Thank You for Your Non-Support

Brotherdoc is in a quandary when it comes to the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. The question I am grappling with is—why aren’t Black “leaders” supporting Barack Obama? Instead, many are endorsing Hillary Clinton, or they are silent on Obama. Interestingly enough, Obama seems to be doing just fine without them.

The conclusion that Brotherdoc has come to is that these Black leaders are out of touch with their constituents. Their constituents don’t seem to like the race-baiting tactics of “Miss Hillary,” as John Lewis affectionately calls Clinton. Their constituents no longer want to defer their dreams. They are saying that the time is now, as Shirley Franklin reminded us, a Black president is not a “fairytale.”

Most interesting to Brotherdoc is the fact that these Black leaders’ endorsements of Clinton has ironically made Obama a more desirable candidate among a wide variety of Americans .

I understand that “Black leader” is a nebulous term, and that Black people are not a monolithic group. But, the lack of support from elected officials is curious. Those expressing their opposition to Obama include: Black Caucus members Maxine Waters (CA), Corrine Brown (FL), Gregory Meeks (NY), Edolphus Towns (NY), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX), Emanuel Cleaver (MO, Stephanie Tubbs Jones (OH), Alcee Hastings (FL), Kendrick Meek (FL), Dianne Watson (CA), Laura Richardson (CA), David Scott (GA), John Lewis(GA), Donna Christian-Christensen (VI), Yvette Clark (NY), Charles Rangel (NY), and Julia Carson (IN).

We should take note that in Alabama, none of the four elected Black State representatives supported Obama, but he won the state with a rousing victory. The same thing happened in South Carolina. Eleven of the thirteen Black elected officials in South Carolina supported a candidate other than Obama, and he kicked butt there too. Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin was the ONLY one, out of eight Black elected officials, in Georgia to support Obama. He won Georgia handily as well.

These elected officials have a lot of explaining to when it is time for them to seek re-election. It is time for these officials to get on the same page as the people that they elected to represent. They should lead or get out of the way of progress.

Civil Rights pioneer Andrew Young has questioned Obama’s blackness, and went as far as to imply that former president Bill Clinton was more Black because, in Young’s opinion, Clinton has “gone with more Black women”. Julian Bond, current NAACP Chairman, has written a letter on NAACP letterhead to Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean urging him to seat the delegates from Michigan and Florida. As you may or may not know, all of the Democratic candidates agreed not to campaign in either Michigan or Florida because the Democratic Party decided to punish those two states for changing the dates of their respective primaries. In fact, neither Barack Obama nor John Edwards were even on the ballot in Michigan and 37% voted “uncommitted” rather than support Hillary Clinton. I do not think that it is a coincidence that Mr. Bond is making this recommendation because these two uncontested states went to Hillary Clinton and not Barack Obama.

The list of prominent Black people endorsing Hillary Clinton also includes: record producer Quincy Jones, Robert Johnson, founder of BET, Rep. William Gray former president of the United Negro College Fund, Douglas Palmer Mayor of Newark, NJ, former Mayor of Philadelphia, John Street, Bishop T. Lane Grant, and Florida Attorney Willie Gary.

We are still waiting to see which candidate Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson will choose to endorse. The Jackson household appears to be split at the moment with Jesse Jackson, Jr. firmly in the Barack Obama corner and Jacqueline Jackson, Jesse Jackson’s wife, doing commercials for Senator Clinton.

I don't know what these folks are thinking about, but as Chris Rock said when introducing Barack Obama at a recent campaign event, “I would sure hate to be on the wrong side of history.”

I second that!!