There is a level of profound wisdom in Belafonte’s remarks that I rarely hear.

I would have one nuanced difference in what he has to say. In his remarks about what he learned in the story told to him by Eleanor Roosevelt, he keeps mentioning the need to make explicit the threat to Obama of not promoting the liberal ideals that we wish he would promote more forcefully.

I would change that to the need to make more explicit the support to Obama that is there if he would promote the ideals that we wish he would promote. He needs to see that there is intelligent and effective promotion of the ideals besides his own voice. We need to give him the courage that would come from knowing he is not alone in fighting the battle.

Another way to look at this is that there are powerful forces pulling Obama in the wrong direction. He needs the help of his supporters to create a larger force to pull him in the correct direction. So it is not an issue of punishment that his supporters need to think about. They need to think about providing the countervailing force. For it to be effective, this force must be visible to everyone, not just to Obama.

This political blog is my feeble attempt to do just that.