Obama Wins Big in South Carolina & the Bill and Hill Show Continues

I really wanted to talk about something other than Obama's huge win over Hillary Clinton in South Carolina....but to paraphrase Don Corleone,
"Every time I try to get out it pulls me back in."

Karen Tumulty "Obama's Win Reshapes the Race" in Time magazine stated:

[O]bama's impressive win meant all the more given the nature of politics in South Carolina, a state whose history is fraught with race and class. Some observers wondered if the state's voters were becoming more racially polarized in the final days before the primary. That speculation was fueled by one late McClatchy/MSNBC survey that suggested Obama could expect to receive no more than 10% of the white vote, half of what the same poll had shown only a week before. But Obama instead won about a quarter of the white vote overall, and around half of young white voters, on his way to a commanding 55% of the total vote (Clinton finished second with roughly 27% and Edwards came in third with 18%). The excitement around Obama's candidacy pushed turnout to record levels — a kind of surge, says Obama strategist Cornell Belcher, that "is something only Barack Obama is capable of bringing to the table."


The issue of whether Bill Clinton is a loose cannon who needs to be reigned in was discussed in the New York Times article, "Campaign tries to shift ex-president's disposition after Obama's latest win" by Patrick Healy which reported:

[Y]et some advisers expressed concern that Mr. Clinton might prove difficult to rein in, citing the latest furor over the weekend after he compared Mr. Obama’s victories to Jesse Jackson ’s in 1984 and 1988 on Saturday, though Mr. Jackson did not approach the wide margin of Mr. Obama’s win.

Advisers said Mr. Clinton’s remark was an off-the-cuff reference, but it was debated on the Sunday news shows and in the blogosphere as a possible effort by the Clinton camp to diminish Mr. Obama’s success in South Carolina as simply the result of a black candidate drawing support from a heavily black electorate.

Bill Clinton's outbursts are certainly undignified and will negatively impact his post-president legacy. But what is important right now is that his involvement in Hillary's campaign is turning off voters. Bill is reminding folks about his willingness to triangulate and bend the truth to win. Beside Bill, Hillary looks like the "little woman" standing by her irrational husband. Together Hillary and Bill look, as one listserv poster said, a "2 headed monster from the past that is not welcomed back."

Obama has gotten a strong endorsement from JFK's daughter Caroline Kennedy and endorsements from Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry....look to see more. After Bill's diss of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, The Black Establishment needs to re-assess its allegiance to Hillary. One need not be a fan of Jackson's or Obama's to know that Clintonville looks a little shysty...particularly since Hill was trying to get Florida and Michigan delegates included although she originally agreed with the DNC that they not be. BTW, what is the deal with Edwards? He has been left in the dust although he is speaking about a number of issues such as the outsourcing, healthcare, the income gap that impact Black Americans.

What the Clinton camp seems to underestimating is the distaste that folks have from slash and burn politics. I talked to one Black woman in Nevada who said that after this nonsense with the Hill and Bill show that if Hillary is the Democratic nominee she would cross over and vote for McCain (assuming that he's the GOP nominee). This is not the first time that I have heard this exact sentiment. For those unwilling cross party lines, they may just stay home which will aid a GOP victory.

Talk is cheap, but if this anger with the Clintons translates to action in November, the Democratic party and the Clintons will be paying a huge price in the form of a defeat.

Also Check out a hard-hitting commentary about the Clintons from Humanity Critic a blogger at Vibe.com Bill and Hillary Thanks for the Wake-Up Call.

Obama & Clinton--What Photos Reveal

This picture is circulating around the Internet along with the following text:

I realize that some folks are supporting Hillary Clinton and if you are, you still need to read this. To me this photo is a picture of a strong man who, in the face of a setback, is cherishing a moment with the support of astrong woman who is 100% behind him. Together they are making history. This is the America I want to live in. This is what our families should be like and can be like. If this photo moved you the way it moved me, forward it, especially to those in South Carolina and remind them that Hillary is not Bill and to vote for Obama in the South Carolina primaries and on Super Tuesday.

The Obama phenomenon has moved beyond the presidential election and moved into the realm of the public representation of Blackness. Obama is all of the things that a Black person supposedly isn't: brilliant, calm, ambitious, rationale, in love with his wife and committed to his family. He's also a proud Black man who does not need to shout to folks that he's a proud Black man.

