Monday, May 21, 2012

Okay, I'll just say it: Why are black pols Blue Dogs?

Bill Maher recently quipped that Barack Obama is half-black and half-white, and that he (Maher) hoped that the second administration would be the black one.

Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, New Jersey, is another black politician. He had to backtrack after loudly denouncing Obama's recent ad criticizing Romney's past at Bain Capital. (I happened to like that ad.)

Now Harold Ford -- another black politician, who was once hounded from office by what I consider a genuinely racist campaign -- is saying that Booker got it right the first time. Shame on Obama for going after Bain, or so sayeth Ford.

One could also mention Sanford Bishop of Georgia and Artur Davis of Alabama. (Davis will probably make a formal shift to the Republican party fairly soon.) I don't know much about this guy, other than the obvious fact that he's being groomed for big things, but I don't see a John Conyers there.

The question is simple. Why is it that the only up-and-coming black politicians who stand any chance of getting somewhere in the Democratic party always turn out to be Blue Dogs? This didn't used to be the case. I wouldn't have voted for Jesse Jackson back in '88 if I thought he was anything like the guys mentioned above. If Jackson (at least the Jackson of old) were running today, he would slam Romney on Bain every minute of every day, without mercy and without apology.

In response to Bill Maher: I hope a second Obama administration turns out to be the Democratic one. But I'm not holding my breath.

5 comments:

S Brennan said...

Here's one Kendrick Meeks

http://www.kendrickmeek.com/

Decent fellow, boiler plate FDR guy...the Democratic party under Obama asked him to step aside for a Republican and then shuffled him off to some diplomatic post.

Anonymous said...

Cos you need sponsorship from the same money as everyone else. In many ways a black face is a much better salesman for the money policies. I mean who in America would expect a black man to be a shill for the rich?

Joseph Cannon said...

Brennan: Meek is very good on the issues. His Wackenhut connection is troubling. Even so, I'd vote for him.

Anonymous said...

It must have something to do with 'Jackie Robinson's below the radar, shy/retiring. not angry or militant approach to being the first black in all-white baseball.

It paved the way for more in the 'Nero Leagues'.

No uppity coloreds need apply.

Ben Franklin

OTE admin said...

Cory Booker is one bad egg. I wouldn't be surprised if he is pushed to be the Democratic Party nominee for president in 2016.

How bad is he? Very, very, very bad. He is a catalyst in the movement to privatize public education, and he is bought and paid for by the Bradley Foundation, among others. Watch this important Glen Ford speech and weep. This speech should get far more distribution than it has:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdPACwRgw04&feature=player_embedded

It is called "Glen Ford: Corporate Assault on Public Education."

He is a thousand times worse than Obama, if such a thing is possible.