Earlier this week the current President of The United States saw fit to invite the Reverand Al Sharpton to a sit-down in the Oval Office only hours after getting hammered in mid-term elections, completely losing Congress to the Republican Party after holding a voting majority in both houses when elected in 2008.
The meeting was to discuss “ObamaCare implementation, education and criminal justice issues” according to a White House official assigned to release details, but who then refused to comment on whether a replacement for former Attorney General Eric Holder was discussed as reported in numerous media outlets.
Then on Saturday, Obama formally nominated Loretta Lynch as his next U.S. attorney general, describing the two-time U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York as a “tough, fair and independent” lawyer.
The MSNBC commentator and recent recipient of a “fine set of new clothes” after his massive 160 lb. weight loss confirmed that he was working with the President on Eric Holder’s replacement and met with Lynch in her office on August 21 to discuss her thoughts with Esaw Garner, wife of Eric Garner who died at the hands of a New York police officer who is now the subject of a police brutality investigation.
The Reverend was quoted discussing his work with the President recently “We are engaged in immediate conversations with the White House on deliberations over a successor whom we hope will continue in the general direction of Attorney General Holder.” Two hours later he re-phrased his comments after a reaction from the White House about careful wording, “We did not say we are in the decision making. We are in conversation to reach out to them to have meetings about what we want to see in a successor.”
Al Sharpton and the POTUS having a moment. pic.twitter.com/NKo8Va2vsh
— Andrew Lopata (@androozbrane) November 8, 2014
President Barack Obama spends quite a bit of time consulting with Sharpton and other prominent black leaders as opposed to the infrequent face-to-face dialogues he has with members of the Republican Party. Sharpton in particular has the President’s ear regarding many of the decisions needed to be made that will direct the course of our country. Obama is often fond of saying “You can do business with that guy”, which often concerns members of his staff who still remember Sharpton’s infamous advocacy of the Tawana Brawley hoax that propelled him into national prominence years ago, his reputation as a race baiter and historical self-promoter.
Still, the slimmed down version of Sharpton was admittedly consulted actively at the onset of the crisis in Ferguson, Missouri.
After connecting with Obama’s intimate presidential advisor, Valerie Jarrett, Sharpton reportedly received free rein at the White House. At the beginning of the political disaster, the White House relied heavily on Sharpton for inside information on what was happening on the ground while he was vacationing at Jarret’s condo in the exclusive Oak Bluffs section of Martha’s Vineyard, not far from where Obama and his family were staying. According to Politico Magazine, Jarrett quizzed him mercilessly, asking: How bad was the violence? What outside groups were involved in stirring up trouble? Where could Sharpton be used to best advantage? What did the Brown family want the White House to do?
Sharpton has built an entire career on exploiting tragedies like the one in Ferguson but he also believes that he knows the way to maximize his position, or those he advises, in a political maelstrom. During the previously mentioned Tawana Brawley hoax, Perry Winston, a top Sharpton advisor told Federal Investigators that the Reverand “acknowledged to me early on that “The Brawley story do sound like bull****, but it don’t matter. We’re building a movement. This is the perfect issue. Because you’ve got whites on blacks. That’s an easy way to stir up all the deprived people, who would want to believe and who would believe — and all you’ve got to do is convince them — that all white people are bad. Then you’ve got a movement…. It don’t matter whether any whites did it or not. Something happened to her … even if Tawana don’t it to herself.”
Now our President is taking his advice regarding the chief lawyer of the United States Government. No announcement has been made yet on whether or not Sharpton will be attending the upcoming Ferguson riots.