When you juxtapose this picture of the Obamas---a vibrant young couple with that of a dozing, old looking Bill Clinton at a MLK, Jr. Memorial....it seems like the choice is between a fresh future and a stale past.

The Perpetual Election and Tuning Out

I have to admit that I am already tired of the presidential campaign. I used to wonder how folks could tune out of such an important event...now I totally understand. First, it seems like this election has been going on forever. I think that front-loaded calendar is a big mistake....what are we going to do until November...listen to the same ol' same ol' stuff. There have been a zillion debates, all of which have netted little in useful information for voters. The formats are horrible--confining candidates to nothing but soundbites. Charlie Rose has given candidates a full hour to flesh out their opinions and programs. We need to give serious time to the issues that affect our nation and 60 second answers will not cut it.

I am also tired of the Clinton soap opera. I will say it again...Hillary wants to be president yet every time we turn around here is Bill. The 1990s are over---what can she do for American in the 2000s? Can we trust that if she were in the White House he would not be pulling up a chair to weigh in on which course she should take? Also problematic is that Bill seems to be scared of Obama and he is going off half cocked on a regular basis...he got all red-faced on Charlie Rose when the topic of Obama came up...in another interview he's talked about Obama's message, etc. as being a "fairy tale," he was on Tom Joyner doing damage control for Hillary's civil rights comment and now in Nevada he's blowing up at another reporter, who is suggesting that a lawsuit related to the caucus locations is politically motivated. While the NYT's Maureen Dowd and some other pundits have suggested that Bill, unwilling to share the spotlight, is unconsciously sabotaging Hillary. She however has the ability to sideline him anytime she felt like it. Hillary probably believes that Bill is her ticket to the White House, but he may land her back in the Senate.

Lest I forget...why in the devil did the Clintons trot out Bob Johnson? Although he is a wealthy businessman he has little credibility among Black Americans..and certainly is no spokesman. Could it be that folks like Magic Johnson did not want to play the role of hatchet man while Bob Johnson---would for a future favor? Many folks believe that BET is a public nuisance and its content has exacerbated problems within poorer Black communities. Although that charge is debatable, what is clear is that Bob Johnson has done nothing, in relation to Black folks, that will not pad his bottom line...now he stands in judgment of Obama..PLEASSSE. At least Obama was candidate about his youthful indiscretions rather than giving some b.s. answer about not inhaling. Kick Johnson to the curb...or at least to NC.

People tune out of these elections because the candidates and their surrogates are not telling them how we are going to stave off a recession, educate our youth, create growth jobs in this country, get out of Iraq (in our lifetimes) or make sure that the sick can get health care.

I am off to Jamaica with my husband to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I'll try to get motivated when I get back. Maybe in the interim a miracle will occur and these candidates will actually be talking about something useful, rather than slinging mud and accusations to all of our detriments.

Peace

A Win is a Win...But

Hillary Clinton won the New Hamphire primary....but not by much. If I were in the Clinton camp I would not be high-fiving. I suspect that they are still concerned that Hilllary has not been able to become the "people's candidate." Maybe misting up made her more "human" and less wonkish for some voters...but is that going to be enough to win the nomination? Barack Obama is still a threat and the Clinton machine knows it.

As we move into South Carolina it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Race, gender and religion on some key factors that will sway the race. Blacks make up approximately 47 percent of the voters. If Clinton goes to hard on Obama (or uses surrogates), it may strike some as having a tinge of racism and backfire...however if she goes soft, she may get trampled.

It's an interesting quandary for Hillary. But more relevant is that she still needs to shed this sense of entitlement. If she has been actively working to improve the country since her college days...that is commendable. However there are many millions of people who have also been out there fighting, so she has no rights to the job.

In a head to head with John McCain, Hillary will probably lose. Folks opposed to the war will balk, but Hillary is not for doing a Ron Paul and bringing the troops home immediately. He is also for a path to citizenship just like the Democrats. Also unlike Hillary, McCain has a long and distinguished military and Senate record to refer to. He's always been a maverick Republican, while Hillary has just jumped on the anti-establishment bandwagon.

I expect that Obama has that Zen calm that's going to make this a hard road for Hillary to conquer. Also, let's see how America's alleged Black president handles a possible real Black President. Right now he is not acting like kinfolk.

