact. Especially now they have seen Obama’s actions over the last two plus years. Obama had it on January 20th 2009.

  3. Bdaman, If Georgia is in play as the polls show, I don’t think Obama has to worry about the video.

  4. We knew he wasn’t going to make an appearance with minister Farakahn so I guess the reverend Sharpton was a good second choice 🙂

  5. President Barach Obama launched his reelection bid this week with a video announcement on the Internet — which generated fewer hits than a parody by the Republicans. (JT)

    I posted the videos yesterday on another thread along with the hits each generated. After thinking about it for 24 hours and in Obama’s defense the reason is he sent out his video to all who supported him so there was no need for them to go to youtube to watch it. Just sayin.

  6. eniobob,

    I was going to agree with you until you referenced the juror…I agree with SWM said about agreeing with you….

  8. Nothing to add other than I initially read the headline as “Obama Embarrasses Al Sharpton With Major Appearance.”

  10. Wat dat buoy prolimb. He-ah anita anewa lifa. De al de teives. De delonge togather.

  11. Gyges,
    that is hilarious!
    I am not a big fan of Sharpton, but I cannot compare him to Palin. At least Sharpton knows what is going on in the country and the world. Palin has to write it down on her hand to remember. I wish Obama had not chosen Sharpton’s event as his first stop after announcing the reelection big, but I think it will be a short lived “romance”. He is definitely into his political phase again. Now, if we can just get him to tell Boehner and Ryan to take a hike on their so-called cuts, I would then care less about Sharpton.

  12. Here.s the Grio Blog. Their take on the subject and their website,get their take on this and** OTHER** subjects coming from a Black perspective,please.

    “PHILADELPHIA (AP) — He avoids race, so the story goes. He can’t afford to alienate white voters, black people will vote for him again anyway, so he has little to gain by approaching such a volatile subject.
    Yet on Wednesday, President Barack Obama is scheduled to make a foray into racial territory by speaking in New York at the Rev. Al Sharpton’s national convention — an early step on the tricky path that Obama must navigate in order to engage black voters who are crucial to his re-election.”

    http://www.thegrio.com/politics/obama-carefully-courts-black-votes-with-sharpton.php

    Visit their home page.

  13. Maybe the President’s just trying to win the support of people who made appearances on Boston Legal. You know, for the Shatner fans’ votes.

  14. First Snoop Dog speaks at Farrakhan’s Founder’s Day, now this. I’m so sad.

  15. Sometimes you find yourself in a position that as I can see by the comments will put me at odds with those whom I consider to be friends,you may not believe this but IMO the Rev has more clout and respect than President Obama in the Black Community.

    He has with stood the test of time,again I may be going against the grain on this one but I must stand up and call it as I see and know it to be.

    Just a little FYI:

    “Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Rev. Sharpton join forces to aid black church summits
    BY MICHAEL MCAULIFF
    DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
    Monday, January 17, 2011
    WASHINGTON – Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand may be raising her profile, but she’s also sinking grass roots – and that will be on display soon in a new partnership with the Rev. Al Sharpton.

    Gillibrand, an upstate Democrat who will be a guest at Sharpton’s House of Justice for Martin Luther King Day, was met by deep suspicion downstate – especially among Latinos and African-Americans – after then-Gov. David Paterson selected her to replace Sen. Hillary Clinton.

    That suspicion is long gone, said Sharpton, who is co-chairing a push with the senator to link black churches with federal agencies and programs.

    “A lot of us had never heard of her. Then we heard a lot of things that were disturbing,” Sharpton said. “But as she remained almost omnipresent, she has won a lot of people over, because she’s been there and she’s been there over and over again.”

    ” by Michael Johnson in Al Sharpton 8 Comments
    NY1′s Erin Billups reports that the Rev. Al Sharpton delivered a fiery sermon this morning, accusing lawmakers of forgetting why they were elected, and calling on them not to impose drastic budget cuts without asking the rich to pay more in the form of taxes.

    “You get elected and act like your only job is to get re-elected. (applause) As soon as you get in you’re worrying about how to get back in rather than how to do the job that people sent you up here for.”

    “You cannot cut working class people and the poor and talk about you love them. You cannot spare the super rich and penalize those that are helpless and vulnerable, and act like you did what you had to do. You did what you wanted to do!”

    The speech comes on the day that Governor Andrew Cuomo is expected to attend the annual Black and Puerto Rican Legislature’s Conference. Cuomo’s budget calls for cuts across the board, including $2.85 billion to Education and Medicaid. Cuomo has said he is opposed to extending an income tax on those making more than $200,000.

    Sharpton And Bloomberg Venture North
    DEC 21ST – 2:38 PM
    Posted by Liz Benjamin in Al Sharpton 1 Comment
    YNN’s Tamara Lindstrom caught Mayor Bloomberg and the Rev. Al Sharpton this morning after their brief visit to the Louis Gossett Jr. Finger Lakes Residential Center in Tompkins County, after which they returned to NYC to propose an overhaul of the state’s juvenile justice system.

    Bloomberg and Sharpton were full of praise for the staff at the center – the mayor went so far as to say the people working there are doing “God’s work.” But also said they’d like to see the kids incarcerated closer to home, noting most of them come from the five boroughs.

    In a press release outlining his plan, the mayor called the state-run juvenile facilities “relics of a bygone era, when troubled city kids were stripped from their families and shipped to detention centers in remote rural areas.”

    It would be more humane – and possibilty cut down on the recidivism rate – Bloomberg reasoned, to let NYC further develop its own juvenile justice system where kids won’t just ”

    Just a few examples,Hillary Clinton when she was running for President also spoke at House Of Justice.

  16. ” The other problem is I don’t think he (Sharpton) has a(s) much influence in the Black community as is supposed by many whites. Most black people are more politically savvy than their White peers, ….” (Spindell)

    Bingo!

  17. This is an outstandingly bad judgment. By the way I don’t dislike Sharpton and he displays brilliance at times. However, he has also obviously shown himself to be
    a publicity hunting charlatan and thus has earned public scorn. The other problem is I don’t think he has a much influence in the Black community as is supposed by many whites. Most black people are more politically savvy than their White peers, oppression and racism tends to increase insight. however, given some of the unfair opprobrium heaped upon Sharpton they have little choice but to not add to the cacophony of bad press.

  20. He’s thrown in with the divisive fascists. That his encore is to throw in with the divisive race baiting charlatan? Ehhh, can’t say it is exactly shocking.

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