Tavis Still Has Concerns About Obama

Jenice Armstrong of the Philadelphia Daily News caught up with Tavis Smiley while he was in Philly last week. Tavis was in town promoting his upcoming traveling-museum exhibit about the African-American experience.

Tavis, who encountered a major backlash in the black community for openly criticizing Sen. Barack Obama for not attending his State of the Black Union Summit, calls Obama a friend, but still has concerns as illustrated by the following comments from the article:

"I'm concerned that the expectations are high," he explained, before giving an example of a homeowner whose property is facing foreclosure in January. "After the 21st, after his inauguration, you're still going to lose your house."
"I understand the love that black people have [for Obama], I get that," he told me.
But Smiley then referred to some of Obama's well-publicized policy reversals: "I think the way you make the president a good president is when you make them accountable."

Tavis is on the money in his critique of Obama. Whether he's elected or not will not keep that home out of foreclosure on January 21st, and he's not the savior of all black people. Obama, and his wife Michelle, however, are role models of what we can become as a people.