Politics
Rev. Al Sharpton: the power player
Rev. Al Sharpton. PHOTO/File
The Rev. Al Sharpton is lord of all he surveys.
Everybody wants to be on Sharpton’s good side these days. No fewer than five Cabinet officers and a senior White House official went to this year’s convention to kiss his ring. President Obama spoke at last year’s conference and has sought Sharpton’s advice on policy.
Sharpton has a show on MSNBC five nights a week, and he doles out airtime to a procession of politicians and journalists.
Wednesday night brought the sweetest moment yet in Sharpton’s long and controversial career: the announcement that Florida authorities would charge Trayvon Martin’s shooter. Sharpton, at the request of the boy’s parents, had done more than anyone else to bring the case national attention.
