Cornel West on President Barack Obama (democracynow.org, 10/6/2014 )

AMY GOODMAN: We have 20 seconds, but where does President Obama fit into this picture? Or does he?

 

CORNEL WEST: President Obama is a neoliberal centrist. He is a pro-imperial president. He is brilliant, he’s charismatic, but he is the head of the American empire and sits at the center of the U.S. status quo. The black prophetic tradition is a profound critique and indictment of the system that he heads, and of course generates profound disappointment in the priorities of Wall Street, of drones, of mass surveillance that we’ve seen in his administration. But we say it in love. People say, "Oh, Brother West, you’re always putting the president down and then talking about love." I love the brother. I pray for his safety and his family. He’s wrong.