Obama and Black Doubt

Duke Professor, Mark Anthony Neal, wrote an interesting blog recently about Senator Barack Obama. In essence he ponders whether or not the masses of Blacks are reluctant to vote/support for Obama because they don't believe that he represents their interests. Rather since he is a politician will he give minority issues, minority status? What I do know for sure is that politicians are more apt to be concerned about the ones who helped to get them elected, as opposed to those who didn't.

I usually agree with Neal, but on this one I think that there is a larger problem. First, I don't think that a President Obama, even if he is inclined, could in 4 or 8 years substantially fix all of the social and economic problems that severely impact "Black America." At best he could use the bully pulpit to rouse attention to issues, sign some executive orders, push through some legislation or veto some legislation. However, history continues to show us is that a top-down approach to governing rarely works---just because something is targeted to happen doesn't mean that it will.

Politicians respond to pressure. Thus the system will change, giving perhaps a President Obama the tools and incentive to do something different when people are ready to step forward with their feet, wallets and ballots demanding change. Right now too many folks are still hung-over from the Clinton days...thinking everything is okay and that the problems that exist are the other guy's problems. Honestly, Black Americans, in my opinion, should look for agents of change in their own backyards, not in Washington.

It is not to say that who the president is does not matter, but for the day to day lives of citizens, it probably matters more who is on their city council or who occupies the offices of mayor and governor. It is the decisions at these levels that directly affect the services that people receive, the majority of taxes that they pay and to some extent, what goods they can receive. For instance, I cannot get wine shipped to Maryland (I know it's not a great hardship, but it still proves my point).

We also need to be real---Blacks do indeed have an outdated litmus test. Obama has an exotic background and two Ivy League degrees, so despite his years of organizing in Chicago and time on the state legislature, some folks think that he is not Black enough. For some reason, older Blacks especially believe that Bill Clinton is more Black culturally than Obama. That assessment maybe true if we are framing Blackness as only about the descendants of Americans slaves, but Blackness really encompasses a wider group of folks. Not only are all Black people not poor, they all don't have roots in the South. We need a definition of Blackness that does not marginalize folks who come from the African diaspora, don't have inner-city credentials and who maybe don't like collard greens.

A Black person should not support Obama simply because he is Black, he should represent the voter's values and convictions. However some Black people never determine whether a candidate is good or bad, they get stopped because the candidate's background does not seem to jive with them being down for the people. Ironically, Blacks don't seem to use that same standard for White candidates--if so, Hillary would not have so much Black support.

Obama is a politician and at the end of the day he does have to be pragmatic. He can't win a presidential election shouting about Black Power or reparations, but politicians and activists at the local levels can discuss issues in ways that best respond to their constituents. In turn they and their followers have the ability to force Obama or whoever wins the White House to actually change course---not talk about it.


Here is Professor Neal's blog---


A Sunday Kind of Love: Romancing Barack

by Mark Anthony Neal

http://blogs.vibe.com/man/2008/01/a-sunday-kind-of-love-romancing-barack/

"I want a Sunday kind of love, a love to last past Saturday night.."—Sunday Kind of Love (as performed by Etta James)

When the legendary Etta James bought the music and lyrics of "Sunday Kind of Love" to life, she could have been singing to the fragile state of African-American psyches at the time. "Sunday Kind of Love" was recorded by James in 1961, at a moment that was increasingly defined by the demands for social and racial justice that were emanating from the American South. Indeed the song, which is credited Barbara Belle and Louis Prima (among others), is little more than an innocuous love song about desiring a love, that transcends a one night (or one primary) stand. For some African-Americans, such songs could mean so much more, often framing the critical issues in their live in a language that was easily understood. At the root of Etta James's performance of "Sunday Kind of Love" were fears of rejection and betrayal, that resonated throughout black communities even as the most visible tenets of legal discrimination began to buckle. Was this an America that could offer African-Americans and others a "Sunday Kind of Love"? I thought about that question last Thursday night as Senator Barack Obama addressed supporters--and the nation--after his historic win in the Democratic Caucus in Iowa.

