As boring as the presidential debate on Wednesday night was, everybody was talking it about on Thursday. Everybody except our political commentator, Tavis Smiley. I’m not trying to put him on blast, but I have to wonder why on earth the man who is never at a loss for words -- especially when it comes to his feelings about the candidates’ accountability to black people -- didn’t say a word about that debate.

The commentary he did on breast cancer was warm and moving, and I know it had an impact on anyone who has lost a loved one the disease. I’m one of those people. My heart goes out to Cheryl, the woman on Tavis’ staff who is bravely undergoing chemo treatments, and we are all praying for the best. As we celebrate “Take a Loved One to the Doctor Day,” we hope that his commentary will encourage women to do self exams and to get their yearly mammograms without fail. As Tavis pointed out, black women die from breast cancer more than white women do. Early detection of the disease will help close the gap.

But why didn’t Tavis say anything about the presidential debate? Granted, he told us he went to the Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige concert and was out very late. But he’s got to have TiVo or DVR or, at the very least, an assistant who could have given him the highlights of the evening. My theory is that he deliberately didn’t mention the debate, and that is troubling to me. It’s troubling because whether you agree or disagree with everything that comes out of his mouth, no one does political commentary better than Tavis. For years, he has deciphered political mumble-jumble and put it in a tight, concise five-minute package that even I could understand. Sometimes all I could do was marvel and say, “Break it down, Tavis, break it down!” I miss those days.

When I looked at the responses to Tavis’ Tuesday commentary when he told us he was leaving the show because he had so many new and exciting opportunities to pursue, a lot of you flat out didn’t buy it. You held firm to your belief that he couldn’t take the criticism he was getting for being critical of Obama. I have to take him at his word and believe that he believes it’s time for him to move on.

But before does move on at the end of June, I want him to help me keep the promise I made to you all. I told you that he would keep doing what he had been doing -- saying things that made a lot of you upset. It’s not like the Tavis I know to retreat in the heat of battle. The Tavis I know fights even harder when he’s backed into a corner. The Tavis I know would have and should have been outraged at the presidential debate, and he would have gladly told us why.

I hope all of you who complained bitterly about the way Tavis was doing his job are starting to see what he was trying do. With no heat on the candidates to discuss issues important to black people, we may just see more of the same.

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