Here’s A Novel Idea: Support an African-American Woman for President!

It’s interesting that I have been reading various commentaries and heard a number of commentators on television state that although they are fed up with the American political system, the hypocrisy of the “Rethuglicans” and the “Dumbocrats”, they will vote for Barack Obama because among the establishment candidates, he is the best choice. They cannot vote for McCain because he has become too close to Bush lately and seems to have adopted a number of his policies. They cannot vote for Hillary because, although she is a woman, she represents the presumed privilege and entitlement of the “old guard”… plus she has been playing on the fear associated with the “race” issue, in her effort to secure the Democratic presidential nomination.

While Obama, although he is more style than substance, more rhetoric than depth, and has unashamedly made the political choice to keep his association with the Black community at arms length and has bent over backwards to project “white” American values, he is however seen as a “fresh” face… a change that America needs! Plus for many, both Black and “white”, his election to the Presidency of the United States… the first “Black” president… would be historical… and they all want consciously or subconsciously… to be a part of this historical event!

It is not surprising to me why “white” liberals America loves this guy… but for those who really want a change, or at least throw their support behind the potential for a real change from the norm… especially among the Black community… I would have thought that former Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, an African-American woman, would at least be given some consideration. In December 2007 she announced that she was seeking the presidential nomination for the Green Party of the United States. She has brought this message to the electorate:

“For far too long Black America has been at the mercy of political pimps and usurpers, particularly of the Democratic Party. It is now the year 2008, and we in Black America, in conjunction with our Brown, Red, Yellow, and White sisters and brothers have a genuine and serious choice in order to build a true people’s movement for real systemic change through the “Power to the People” campaign….” 

Mckinney has been a constant thorn in the political establishments’ side since being first elected to the Congress in 1992… to the point where it is believed that the Democratic Party itself worked against her 2006 primary re-election. Interestingly when asked about her views on Obama she stated: “We have to be careful with the black people who are put before us by the media.” 

It is understandable why the establishment controlled mainstream media has ignored her candidacy. It is understandable why she has received no support from the “white” liberal establishment. And yes, it is also understandable why she has garnered no support from the Black community! I have not seen, heard or read anything in support for her from the African-American community, especially from the so-called Black progressive blogging community. All the buzz, all the focus, has been on Obama and Clinton! Why is that? Why do I say it’s understandable that McKinney has received no support or consideration from her own community? 

Last Sunday I was watching Meet The Press and during a discussion on the Obama and Clinton campaign, it was re-iterated that the majority of Black people only started supporting Obama once he won the Iowa caucus on January 3rd, 2008. Analyzing Obama’s blowout win in South Carolina, they showed that polls in July 2007 had Clinton with 53% of the African-American support to Obama’s 33% in South Carolina. After Iowa, he carried the Black vote 78% to her 19% for his win in the South Carolina primary! His support among the African-American community surged once it became evident that enough “white” liberals and “white” independents were willing to vote for him… and he therefore had a chance to win (at least) the Democratic presidential nomination. Once again… politically… Black America was taking it’s cue from the “white” liberal establishment! In a previous post I made this comment: “There is one thing that the Democratic establishment knows they can depend on: the reaction of African-American community… they know their “negroes”… they have been studied, researched and most importantly conditioned by the Party.”

So there are certainly other choices and candidates for President, that those who are really searching for a “change” can support. No… they are not the establishment candidates and therefore are not likely to win. Another candidate for serious consideration should be Ralph Nader. McKinney (and Nader) do sincerely have the interests of ordinary people, including the Black community, at their core… more so than McCain, Clinton and certainly Obama. They do represent platforms for “real” change and not the “business as usual” mantra. So if the African-American community (at the very least) supported enmass Cynthia McKinney for President… an African-American woman running for a Party other than the two establishment Parties, this would be a true historic event… regardless if she wins or not!

Nevertheless, taking the initiative to research and expand your field of options so you can make the best, informed choice of whom to support for President is important. Voting according to your principles, instead of limiting yourself to the establishment candidates or just “jumping on the Obama bandwagon” in the hopes of having a “black” face in the White House, should be the primary objective to making sure one’s vote count for something.  

RunCynthiaRun.Org

VoteNader.Org      

The Obama Factor: The Politics of Race Baiting

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman [of any color] he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.” Geraldine Ferraro.

Ms. Ferraro made this statement a week ago and it has caused a firestorm surrounding the Democratic Presidential primaries. Although there are obvious racial overtones to the statement, there has been mild vilification of Ferraro’s comments from Hillary Clinton and other leaders of the Democratic Party establishment. There is however more focus in the media on Barak Obama’s affiliation with his spiritual mentor and the retired pastor of his church, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, than on Ferraro’s comments. Why? 1… because deep down those in the Democratic Party leadership and the media knows what she said was true. 2… this whole affair was a strategic move by the Clinton team to introduce the issue of “race” into campaign in such a way, that it could be utilized for their own benefit.  

