9 Reasons Hillary Clinton Could Never Be a “Second Black President”

It pains me in my soul to see the Associated Press tell black people that Hillary Clinton is vying to be our “second black President.” I find the assertion to be patronizing and paternalistic, especially since it didn’t come first from the black community.

9 Reasons Why Hillary Could Never Be a “Second Black President.”

1. 9 out of 10 African Americans did not support invading Iraq. Yet, Hillary Clinton with all the strength of her conviction authorized going into Iraq. She continued to maintain this position up until the past year or so when it became unpopular to do so. While Clinton says she “trusted this President,” on Iraq, 87% of black folk do not trust President Bush. Her record and intuitions are out of step with African Americans.

2. Hillary Clinton went overseas and proudly proclaimed, “Outsourcing will continue.” Hundreds of thousands of African Americans have lost their jobs as these jobs have been shipped overseas. Last night though in front of a black audience she said, “Well, outsourcing is a problem.” I don’t think African Americans appreciate that flip-flopping on why they have lost jobs.

3. Hillary Clinton has requested billions of dollars in earmarks with the majority of it going to defense companies over the past few years. She refuses to make her earmark requests completely open to the public. Barack Obama is the only major Democrat to make his earmark requests public. He has asked for requests for things like education, public health, and the environment. Clinton’s fiscal priorities are not the same as most African Americans’.

4. Hillary unashamedly runs a campaign of “Vote for me, so I can break that final glass ceiling for women.” An African American doesn’t have the luxury of running an identity-based campaign. While Obama has gone in front of black audiences and said, “I have to earn your vote like any other politician, ” Clinton goes to female audiences and says, “It’s time to break the biggest glass ceiling in the land.” I appreciate her seeing the light of her privilege on the issue of HIV last night. However, if she truly wanted to abdicate her privilege, she would forgo the gender card approach to her campaigning. She’d run solely on the issues. Because she doesn’t have a good record though, she is having no problem using the gender card.

5. We’ve heard the shocking statistics and seen the effects of the increasing number of African Americans who are involved in the penal system. These numbers soared under the Clinton Administration to be higher than the two Republican Presidents preceding him. In fact, when there was an effort to equalize sentencing for crack and powder cocaine, to the dismay of many, Bill Clinton rejected it. The Clintons should not get a pass on this issue just because Clinton plays a saxophone, shows up to clap in a black church, or his wife throws out pre-scripted one-liners.

6. What kind of message does it send to African American men, to say you can graduate from Columbia, magna cum laude from Harvard University, become the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review, make a razor-sharp accurate judgment call on one of the biggest foreign-policy blunders in this nation’s history (Iraq), have an intact family with no extramarital affairs, raise the most campaign cash, have the most donors, and be open and transparent in telling the truth on your taxes, earmarks, and everything else. YET a white female who comes along and has none of this, especially no track record of sound judgment on key issues, can still come along and be proclaimed “as black” or “blacker” than you are? We talk about “acting white” but what does that message send about what it means to be black?

7. We’ve heard about the racial disparities in health care. Go see Michael Moore’s movie, Sicko, tonight for more on Hillary’s relationship with the health care lobbyists.

8. I didn’t appreciate her calling the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, the biggest fundraiser in the history of the Democratic party and someone who was in line with black opinion on the Iraq War, “naive and frankly irresponsible.”

9. Toni Morrison’s a bright woman, but even she can make mistakes. The fact is, we haven’t had a first black President yet.