Laura S. Washington, In These Times
- The first black president of the United States cannot credibly govern without a national black agenda. But don’t depend on him to front it.
For the last 22 months, Sen. Barack Obama had one priority: getting elected.
Black progressives have a different, urgent mission: to put meat on the bones of a black economic and social compact.
It’s payback time.
Obama surged into the White House because he is one of the New Blacks — coalition-minded progressives who eschew tradition and piecemeal, narrow agendas. The New Blacks don’t take their cues from the Jesse Jacksons, Al Sharptons and Tavis Smileys.
Obama knows that if black people allow parochial and self-interested operators to nibble away at his ankles, black America will be the biggest loser.
