COMMENTARY | President Barack Obama called up fire and brimstone on blacks unwilling to "take off your bedroom slippers" and "put on your marching shoes."
The "marching shoes" reference intended to capture the civil rights spirit and seemed a matter of political desperation, according to Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy.
But the "bedroom slippers" allusion was baffling. Was the "bedroom slippers" allusion supposed to be a metaphor for laziness or complacency?
Hadn't black communities that supported Obama in 2008 demonstrated considerable patience for a segment of the population experiencing 16.7 percent unemployment?
In college, I shared an apartment for a couple of years with two black students, one from Bristol, Pa., and the other from Westfield, N.J. I'd never known either one to wear bedroom slippers, but both were hard-working and made something of themselves.
Years later, I shared an apartment with another black man. He was one of the most ambitious guys I've ever met, was ultimately successful and didn't own a pair of bedroom slippers.
Around that same time period, I dated a black woman for a few months. I don't know if she became successful or not but she worked hard when I knew her and I never saw her in bedroom slippers.
For several years, I was an amateur boxing coach. The majority of our kids were black or Hispanic, as were most of the coaches.
People who don't like to work hard never show up twice in a boxing gym. When amateur boxers have extra money, they buy boxing shoes, not bedroom slippers.
I'm not an expert on minority culture, but allow that I don't fit so well into the media stereotype of a television Republican conservative.
From my observations, I believe many blacks are instinctually conservative in most areas except politics, where they have been persuaded by the magic fairy dust of politicians that they are Democrats.
President Obama's suggestion of laziness or complacency at the Congressional Black Caucus was something I'd never observed through my own admittedly narrow cultural window.
The only black I've ever seen wearing bedroom slippers was comedian Bill Cosby in a portrayal of a black middle-class television family. Yet, everyone knows that the real-life Cosby is not a bedroom slipper kind of guy.
Cosby's early year struggles make even Horatio Alger's characters look like slackers. For his well-intended exhortations to the black community, Cosby has been characterized by some blacks as a "race traitor."
Yet, there are signs Cosby's message has gotten through, with Philadelphia Democratic Mayor Michael Nutter recently telling minority youth to "pull your pants up and buy a belt."
Nutter's fulminations are graphic but do not singularly apply to minority youth.
The truly wondrous thing is that Nutter was not accused of being a "race traitor." Moreover, Whyatt Mondesire, head of the Philadelphia NAACP, even said it "took courage" for Nutter to deliver the message.
I would expect President Obama has had considerably more exposure to the black community than I have had. Yet, it's clear Obama's exhortations had more to do with capturing the black vote than on solving 16.7 percent unemployment among black adults and 25 percent among black youth.
"Stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying, we are going to press on, we've got work to do," President Obama told the CBC audience.
Seems like harsh advice from a president who spends so much time blaming his administration's frustrations and failures on a president who is nearly three years gone.
Anthony Ventre is a freelance writer who has written for weekly and daily newspapers and several online publications. He is a frequent Yahoo contributor, concentrating in news and financial writing.
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