Rev. Al’s Redemption: The President and the Preacher Man

Hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons, dressed in a bow tie, reflected upon President Obama’s speech at the 20th-anniversary conference of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network on the second-floor ballroom of the Sheraton Hotel in midtown, his highest-profile speech since kicking off his 2012 reelection campaign. “[It] was O.K.,” he told The Observer. “But listen, I’m a big supporter.” Mr. Simmons plans to go on the road for the president, as he did in…