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Critics: Obama should step up and use his bully pulpit on Ferguson
Washington Post ^ | 8-18-2014 | Nia-Malika Henderson

Posted on 08/19/2014 5:26:09 AM PDT by Citizen Zed

First, a few words about Dyson: he's no Cornel West -- he's often been a defender of Obama, including on air.

Not this week. Here's what he had to say about Obama's statements so far:

{Quote}

And finally I yearn for more response from the White House. This president knows better than most what happens in poor communities that have been antagonized historically by the hostile relationship between black people and the police department.

It is not enough for him to come on national television and pretend there is a false moral equivalency between police people who are armed and black people who are vulnerable constantly to this. He needs to use his bully pulpit to step up and articulate this as a vision, not necessarily in terms of public policy alone, because Eric Holder is doing a tremendous job in filling in those gaps, but we need presidential leadership. He needs to step up to the plate and be responsible.

{End Quote}

Dyson's statements represent the most high profile criticism of Obama's handling of Ferguson to date by an African American -- and by someone who has a lot of credibility on these issues.  It's not a statement the White House can so easily dismiss as "just hatin."

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS:
The facts don't matter when the department of Just Us keeps hatin.
1 posted on 08/19/2014 5:26:09 AM PDT by Citizen Zed
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To: Citizen Zed

“O” will never do anything decisive... he is incapable of LEGAL resolution

That said, if the situation permits (or if it DOESN’T) he is more than happy to ‘step up to the plate’ and take a cheap shot at the US Constitution and to overstep his authority. He’s almost like a spoiled and willful child who will look right at you and pull something he knows he shouldn’t.

Too bad there isn’t a second party in the US to counter this....or wait a minute... there USED to be!


2 posted on 08/19/2014 5:29:00 AM PDT by SMARTY ("When you blame others, you give up your power to change." Robert Anthony)
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To: Citizen Zed

At this point, I don’t think he could step in. There’s too much evidence that Brown assaulted and charged at the cop. Zer0’s normal MO is to declare one side (usually the victim) the “winner” absent any fact (c.f. “[The police] acted stupidly” in the Cambridge incident).

Here, there’s plenty of public evidence that the cop in fact acted in defense of his own life, against a known violent criminal. Since Zer0 and the JustUs department are not about to start criticizing their “own people”, they’re going to stay out of this one.


3 posted on 08/19/2014 5:39:01 AM PDT by Little Pig
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To: Citizen Zed

Obama DID use his “bully pulpit” the only way he knows how.

Obama has proven he has no concept of how to handle the situation, because in fact he refuses to recognize the real problem.

The price of creating a dependent class is the destruction of family and community.

This Godless culture has no sense of right or wrong.

Until God is back in our lives and Fathers are back in their homes and the private sector is free to create real jobs, there is no environment for meaningful education and self-sufficiency.


4 posted on 08/19/2014 5:39:29 AM PDT by G Larry (Which of Obama's policies do you think I'd support if he were white?)
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To: Little Pig

I think he did declare a side by sending in the Holder strike force. With zero evidence of a cover up, there is no reason except pandering to send in anyone from the DOJ obviously on a mission to drive the matter to a trial. If that fails, the fall back will be a civil rights charge.


5 posted on 08/19/2014 5:42:53 AM PDT by Mouton (The insurrection laws perpetuate what we have for a government now.)
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To: Citizen Zed
This president knows better than most what happens in poor communities that have been antagonized historically by the hostile relationship between black people and the police department.

No he doesn't. He grew up in upper middle-class white enclaves.

6 posted on 08/19/2014 5:47:14 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Mississippi!)
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Comment #7 Removed by Moderator

To: Citizen Zed
The facts don't matter when the department of Just Us keeps hatin.

Nobody knows what the facts are.

As for Obama, he should stay out of it. It's still a state matter.

8 posted on 08/19/2014 5:52:33 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: Little Pig
It's too late for Obama to stay out of it. He tried to twist the situation to his advantage before the facts were public. Fortunately, someone in Ferguson went rogue and released the footage of Michael Brown's criminal activities. Without that, the narrative would've been set and facts coming out later would not have mattered.

Now, there are forces out there Obama can't manipulate. What's going to happen if they bring their disgusting behavior to neighborhoods and schools with large non-black populations? People are going to defend themselves if the police won't take forceful immediate action against criminals.

9 posted on 08/19/2014 5:55:08 AM PDT by grania
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To: Citizen Zed

To do what? Talk to the rioters to death?


10 posted on 08/19/2014 5:57:12 AM PDT by Sir Napsalot (Pravda + Useful Idiots = CCCP; JournOList + Useful Idiots = DopeyChangey!)
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To: Citizen Zed

He did his usual, and voted ‘present’ on it.

He should have said RIOTING AND LOOTING will be dealt with by force, but he did not even address it

HE just said platitudes, again.

President Platitude


11 posted on 08/19/2014 5:58:00 AM PDT by Mr. K (Palin/Cruz 2016)
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To: Night Hides Not

He grew up in upper middle-class white enclaves. and outside the US for most of his early life.


12 posted on 08/19/2014 6:01:14 AM PDT by Mouton (The insurrection laws perpetuate what we have for a government now.)
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To: Mouton

Odumbo will only use his “Bully Pulpit” to chastise the police, not one second will be directed at the “Street Rats”.


13 posted on 08/19/2014 6:13:04 AM PDT by DaveA37
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To: Citizen Zed

He’s never been held responsible for anything his entire life. Why would he start now?


14 posted on 08/19/2014 6:29:56 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Citizen Zed
Obama needs to simply state that Americans do not destroy the work of other Americans.

Unfortunately Obama's vision of America may be a little different or may be from a foreign perspective.

15 posted on 08/19/2014 6:34:48 AM PDT by palmer (This comment is not approved or cleared by FDA)
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To: palmer

That’s why it was so critical for the enemies of America to put a NON-American in our White House. Unless he’s naturalized, of course...


16 posted on 08/19/2014 6:46:46 AM PDT by butterdezillion (Note to self : put this between arrow keys: img src=""/)
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To: DaveA37

Thats exactly what this Nia-Malika person is asking him to do: pass summary judgement on the cop and lash out at the police in general. Because they’re the ones with the guns.

Law of unintended (but all too predictable) consequences is going to come into play. Beat up on the cops and 1) Fewer people are going to want to be cops 2) those that do will avoid working in places like Ferguson like the plague and 3) those that DO end up working in places like Ferguson, knowing that the political power structure doesn’t have their backs, won’t actually police.

Much easier, and safer, to sit in an airconditioned cruiser and only getting out to take police reports on crimes that have been committed, than actually trying to stop them while in progress or proactively try to prevent them.


17 posted on 08/19/2014 7:01:44 AM PDT by tanknetter
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To: butterdezillion

Obama MAY be an American citizen—if his father was Frank Marshall Davis.

Otherwise, Obama is a non-citizen. He is not merely not a Natural Born Citizen; he’s an illegal alien.

What does he care whether all his “Presidential” acts are nullified? If things go according to plan, he will be the last “President” of the former United States.

After Joe McCarthy died, the last anti-Communist was Ronald Reagan, and even Reagan accomplished virtually nothing with respect to domestic Communists.

The Communists have been patient, methodical, steady. They have funded themselves from the endless, infinite resources of government. Freedom-loving people have had no funding, no plan, no clue.


18 posted on 08/19/2014 9:39:56 AM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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