First, a PSA for those of you born in the 70s or later: Bobby Womack was a musician and songwriter whose career spanned the 1950s to a decade ago. He performed with Sam Cooke — he also married and divorced Cooke’s widow — wrote songs for both the Rolling Stones — “It’s All Over Now” — and Mos Def. Through the years, Womack dipped into R&B, jazz, soul, rock and roll, doo-wop and gospel. He’s a member of the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame.
To bestselling author, public intellectual, Baptist preacher and Vanderbilt University professor Michael Eric Dyson, Womack’s hit “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” is a message to the progressives who’ve said they’ll sit out this election cycle — or cast a protest vote — over Joe Biden’s handling of Israel and Gaza.
“I’m with these college protesters. I support their right to do what they got to do,” says Dyson. “But if you are upset with Joe Biden because of his distressing and problematic relationship with Israel, think about Bobby Womack: ‘If you think you’re lonely now, wait until tonight.’”
“This is a Bobby Womack moment … If you think it’s bad under Joe Biden, wait until Trump comes in here … If you think it hurts now, if you think you’re upset with what Biden thinks about Israel, what will you do with the man who relocated the consulate for the capital for America’s interests in Israel to Jerusalem?”
Dyson believes Biden needs to change his approach. The president, he says, should go on the offensive, be “feisty” and repeat his message in the tradition of Baptist preachers like himself. “Tell ’em what you’re gonna tell ’em. Tell ’em. And tell ’em what you told ’em,” he says.
The trio — former Mayors Michael Nutter of Philadelphia and Kasim Reed of Atlanta and Citizen Co-founder Larry Platt — join Dyson in talking truth about the federal judiciary, ageism, polling and the Black vote.
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