If there’s one public figure willing to put President Barack Obama’s cryptic & controversial message to the Congressional Black Caucus on blast, it has to be Tavis Smiley. During his self titled PBS show on Monday, he could hardly contain his anger towards Obama’s ‘quit cryin’ and get it together’ address during last weekend’s CBC awards event as he asked Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D/TX) to share her perception on the matter:

“Would the president ever say to an audience of our Jewish brothers and sisters concerned about the plight in the Middle East, ‘stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying?’ Would this president ever say to Wall Street, publicly, ‘stop grumbling stop complaining stop crying?’ Would he ever say to our Hispanic brothers and sisters on immigration and their concerns ‘stop grumbling stop crying stop complaining?’ Did he say to gays and lesbians, ‘stop grumbling, stop crying stop complaining?’ How does he get away with saying this to black folk when he would never form his lips to ever say that to any other constituency?”

The Texas Congresswoman agreed with Smiley’s final statement, adding:

“There were those who cheered when Jesus was crucified, and we have found that despicable from the beginning of history to this time.” I think familiarity is the answer to your question. The president came and put on the armor of brother and sister.”

Jackson Lee was uncertain as to whether Obama’s remarks were said with love as a motivational technique but hopes that his sentiments extend beyond his African American constituency. “Are we going to tell the Republicans to stop being obstructionists? Are we going to tell the Tea Party people to stop being tea party people instead of patriots and Americans?”

No word on whether Jackson Lee was experiencing a senior moment when making the biblical reference in regards to President Obama. Check the video for the segment in question.

After a rousing call to action on behalf of his Jobs plan, President Barack Obama concluded his speech to the Congressional Black Caucus with a message in which, according to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, the Head of State “took his gloves off.” Obama spoke on Saturday night at the Congressional Black Caucus annual gala to address their concerns about the growing rate of poverty and joblessness within the Black community – as well as requesting their support in passing his jobs bill.

“So I need your help. We have to do more to put people to work right now. We’ve got to make sure that everyone in this country gets a fair shake, and a fair shot, and a chance to get ahead.  And I know we won’t get where we need to go if we don’t travel down this road together. I need you with me.”

In what’s been suggested as a counterpunch to criticism of the president’s commitment to the Black community, Obama spoke directly to his constituency, urging them to “press on” despite their numerous misgivings.

“So I don’t know about you, CBC, but the future rewards those who press on. With patient and firm determination, I am going to press on for jobs. I’m going to press on for equality. I’m going to press on for the sake of our children. I’m going to press on for the sake of all those families who are struggling right now. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I am going to press on.”

The POTUS employed the use of straight talk during the last moments of his speech proclaiming:

“I expect all of you to march with me and press on. Take off your bedroom slippers, put on your marching shoes. Shake it off. Stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying. We are going to press on. We’ve got work to do, CBC.”

Coverage of the president’s address to the CBC below:

As a highly significant aside, the legendary comedian/activist Dick Gregory and celebrity/businesswoman Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth received the first ever 2011 Love Leadership Award at the CBC event Saturday night as well.

This Monday, September 26^th, the one-on-one interview with former KTLA anchor Emmett Miller will focus on some of the community’s most pressing concerns, namely, the dire unemployment rate.

“We are thrilled to be the platform where the president will exclusively address our community,” said Loretha Jones, President of Original Programming at BET Networks.  “This conversation is particularly important given the impact the economic environment is having on African-Americans.”

Gearing up for 2012, Obama promises to discuss what lies ahead on the road to re-election, and will answer one reader-submitted question on-air relating to “how and when recovery will come to the African-American community.”

The President Answers Black America will air on Monday, Sept. 26, at 7:30. For more info, or to submit your question (Sept 23 – no later than 11am Eastern time), click AskObama.

Charismatic intellectual Cornel West continued his oligarchy/plutocracy diatribe on MSNBC Tuesday, asserting that the Republican Party in essence is “mean, coldhearted and tied to oligarchs,” and Democrats were “spineless” and unwilling to fight them, Raw Story reports.

Not solely focusing his blunt critique on “brotha” Barack, West spoke critically of the 2 party political system as a whole. Citing corporate greed as a key source of corruption for American politics, and the entire landscape of the United States as a result.

The renowned scholar who, along side Ralph Nader, is personally seeking a Democratic presidential candidate to oppose Barack Obama went on to say,

“The top 10 percent got 100 percent of income growth. That’s pathological. You can’t sustain a democracy when you have that kind of wealth inequality. You just can’t… The greed is running amok. Somebody has to be honest and tell the truth. The problem is the Democratic Party is still too tied to big money.”

Echoing a sentiment shared by many about the Democratic party’s rep for being backbone-free, West said President Obama “is going to have some spine, but it could be a two-step… It could be a speech for progressives, then move back to the center.”

For more, dig the full interview on MSNBC:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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