Al Sharpton, host of MSNBC’s PoliticsNation, appeared on The Daily Show, where he discussed the ‘great achievement’ of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Herman Cain’s presidential candidacy, and the ideological criteria for what constitutes an African-American “achievement.”
At the open of the segment, Sharpton joked that he likes his new talk showed because “I can be me; I’m not trying to act objective.” After host Jon Stewart expressed moderate support for the Occupy Wall Street – I’m very much interested in the message that’s being articulated and the feeling,” he said – Sharpton argued that “they’ve already achieved something great.” He explained that “they’ve changed the conversation because, three months ago, the whole country was on the Republican discussion of deficit reduction.” Sharpton attributed the fact that “we’re now talking about jobs, we’re now talking about poverty” in Congress. He praised the protesters for “[getting] us on the conversation that we need to be talking about.”
Of course, the debt-ceiling debate had a significant bearing on jobs and the economy and both parties have talked about jobs over the last few years – including Republicans, who have submitted several relevent legislative items.
Sharpton introduced Cain into the conversation to support Occupy Wall Street, saying that Cain, “talking about 9-9-9, should drop one ‘nine’ and talk about the 99 percent.” Sharpton also acknowledged that the hypothetical possibility of Cain’s head-to-head race with President Obama “is an achievement” for the civil rights movement. But then he backed off of that position, saying Cain’s rise is “just like Clarence Thomas. Is it an achievement having Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court? I don’t think so,” Sharpton said, because he doesn’t believe their ideas “won’t help Americans, including African-Americans.”
Sharpton framed his opposition to Cain and Thomas in context of his opposition to police brutality. “I made a lot of my reputation fighting police brutality,” Sharpton said and joked, “Do I really feel better that a black cop beat me over the head than a white cop? No!”
Sharpton also criticized the notion that he had supported Obama based on race, declaring, “I wouldn’t support Cain if he was running against a white guy.” Sharpton added later that Cain “used blacks as a backboard to get some right wing votes, and we understand when we’re being used.”
“I blame [President Obama] for not fighting more aggressively the Republicans,” Sharpton said when asked what he might criticize about Obama’s presidency. “He’s a much more calm, reasoned guy that wants to work with these guys than I am.”
