When it comes to the president, we have to respect him, we have to protect him, and we have to correct him. And in my career, since he'd been on the national stage at least, I've had - I've always respected the president.

On December 12 2008 Smiley received the Du Bois Medal from Harvard University's W. Every week after meeting Bradley's staff Smiley wrote a letter to the mayor's office asking for an internship and once flew to Los Angeles to appeal. Controversy over Presidential Candidate Barack Obama
On April 11 2008 Tavis Smiley announced that he would resign in June 2008 as a commentator on the Tom Joyner Morning Show.

They were featured together interviewing musician Bill Withers in the 2009 documentary film Still Bill. Smiley became a radio commentator in 1991 and starting in 1996 he hosted the talk show BET Talk (later renamed BET Tonight) on BET. Tavis Smiley (/ˈtævɨs/; born September 13 1964) is an American talk show host author liberal political commentator entrepreneur advocate and philanthropist.