Cornel West Says Democrats Need To Have A ‘Candid’ Conversation About Obama Legacy: ‘It Wasn’t A Golden Age’
Former Vice President Joe Biden has been leading the crowded Democratic primary field for months and surviving attacks from fellow Democrats with relative ease.
During the second primary debate on Wednesday night, Biden was confronted, not about his congressional record, which many have already done, but about Obama-era policies. As previously reported by The Inquisitr, other candidates grilled the former vice president during the debate, challenging him to confront what they claim are mistakes made during the Obama administration.
After the debate, Biden — who frequently evokes Obama on the campaign trail — described the attacks as “bizarre,” wondering why his colleagues appear so willing to question the Obama legacy. Democratic Party insiders, strategists, and think tank heads joined in, urging White House hopefuls to focus on Trump and refrain from attacking the most popular member of their party.
“Hey, Democrats: Stop attacking our most beloved president in recent history,” Democratic strategist Maria Cardona warned in an op-ed penned for The Hill, describing the criticism as “frightening.”
Not everyone agrees, however.
Harvard professor, philosopher, and Bernie Sanders surrogate, Cornel West, believes that the Democratic Party needs to have a “candid” conversation about Obama’s legacy.
During an appearance on Democracy Now, West argued that the Democratic Party needs to “come to terms” with the Obama legacy in order to move forward.
According to West, “it’s clear that hardly anyone wants to critically examine” the Obama era, which “wasn’t a golden age.”
Noting that Obama is a “zillion times” better than Trump, West proceeded to argue that the Democrats need to be able to discuss issues such as foreign wars, drone strikes, Obama’s support for despots, and domestic policies such as the Wall Street bailout.
“So you can’t say too much about the Wall Street bailout explicitly; you can’t say too much about the drones; you can’t say too much about the wars in Libya and Somalia, and the bombs in Yemen; you can’t say too much about the very ugly Israeli occupation; you can’t say too much about the ugly Egyptian authoritarianism — though they are tied to the Obama administration.”
The Harvard professor suggested that the party needs to have a “candid” conversation about Obama. He warned, however, that those willing to have this conversation need to do so without alienating those who still hold the former president in high regard.
NEW: Democrats rally to Obama's defense amid criticism from 2020 candidates https://t.co/vxYGpqQQeH pic.twitter.com/CxFrS3KL5O
— The Hill (@thehill) August 1, 2019
West also explained why he supports Bernie Sanders, calling him “one of the last hopes” of the United States. America, according to the Harvard professor, needs to deal with its past in order to overcome the issues that it is facing now, and that it will face in the future.
