OBAMA: POLITICAL JUGGERNAUT?
The emergence of Senator Obama as the front runner in next months Iowa caucus has ignited a percolating political conversation among Black Americans and raises practical questions relative to the “inevitability” of Senator Clinton’s nomination for President. The Iowa poll was released on the heels of Obama’s appearance to a packed and energetic house at Harlem’s iconic Apollo Theater, home turf of Hilary Clinton, the junior Senator from New York, Thursday November 29, 2007.
While Senator Clinton was responding to the hostage incident that occurred on Friday November 30, 2007 at her New Hampshire campaign office, Senator Obama was doing lunch with the honorable Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of the City of New York, a quintessential independent vote getter. The First term Senator Obama was also endorsed by Oprah Winfrey, unquestionably one of the most powerful and influential women in America. Ms. Oprah Winfrey will also appear on the campaign trail with the presidential aspirant.
News of Obama’s surge in Iowa, New Hampshire and in the south has stimulated the political dialogue in New York, highlighting the racial and civil rights dimension among Black voters. The success of the Obama campaign during the homestretch of the Iowa caucuses has all but eliminated the burning question of whether a Black American can be elected to the highest office in the country.
“The time is now” said candidate Obama and that refrain has energized a recessed visceral sensibility in many Black voters.
According to Alton Chase, a longtime political activist and community leader, “The question of whether a woman can be elected President of the United States is equally as relevant as the question of whether an African American can get elected. Therefore, the notion that Senator Clinton’s nomination as inevitable was purely hyperbolic. The Democratic Party primary is obviously a horse race and my bet is on the future. Obama.”
Intense conversations on the popular Sunday Black talk radio shows regarding the Clinton vs. Obama political dichotomy indicates a split New York Black vote. While the split seems generic, there is a general political fault line between the traditional civil rights leadership verses disillusioned and emerging Black voters. The Black civil rights leadership is supporting Senator Clinton while others support Obama.
Political activist and analyst Gary James said, “Rev. Sharpton and Rev. Jackson are engaging in political doubletalk as they claim to challenge Obama on the relevant issues. In fact both Jackson and Sharpton are carrying the political water for Senator Clinton and the civil rights leadership orthodoxy. All Black Democrats should vote for Obama in the primary to solidify their strength and prove their elevated level of electoral sophistication and potential power in the general election.”
James said, “The advent of Senator Obama’s campaign and the success that he was greeted with is a worse case scenario for conventional Black leadership because he (Obama) did not kiss their political ring. Obama is an organic leader of the post civil rights generation, and the traditional Black leadership has not embraced his campaign because their leadership is in questionable. This is typically how the conventional Black political leadership deals with emerging leaders. Consequently, the traditional Black leadership may have played themselves out of position by not being able to tell the political time of day. Their spineless equivocation thwarts a primary election opportunity, is self defeating and only serves their paternal masters will.”
Rev. Alfred Sharpton closed his Sunday night December 2, 2007 talk show with the words, “The question is not who we are with… But who is with us,” Sharpton’s words were an oblique reference to his earlier comments that he (Sharpton) hadn’t made his mind up yet who he will endorse. Interestingly enough, Sharpton and Obama met days earlier and broke bread at Harlem’s famed Sylvia’s Restaurant.
Keisha and Rev. Al Sharpton
Harlem State Senator Bill Perkins an Obama supporter and member of his (Obama’s) New York host committee appeared on the popular late night “Week in Review” radio talk show and he was abruptly put on the defensive by vociferous Sharpton supporters. Journalist Peter Noel, a staunched Sharpton advocate admonished Senator Perkins that Sharpton was a legitimate “power broker” and therefore Obama should “kiss the kings ring” for his support.
On the contrary, the “Cut Man” another member of the four man panel format took serious issue with Noel’s notion of Sharpton as a legitimate political power broker. The Cut Man referenced Sharpton’s underwhelming run for President and lack of effectiveness on issues of substance. Perkins was an effective advocate for Senator Obama and read the names of local Black political leaders on Obama’s New York campaign team.
The New York Democratic Party primary is heating up among Black voters in particular in an unprecedented way. Apparently, the diminishing political returns of the civil rights leadership and their lack of vision for the future of the Black community is in store for a serious organic challenge. Some astute Black political analysts are suggesting that the Black civil rights leadership may be left in the dust if they don’t get on board, with the emerging new political dispensation.
Keisha Morrisey, a former candidate for the New York State Assembly in the 70th AD, and Harlem organizer for Voters Anonymous, political education and research organization said, “There is a groundswell of support for the Obama for president campaign particularly among the hip-hop generation because we are thoroughly disillusioned by the conventional political leadership. If Obama wins in Iowa and comes in 2nd or 3rd in New Hampshire we may se an Obama juggernaut.”
Keisha Morrisey
Rev. Conrad Tillard (hip-hop minister) called the popular Sunday morning talk show yesterday a lauded Oprah Winfrey in a Biblical context for her courage and vision in supporting “the one” (Obama). Rev. Tillard admonished the Black community to support Obama on February 5, 2008.
Rev. Conrad Tillard
