Cornel West Blasts Obama, Two-Party State: The American People "Deserve Better"

From FireDogLake, lengthy quotations from an interview with Cornel West on Democracy Now:

Friday Civil Rights activist Cornel West told Democracy Now!‘s Juan Gonzalez that, like President Bush before him, President Obama’s policies discriminate against African-Americans. West said the President’s neglect of the poor and of poverty programs has enormous racist effect, in that they disproportionately hurt Blacks, who are more likely to be more impoverished than Whites. . . .

“… Citizens are so disgusted with the system in which we find ourselves … In the last election, 53% of the voters had no confidence in the Democratic Party and 52% of the voters had no confidence in the Republican Party. … We’re seeing the slow demise of a two-party system. The Tea Party movement on the Right is going to end up just as disappointed with the Republican establishment as progressives like myself are disappointed with the Obama Administration. You’re beginning to see possibilities of new kinds of motion, momentum, maybe even movements against the Two-Party system, because the two Parties themselves are so corrupt: Mean-spirited cold-hearted Republicans and spineless milquetoast Democrats. What about poor people?! What about working people?! They deserve better. We deserve better.”

Dr. West is Professor of African-American studies and Religion at Princeton University.