There is a lot of things that can be said in regards to what the Democratic Party Presidential primary process is all about, but one thing it’s not is democratic! The whole institution of the Super Delegates was created by the Party, to prevent those possible contenders who are populists (or who like Obama campaign on a populist platform), from obtain the nomination (see here for details). Ferraro intention was not to make a “racist” comment as such, but a calculated, strategic move (by the Clinton campaign) to explain (complain) why the populist sounding Obama was still in contention. The truth is if he was white, “he would not be in this position” to win the Democratic Presidential nomination because the Party establishment would have shut him down long ago! (I am not too sure about her view that if he was a Black “female” candidate who was doing just as well, that “he would not be in this position”. Hillary and the Democratic Party establishment would then have to contend with both race and gender, a much taller order to try to defeat. But I digress).

The fact is Hillary was promised the nomination. She was groomed to be the 2008 Democratic Presidential candidate. The Party and her campaign team felt that the nomination would be locked up by February 5th, “Super Tuesday”… and stated as much. Then came along this Black junior senator from Illinois. They thought he was going to be a novelty at most… but  good for the image of the Democratic Party. They saw him as no threat to the established order of things. However with superior strategy, an understanding of the mood of the people, electrifying charisma and inspirational oratory skills, this Black man became “a fly in their ointment!” The problem became… as he started winning more delegates, more states, and more of the popular vote than the “back room” ordained candidate… how could the Democratic Party establishment i.e., through the Super Delegates, do what they were created to do: prevent him from securing the Presidential nomination without seeming to be disenfranchising a Black man!

Magical Mystery Tour

The magical mystery tour.
Roll up, roll up for the mystery tour.
Roll up, roll up for the mystery tour.
Roll up (and) that’s an invitation, roll up for the mystery tour.
Roll up to make a reservation, roll up for the mystery tour.
The magical mystery tour is coming to take you away,
Coming to take you away.
The magical mystery tour is dying to take you away,
Dying to take you away, take you today.

The Beatles.

As I sit on my perch above the 49th Parallel, and look down upon the U.S. Democratic Presidential primary campaign, I am amazed but not surprised at how well Barack Obama is doing. I predict that he will beat Hillary Clinton for the nomination. I read a quote by a political commentator recently who stated that “experience does not beat excitement…” True enough.

Now there may be some truth to the ideas that Barack Obama is more or less a (liberal) media creation. That he is an establishment candidate just like Hillary Clinton (well more so than John Edwards). That the Democratic Party establishment, embodied in the Super Delegates and union leaders, are now abandoning Hillary and flocking to support him primarily because he is seen as more “electable” in a contest against McCain. That he is garnering most of the Black votes because of the colour of his skin… plus which Black person will want to admit that they were on the wrong side of history, especially if he wins the big one (especially Black politicians like Rep. John Lewis from Georgia, who today switched his support from Clinton to Obama). That the various constituents of white men, white women, Latinos, young people, the old, the poor etc., have jumped on the Obama “magical mystery tour” bandwagon, because they have been dazzled more by his oratory skills and inspired by his message of hope and change, than by any substantial policy platforms. 

However it is true… an undeniable fact… that when it comes to political campaigns, the one with the better organization and planning will in most cases win the contest. There is no mystery why Obama will beat Clinton. He has had a superior strategy and a more efficient campaign organization than Clinton. “The Obama Strategy” was to make the race a marathon while Hillary and her campaign team felt in their arrogance, that it would be all over by Super Tuesday on February 5th… it would therefore be a sprint that they had already won! Obama and his strategists knew that if they could at least be close with Clinton in the number of delegates they had after Super Tuesday, then he could march to victory because it was unlikely that the Clinton camp had contingency plans to effectively carry on the fight. So after February 5th, the Obama campaign already had the people and resources in place on the ground and plans to continue their fundraising efforts to win the States with primaries after Super Tuesday. Therefore, there is nothing magical about the result: 11 straight loses for Clinton… more like azzzzz kickings!

Clinton claims that Obama doesn’t have the experience to lead. That he doesn’t have the political capital and resume that she has. This may be true and it is preferable to have a leader of a nation with experience, political capital and a proven resume. But at this stage of the political process, this contest is like an interview for a job. It is no mystery that those who are better prepared and organized due to superior planning, will “interview well” and more often than not get the job.              

The King And The President

Tags

Dr. King, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., MLK

Today is Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior’s seventy ninth birthday. Just in time for the latest political spat between Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It seems that Ms. Clinton is being taken to task because she had the audacity to suggest that Doctor King’s dream for a united America started to become real when President Lydon Baines Johnson signed into law the bills driven by the civil rights movement. Mr. Obama says that he didn’t say anything about Ms. Clinton’s ill advised comment. He admits that he thought that her comment was in poor taste. However, he never said that her comment was in poor taste. And then to top this off, Robert Johnson, the billionaire founder of the modern minstrel channel Black Entertainment Television, is coming out swinging at Barack Obama and making poorly veiled innuendos to Mr. Obama’s rather embarrassing exuberance of a younger time. It is a racial melee that is sure to get nastier as more Democratic primaries and caucuses come closer.

