As an unreconstructed Malcolmite, I have never been a member of the Barack Obama brigade – those souls who convinced themselves that his being in the White House was going to make a difference for Black folks.

It still is an unexplained puzzle to me as to how a Black man who was basically unknown in 2003 was elected president of the United States in 2008. That would be difficult enough for a White man to do. For a Black man to do it would require the support of powerful forces in this country. It is still not clear exactly who was the wind beneath the wings of then-Senator Obama in 2008.

Defended him anyway

Despite my misgivings and suspicions about the president’s cultural connections with Black people, in several columns I have defended him when he is under attack from the more ardent racists and White supremacists.

That being said, I now admit to being highly teed off by his consistent track record, when speaking to Black audiences, of lecturing and scolding. He did it again at the recent Congressional Black Caucus dinner when he demanded that Black people stop "whining," stop "grumbling," stop "crying" and get joyfully behind his re-election campaign.

As has been noted by Rep. Maxine Waters and others, he doesn’t use that tone when speaking to other racial, ethnic or religious groups. For instance, he doesn’t urge Latinos to stop whining about immigration reform; he doesn’t use that approach when speaking to mostly White labor unions whose membership, more often than not, allowed politicians to persuade them to vote against their economic interests for racial reasons.

A free ride

Another group of people whom the president never lecture or scold, despite their relentless, financially rewarding attacks on him, are Black conservative George Schulyer clones such as Herman Cain, Larry Elder, Rep. Allen West, Gregory Kane, Thomas Sowell, Star Parker, Walter Williams and their cohorts.

Schulyer, considered the godfather of Black conservatism, wrote the following in the first three sentences of his book, "Black and Conservative:" "A Black person learns very early that his color is a disadvantage in a world of White folks. This being an unalterable circumstance, one also learns very early to make the best of it. So the lifetime endeavor of the intelligent Negro is how to be reasonably happy though colored."

There is little doubt that most Black people in the United States need leadership that is ready to provide some tough love. Too many of us have, for the past 40 years or so, been living in fantasyland, accusing people who don’t believe that we are now living in a post-racial society of being "stuck in the 1960s."

We need a leadership that will thoroughly examine and update the policies advocated by people such as Brother Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. DuBois, Chancellor Williams, Harold Cruise, Ella Baker, C. DeLores Tucker, Booker T. Washington, Mary McLeod Bethune, Dr. Benjamin Mays, Fannie Lou Hamer and others who had a serious track record of commitment to our political, economic, cultural and educational interests, and who proposed action-oriented guidelines for individual and group progress that we routinely ignore.

No track record

President Obama has no such track record. Thus he is in no position to be lecturing and scolding us on how to promote and/or protect our interests. I believe that he takes that approach so that the Whites watching him on television will say, "See? He’s telling those Black people to stop bugging us about discrimination."

It’s way past time for the president to take his own advice, put away his bedroom slippers, and put on his marching shoes. Maybe if he had done so a year ago, he wouldn’t be in the precarious political position he’s in today.

By the way, those Black folks who say that President Obama has broken promises made to us during his 2008 campaign are totally wrong. He didn’t make a single promise to us. If he had done so, he probably wouldn’t have been elected president.

Contact A. Peter Bailey at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or 202-716-4560.