Cornel West's Heartbreak
The next time somebody tells you that the Obama administration is a haven for Afro-Marxists, you might want to remember that it's most important economic policymaker is the man who fired Cornel West. And here is a clip of Cornel West still complaining about it -and describing the Obama administration as a "profound disappointment."
The Larry Summers material begins about minute 43. As transcribed by the Huffington Post:
[H]ere's somebody who has no history whatsoever of sensitivity to poor people or working people, who had been supporting deregulation for a long time as a Clintonite, in the Clinton administration. What is going on here? Or has Obama already become so comfortable with the establishment that you had to have an economist who was legitimate to the establishment in order for him to get his regime off the ground? OK. I mean, if that's the kind of argument you have, then put it forward. But don't tell me you're a progressive, then, and generate that kind of support or major advisers speaking to you--speaking to you every day. Now, if he had Paul Krugman or Joseph Stiglitz or Sylvia Ann Hewitt, I'd say, "Hey, you got something going here. I think we've got a chance for some progressive policy that actually focuses on poor and working people."
But I do forgive Larry Summers for this reason: that I think we all ought to have joy in life, and you can only have joy when you overcome arrogance and open to your own ignorance, because you end up being smart and brainy, but suffering from spiritual malnutrition, emptiness of soul, you see.