Chris Matthews won't be working alone. Back in November, the Hardball host said it was his job to make Barack Obama's presidency a success. Today, another TV journalist expressed a similar sentiment. Tavis Smiley has declared that "we're all working for Barack Obama" and that "we have to help make Obama a great president."

The host of Tavis Smiley on PBS was a guest on Morning Joe. Reacting to Harry Reid's claim last week that he doesn't work for Barack Obama, Smiley said Reid should "put down the crack pipe." Smiley added "we're all working for Barack Obama." It soon became clear that was no passing quip, but a literal description of how he sees his role.

TAVIS SMILEY: Harry Reid, put down the crack pipe. You don't work for Barack Obama? We're all working for Barack Obama.

SMILEY: I want Barack Obama to be a great president. I want him to be a great president. I believe that he can be a great president. But only if we help make him a great president. It is not left to his own devices, it's not going to happen. We have to help make him a great president. And that's not casting aspersion on him. No president who was ever great wasn't helped in that process. There is no Abraham Lincoln without Frederick Douglas. And we could do this all day long. Every great president had people pushing them, had people helping them and encouraging them, empowering them to become great presidents. So I believe Obama can be. I want him to be. But we have to help make this guy a great president.

SMILEY: There's so much hype. So much hope. So much expectation. I don't want him to falter in stepping into his moment because the challenges--to your point--are so great. And that's not just a black thing. That's an American thing, and I'm concerned, and I'm not the only one obviously who feels this way, I'm concerned about the people around him about what the people allow him, all these Clintonites. There's a difference between being visionary and being revisionist. And what I'm sensing is, that we got a lot of folk that want to take us back to where we were, that's revisionist. Can we be visionary? Can we really step into what this moment is? And that's why I say I want him to be a great president. But we got to help. We can't abandon him now. We can't abandon our posts. What are we going to do to help make him a great president?

Tavis Smiley of PBS: 'We're All Working For Barack Obama'
By Mark Finkelstein (Bio | Archive) January 9, 2009 - 10:38 ET
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2009/01/09/tavis-smiley-pbs-were-all-working-barack-obama