The suits at PBS must perspire profusely when they consider the latest from Tavis Smiley on the subjects of Sen. Barack Obama and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Smiley, the PBS talk show host and public television's Numero Uno black guy, is a vociferous and cagey Obama critic.
Lately, black folks have been buttonholing me with one or another variation of the same question: "What's the deal with Tavis? Why is he dogging out my man Obama?"
Well, boys and girls, Smiley has had a problem with Sen. Obama for quite a while. It all goes back to Smiley's February 2007 State of the Black Union confab at Hampton University in Virginia. Every year, Smiley hosts a series of discussions with some of the biggest names in black America.
Smiley seemed a bit peeved when C-Span's broadcast of the conference was interrupted for the kickoff of Obama's presidential campaign in Springfield. He went on to preside over a lot of grousing and skepticism among some of the participants, like the Rev. Al Sharpton and Princeton Professor Cornel West, who proclaimed that African Americans should ask Obama, "How deep is your love for the people?" and "Where is your money coming from?"
I can tell you where Smiley's money is coming from: Wal-Mart, ExxonMobil, Verizon, Wells Fargo, McDonald's, Allstate Insurance, and other large corporate donors.
Smiley has been on Obama's case ever since, publicly attacking him for being a no-show at this year's conference in February. Smiley apparently didn't notice that Obama was in an historically brutal primary battle.
Now let's fast forward to the March 28 episode of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, when Smiley joined the Trash America Club. Maher, Smiley and other guests were conversing about the latest lowlights of the presidential campaign. Smiley, a prolific gabfest practitioner, was uncharacteristically mum while Maher slammed Sen. Hillary Clinton for her erroneous claim that she once dodged bullets in Bosnia.
But when the conversation moved to the Rev. Wright, Smiley offered a vigorous defense of the controversial preacher and a simultaneous smackdown of Obama.
In a soundbite from the Wright sermon that has been heard around the world, Wright suggested that after the Sept. 11 attack on the United States, "America's chickens are coming home to roost." Smiley labeled criticism of Wright the "worst sort of racism." He went on to add that Wright "has been thrown under the bus." Obama, it seemed, should have defended his pastor, not condemned him.
Smiley added an historical analogy, noting that during the Vietnam War, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. opined that America was "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today."
"The minute he said that," Smiley proclaimed, "[King] fell off the list of the most admired Americans. In 1967, they disinvited him to the White House. … In '68, they shot him dead. Part of being a patriot means to stand as a truthteller."
As the audience applauded, Maher tried to clean it up: "The 'they' that disinvited him from the White House is a little different from the 'they' who shot him dead," Maher nervously offered.
Smiley wouldn't back off. "I could debate you on that."
This spokesman for black America is edging out onto a precarious limb. His attacks on Obama are alienating his base. PBS and his multitude of corporate benefactors didn't hire him to weave conspiracy theories and pick fights with natural allies.
Tavis Smiley is out of touch.
