The Reverend Al Who? (Updated And Bumped)

Keith B. Richburg, Washington Post, fights to keep his Rolodex relevant, and explores the issue of the Reverend Al Sharpton’s relevance:

Sharpton has “been eclipsed, because Obama puts guys like Sharpton in the shadow,” said Fred Siegel, a historian of New York City at the Cooper Union college in Manhattan. “Suppose Obama is elected president. He’s terrible for Sharpton, because that takes away Sharpton’s job. He’s a kind of racial ambulance chaser. It’s hard to engage in that game if there’s another powerful African American politician.”

But Sharpton has thrived this year with his high-decibel microphone-to-megaphone activism, even in the face of a federal investigation of his 2004 campaign finances. In an interview punctuated by interruptions from his cellphone, he scoffed at the notion that he is being overshadowed or is any less relevant.

The Reverend Sharpton argues that he is still relevant.   Then Mrs. Clinton argues that she has relevant experience at something besides baking cookies.   Better than argument, we need evidence.

Let us look at what Richburg  presents as evidence of the Reverend Sharpton’s relevance.

• Sharpton is still organizing protests. That and three dollars and fifty cents will get the good Reverend a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
• ISharpt0n got Don Imus fired.  So after a brief vacation, Imus is back on the air, and dwarfs Sharpton in the ratings.
• Sharpton protested the treatment of the Jena Six.   They are still in jail.
• Politicians still seek Sharpton’s endorsement.   Any politician actually accepting any endorsement from Sharpton should be made to explain what role, if any, Sharpton will have in their administration.

Sharpton gets media attention because editors have not forced their lazy reporters to update their Rolodexs.

Michelle comments, “Just what we needed to close out the year: Another Al Sharpton suck-up piece by the MSM.”

Hat Tips: article, Memeorandum; photo, Michelle Malkin.

Addenudum and Bump: 

Meryl Yourish accuses Richburg of posting a “sanitized Cliff Notes”  story:

Keith Richburg has a front page report Not Relevant? Sharpton Scoffs at the Idea in yesterday’s Washington Post. Clearly the reporter scoffs too. There’s a sub-head line
“Activist’s Busy Calendar and Ringing Phone Speak to His Role in Civil Rights” which would have been more correct if it read “… His Role in Self-Promotion.” The article is a highly selective view of Sharpton’s career until now.

 It is time for Sharpton to leave the public stage.