That is why it pains me to say that Smiley and West have let me down. Sure, I'm not really anyone important to them, but I represent a generation of African-American men who looked up to West and Smiley – only to see them damage their legacies by engaging in embarrassing public roasts of President Obama.

West has called Obama a "Rockefeller Republican in blackface" and both recently criticized Al Sharpton's support of the president as an example of him being "on the Obama's plantation". These inflammatory remarks only discredit whatever valid criticisms Smiley and West may have about how President Obama has conducted himself over the past five years. And that's a shame because the two men would otherwise have so much to offer the country as true intellectuals.

These comments are made only more disappointing because they seem to come from a place of personal disdain, more than any desire to push an intelligent discussion. West has gone on record saying his initial rift with President Obama came from the fact that he couldn't get tickets for his family to go to the inauguration. Smiley threw a tantrum in 2008 when President Obama couldn't make his State of the Black Union event (also saying "no thanks" to a proposal to have Michelle Obama come in his place).

These two shots at the Smiley and West egos inform their rhetoric about the president, thrusting their "criticism" into the territory of "bashing". Seriously, one of the foremost philosophers of our time has been insulting the leader of the free world because he didn't get a "hook-up"? Is that what's really important here?

Biden has powerful Democratic backers on this: The highest-ranking African American member of Congress, House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), told reporters Wednesday he understands where Biden is coming from and that he, too, worked with people such as Strom Thurmond. Other black Democrats in Congress tried to frame Biden’s words in charitable ways.

“I think the sentiment is something that we all know in the legislative body — that you work with people you don’t agree with,” Rep. Cedric L. Richmond (D-La.), a co-chairman of Biden’s campaign, said.

The Clyburn comment in particular is helpful to Biden. If there’s one friend in Congress you want to make as a Democratic presidential candidate, it’s probably Clyburn. He rules South Carolina Democratic politics, and South Carolina is the first early voting state with a majority black Democratic primary voters. Biden and his opponents will be campaigning in South Carolina this weekend at Clyburn’s famous fish fry.