More great political points from our favorite philosopher/hip hop artist

Just when I thought I could let out a sigh of relief that the American left had finally produced an intelligent, articulate political candidate who truly understands the need for organizing and recognizes the progressive potential in the vast majority of Americans who don't live in NYC and don't care, here comes my favorite public "intellectual" to rain on my parade. According to the great philospher Cornell West (we know he's great cuz Skip Gates says so, and we know Skippy's great cuz Cornell says so) Barak has no "authenticity" with black America. He speaks from a free immigrant's perspective, not a forced immigrant's perspective. His life story, political beliefs, let alone his incredibly successful work as a labor and civil rights lawyer do not speak to black America. Oh yeah, and an Ivy League professor's recording hip-hop albums and giving "shouts out" to his homies in the acknowledgements to (very poor) philosophical treatises are all sorts of authentic. Its time for the left (who West with his incredible social conservatism and occasional resorts to "welfare mom" ideology should not be considered any part of) to finally try to forget this damn curse of searching for authentic politicians and instead try to find leaders and build a movement that actually attempts to form a radical politics around contesting state and economic institutions of authority, not subject positions, tenure lines, or the western philosophical canon. (for those who want to see how this search for authenticity doomed what little political potential there was in the 60s generation of student activism, check out Doug Rossinow's excellent The Politics of Authenticity (Columbia UP))