Re: Cornel West

[H2O Man]

62. I respectfully disagree

with you on your first two points, and agree with you on the third.

You aren't a shit smear on a shoe -- you are not like Paul Ryan at all.

Cornel West is in a very different position than any/every politician. I'd note that Minister Malcolm X stated that he would not run for political office, because he felt he could do more from the outside, than on the inside. Malcolm was a teacher, not a politician. West, too, is engaged in the role where he believes he can do the most good.

President Obama -- who also writes books, and who worked as a teacher -- believes he can do the most good as a politician. And almost everyone, including his strongest supporters, find one or two things, however small, that they think he could or should do differently. That's human nature.

In reality, President Obama is doing exactly what he can do -- and in the current circumstances, he could not do otherwise. For "things" to change, people must necessarily change first -- including Barack Obama, his supporters, and yes, even the Democrats and members of the Democratic Left who demand change. And, before people can change, their thinking must change -- not only the way they view the world, including politicians, but also themselves. All of humankind's great and nearly great and almost great teachers have understood this simple Truth. It was Malcolm's central message. It's the common point of all theology and philosophy. And it is, of course, exactly what Cornel West is teaching.

Yet human beings -- precisely because they are human -- resist that simple Truth. They want conditions to change, while they stay the same. Hence, the value of both West's patience, and sense of humor.