For many people, Dr. King is the very epitome of the black community’s struggle for civil rights. He is very symbolic. But let’s keep things in perspective. A lot of people worked to put civil rights into law. A lot of people put their very lives on the line to get civil rights implemented. A lot of people paid with their lives to do what they could to get civil rights implemented. The vast majority of people who made these sacrifices were black people. But some white people made sacrifices as well, for whatever reason they may have had. These people sat in at food counters that refused to provide them service while people from the white community assaulted the protestors verbally and physically. Protestors were assaulted and then, to add insult to their injury, arrested for their peaceful demonstration. Medgar Evers was killed in his driveway as a cowardly Byron De La Beckwith shot him from the shadows. Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to relinquish her seat on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama and sparked the movement. Many black people were assaulted with police dogs, sprayed with fire hoses, beaten with police batons, and punished for being the kind of uppity niggers that would have the audacity to believe that they had the same value as white people. Little black girls were blown up in churches. People helping the black community register to vote were pulled over by the local sheriff and disappeared only to have their bodies found floating in the river days later.

Through this struggle, gangs of white people worked to keep the status quo and protect white privilege and fought to continue the subjugation of black people. Amazingly, many people with a white mindset today mimic this behavior of their white elders and segregationist ancestors. I don’t know of any white people who lost their lives on a dark two lane road because they were working hard to protect white privilege. I don’t know of many white people who were hanged from trees for fighting to keep black people subjugated. I don’t know of any white people who protested in quiet dignity and with great courage by crossing the racial divide and going into the black community to demand that white privilege be protected while black people assaulted them verbally and physically. White people didn’t have the police beating them with clubs and batons for fighting for the continuation of inequality and racial disparity. But so many people who fought for the black community were tortured and were killed at the hands of white people for what they believed in. Yet propaganda teaches us that blacks are more violent.

Although he was a significant figure head for change on behalf of the black community Doctor King did not do it alone. If he were alive today I don’t believe Doctor King would beat his chest and say that he was responsible in bringing civil rights laws to the America’s legal books. I would like to believe that genuine humility would keep the civil rights symbol from minimizing the efforts and contributions of so many people. He was not the singularity of the civil rights movement. The unity of the black community was that singularity.

Whatever civil rights laws exist today, watered down as they may be with claims of reverse discrimination and special treatment for minorities and unfair treatment for white people because the white community is obviously suffering from racial discrimination when compared to its black counterpart, would not have gotten on the books without significant help from politicians. Unfortunately, during this period in America’s history, there were no black politicians at the federal level to fight for the enactment of these laws. The way the American legal system works, in order to get these laws on the books, white politicians had to be persuaded to work for this cause. Initially, the protest of our elders and ancestors were designed not to change the minds of the local white racist who would see the errors of their ways and offer blacks a seat at their table of privilege. These peaceful protests were designed to obtain the compassion of people with the political muscle to make the change on behalf of the black community. Change was coming. The violence of white people couldn’t stop it. And it was better to make that change civilly, before black people decide to meet white people’s violence with violence of their own. Blacks and whites had to work together to get this accomplished.

Doctor King isn’t solely responsible for civil rights. He didn’t get help from President Johnson. The two didn’t do it together. The civil rights took a concerted effort from a variety of different sources from all over this country. A lot of people sowed the seeds that bore this fruit. It didn’t come from one person, two people, a hundred, or even a million. To say otherwise minimizes the sacrifices of a lot of people. A lot of these people were black. A lot of them were white. But it is one of the very few times the people in this country worked together to offset this disease of white privilege and black subjugation. To argue otherwise is to demonstrate a very juvenile understanding of the entire process of the civil rights struggle.

Unlike a lot of American presidents or presidential families, the Clintons have done better than most with respect to issues associated with racial matters. I know eight years ago I didn’t worry so much about working, housing, medical care, violation of my civil rights, and the like. They have made some glaring mistakes but they have also made some significant achievements for the black community. To suggest that the Clintons would bold facedly disrespect Doctor King is powerfully disingenuous. To publicly suggest that Barack Obama formerly indulged in behavior that he had the courage to admit and put behind him is out of line. People here have the opportunity to do something great that has never been done before in the history of the world. In a few months time the system that has perpetuated the epitome of white male privilege can be changed with our first president that is someone else. But instead, we are degenerating into the typical mudslinging so ingrained in the contest for a position in the American political system. None of this is doing anything to convince me to vote for either one and everything to make me look elsewhere. John Edwards is actually looking better and better.

Super Delegates: The “Undemocratic” Democratic Party Primaries

This truly surprised me… but then again… it really didn’t. Check out the articles below.

What role for Democratic Super Delegates 

The Tyranny of Super Delegates 

The “Fix” is in for Hillary 

Democratic Convention Watch: Super Delegates