Talk-show host Tavis Smiley continued his criticism of President Barack Obama, saying that "black people lost ground in every single leading economic category during the Obama years."
"We’ve been at the back of the bus," he told
The Huffington Post on Friday. "Every other constituency has spoken their truth and made demands of this president.
"Right now, the Hispanic community, for obvious reasons, is livid with him for pushing back once again something he should’ve done, I think, a long time ago," Smiley said, referring to the White House's recent announcement that Obama would announce his executive actions on immigration after the November elections.
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"But the data is going to indicate — I said this before and I’m not happy about this. I don’t celebrate this," he continued. "I don’t say it as a way of demonizing the president or casting an aspersion on him, but the data is going to indicate that black people lost ground in every single leading economic category during the Obama years."
Smiley, 50, hosts a late-night talk show on PBS. He has been an Obama critic throughout his term, along with author and Union Theological Seminary professor Cornel West.
Shortly after President Obama's re-election in 2012, Chicago Public Media canceled their program, "Smiley & West," citing concerns about fairness and balance.
Smiley, who has written a new book about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
made the same claim in January about the lack of African-American progress under Obama, saying "on that regard, the president ought to be held responsible."
In his Huffington Post interview, Smiley said that he respects Obama despite his attacks.
"As Cornel West and I said many years ago, I respect the president," Smiley said. "I will protect the president against white supremacist attacks or anything else he’s unfairly targeted for.
"So you’re respecting, you’re protecting — but you’re correcting when he’s wrong," he added. "Not because he’s Barack Obama, but because he’s the president."
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