One of several laudatory pieces about MSNBC host and Ferguson activist Al Sharpton released recently, the New York Times outlined the close relationship between President Barack Obama and the reverend.
Sharpton told the Times that he met Obama in 2003 while marching in a Chicago parade, andrekindled the friendship at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
Obama has said multiple times, “You can do business with that guy,” in reference to Sharpton.
Apparently, the type of “business” he means is a mutually beneficial relationship. Sharpton gets the ear of the most powerful man in the U.S. and Obama gets a popular defender.
The Times describes it here:
But a phone call from Mr. Obama persuaded Mr. Sharpton to scrap the visit.
“I called him back and said, ‘I’m not going,’ ” Mr. Sharpton told Glenn Thrush of Politico Magazine. “He told people he never forgot that.”
Mr. Sharpton had allies in the campaign — first and foremost Patrick Gaspard, the eventual White House political director — but he won an especially powerful convert in Ms. Jarrett, Mr. Obama’s closest adviser, for his behind-the-scenes work to rally support, and tamp down opposition, before the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
He is rewarded with invitations to White House Super Bowl parties, where he laughs it up with the president. Mr. Sharpton recalled an “amazing night” when he took his daughter to the Super Bowl party and she talked to Michelle Obama for 45 minutes. “I don’t even remember who played,” Mr. Sharpton said.
Mr. Sharpton is not only a special guest. He is also a special host to the president, who has appeared as the keynote speaker at the National Action Network’s convention. Five cabinet members, including Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., spoke at the convention in April. On the other side, Mr. Sharpton provides the president with protection from his critics in the African-American community.”
Sadly for the rest of us, the friendship and Sharpton’s moment in the spotlight just means that we have to see him a lot more frequently on television.
(H/t Mediaite)
