Is Obama Alienating Himself from Black Folk?
The Chicago Sun-Times has an editorial today suggesting that Obama is on the path to “alienating” and “distancing” himself from blacks and to “taking the black vote for granted.”
This flies in the face of Obama’s pronouncements that “I have to earn the black vote just like any other politician.” Doesn’t sound like taking the black vote for granted to me.
Her main evidence for the argument is that 1) While Jesse Jackson and JJ Jr. support Obama, Yusef Jackson (I didn’t know Jesse had a son named Yusef!) supports Clinton, Danny Glover supports Edwards, and Charlie Rangel supports Clinton 2)Obama should have said more about the Brown v. Board decision at the debate and how much it implies the continuing existence of racism.
My main evidence for thinking that her argument is a bit weak is the following:
1) Yes, Hillary is picking up endorsements from the CBC and some other black politicians. However, Obama has picked up some too. I think having Jesse Jackson in your camp is a pretty big coup. Cory Booker from Newark is another coup. Oprah, Cornel West…The point though is that if you’re looking for a candidate who will have every famous black person support them, that will never happen.
2) I’m sorry that Obama didn’t talk about Brown v. Board as much as the columnist wanted at the debate. Obama did release a statement that day though condemning the decision and how it turns back the clock on race in America. He also said he’s going to call some hearings in Congress about it. Way back when Chief Justice Roberts was being nominated, Obama voted against him and gave a speech saying that he knew Roberts would not work to “eradicate the remnants of racial discrimination.”
3) Obama over the past few weeks has worked in Congress on issues affecting black folks including recognizing Juneteenth, condemning human rights violations in Zimbabwe, introducing a bill in support of securing voting rights for minorities, pushing for action in Darfur, speaking out on the Charles Taylor trial in Liberia, providing funding for predominantly black colleges, commemorating Brown v. Board’s anniversary, introducing a senate bill to increase the number of women and minorities in math and science, and oh so much more. Hardly looks like he’s trying to distance himself from issues affecting black people to me.
4) Obama is the frontrunner in polls in SC and especially among blacks in SC. He also picks up more support from high income blacks than does Clinton. Doesn’t seem to me that black people feel distanced from Obama.
So is Obama alienating/distancing himself from black folk/taking the black vote for granted? Nah. I don’t think so. He’s never going to have every black voter, but I think he’s doing pretty well considering that most people only just heard of him 6 months ago and about 24% of black people still have never heard of him.
Video: Obama Talks about the African American Vote
July 1, 2007 at 11:47 pm
Moreover, the editorial suggestion that by talking loud about the problem that affect black in front of black, “Hillary nailed” the debate and the moment was erroneous.
Each one of us knows that talk is cheap. And all that I heard from Hillary were loud talk about AIDS, Sudan, and the Supreme Court judgment.
Don’t forget that this couple team called the Clintons were in power from 1992 to 2000 and throughout their tenure did not appoint a single black person to any serious position of importance. Clarence Thomas was appointed to the Supreme Court and Colin Powell to be Chairman Joints Chief of Staffs by Bush Sr..
The Clinton couple cannot actually point to one single initiative or appointment that was geared toward the improvement of the status of black people here or abroad.
Hillary was talking about Sudan as if the couple cared anything about Africa: The Rwanda genocide happened under Bill & Hillary Clinton’s watch in 1994. Why didn’t they do something about that?
The bottom line is that we know that Bill & Hillary Clinton don’t care about the welfare of Black people. They just want to come and hangout with us when they’re in trouble or when they need our votes.
On Obama’s part, I believe that it will be counter productive for him to (see what happened to Michael Steele once the media lured him into focusing his campaign on Black people in Maryland last November).
He cannot copy Hillary’s rhetoric; “criticizing white people for current black people woes”. Whether the elite media likes it or not and whether the black elites support him or not, Obama is the most popular politician among African Americans today. If there’s a real vote today, He’ll win with an unbelievable huge margin - I live in the community so I know.
OBAMA SHOULD KEEP HIS MESSAGE FOCUSED ON AMERICA AS A WHOLE.
The real black America understands that, and so does Jesse Jackson Sr. (forget about the sell-outs that are forever indebted to Bill & Hillary for who-knows-$)
Meanwhile the author of the article should check out Michelle – She’s a sister among sisters and she raised $1 mil in DC the other day.
July 2, 2007 at 3:33 am
[...] nominees to stop speaking solely to blacks and the poor and speak to the rest of America, Mitchell at the Chicago Sun-Times thought Obama was speaking too much to America and not specifically enough to black [...]