Indeed Obama's warm tone and fluttery diction fit as comfortably as a warm blanket last Thursday night--America seems to be in love with the man. Ironically though, the love is not as profound in the very communities that should naturally call Obama their favorite son. The failure of established African-American leadership (broadly defined) to close ranks around Obama has been widely documented and the ocean of non-black faces that engulfed Obama in the aftermath of his victory in Iowa, easily adds to the notion that Obama's candidacy is not reflective of the concerns of everyday black folk.

But I suspect that underneath the strident calls that Obama be subjected to some sort of "black conscious" litmus test (largely by those gatekeepers who stand to lose the most by a successful Obama candidacy) lies more complex realities related to issues of betrayal, mistrust and abandonment. If we give our love unconditionally to this man, in this context, and at this moment, will our hearts be broken once again? Will our continued investment in "black faces in high places" (an admittedly old-school notion) lead us to follow a man who will sell out our dreams--and our souls? Will our unwillingness to ride the "Obama Wave" leave us out in the cold, in the event he does win?

There are no illusions here. Barack Obama is a politician--one with the capacity to inspire the masses--but nevertheless, a politician, just as the vaunted Jack Kennedy, his brother Bobby, and even Harold Washington were essentially politicians. In other words, when pressed to assure his political survival--in spite of his idealism--I expect Barack Obama to be the pragmatist that the best politicians are. That pragmatism will likely, at times, be in opposition to black expectations. There are also no illusions about our current environment with regards to racial and social justice; Whatever hope some of us can conjure in support of Obama's candidacy is regularly met by the realities of police brutality, a criminally faulty criminal justice system, the benign and conscious neglect of urban and rural public schools, and a range of other issues that rarely get any play during the candidates' debates. Given the realities of race, class and gender, as it is lived on the ground, is this actually a country that could realistically elect a black man--no matter how comfortable he makes a white majority feel about him--as its president?

Many of these questions will be answered soon enough, but until then, I'll hold off in putting on Etta James's "At Last".

Obama Wins in Iowa

I must say that I was shocked! Like everyone else I expected that the race would be tight maybe even a three wayish tie. I also thought that however it shook out, Clinton would have won. What I did not anticipate was that Obama would have win by 38% and that Clinton would end up in third place.

Okay, if I am honest I was skeptical that a state that is 96% White would go with Obama. When he made his speech last night it was surreal--- Barack, Michelle and their two daughters being cheered by a sea of White folks. Race aside, if that is possible, the family was young and fresh...there was an air of optimism that engulfed them. For that brief moment in time, the United States could forget that our reputation is mud around the world, we are bogged down in a war in Iraq and at home folks are scared about their financial future e.g. job security, high energy costs and lack of affordable healthcare ---we could actually see someone who could help us to turn the page toward a better tomorrow.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not sure that Obama's candidacy has to legs to win the nomination, it would be premature and foolish to count the Clintons out. The Clintons have money, an infrastructure and the willingness to play hardball with supporters (and possible defectors). What Obama's win does say is that people desperately want change and that may prove lethal for Hillary. I am not of the school that I have got to like a politican, I don't want to have coffee with him or her, I want the person to be a good and thoughtful leader. For me this means that I have got to be able to buy-in to his/her vision. So I am not concerned that Hillary is not a rousing speaker and is a little stiff. What bothers me is that it's simply unclear to me (and seemingly many others) what Hillary's vision for the country is. Moreover, she not allowed the press near her (her campaign would not even provide the press with buses in IA), so there has been little room to receive direct and un-spun information. When she does say something, it is a lot of doubletalk. For instance her tortured answer regarding NY Governor Spritzer's derailed plan to give illegal alien drivers licenses was painful to listen to.

Essentially Hillary has been riding on Bill's coattails yet she expects voters to feel confident about her abilities to run the country independent of Bill. Throughout her campaign I have been struck by the duality of her message, which has undercut her credibiity. Hillary touts the phantom experience that she gained as First Lady---not as a cabinent member or even a business leader. As comedian Chris Rock said recently at Madison Square Garden, he's been married for 10 years, but if his wife got on stage, she would not be funny. Experience is not transferrable nor does it come through osmosis. When Clinton ran for office folks were leery about a co-Presidency and that wariness has not dissipated. If Hillary is really about change and straight talk---you should probably stop Bill from campaigning for her.

Well it's on to New Hamphire....it's about to get hot up in here.