LOGIC OF OBAMA’S BLACK SUPPORTERS HELP MAKE THE CASE March 2007

LOGIC OF OBAMA’S BLACK SUPPORTERS HELP MAKE THE CASE
THAT BLACKS SHOULD CONSIDER VOTING REPUBLICAN

Is Obama Black enough? Is he militant enough? These are some of the questions that Obama’s Black detractors ask publicly. This is not the first time Obama’s Blackness has been questioned. I remember when Obama ran against the conservative Black Republican Alan Keyes for the US Senate seat in Illinois in 2004. Keyes questioned Obama’s ability to understand Black America, given that his father is a Black African, his mother a White woman, and that his upbringing was far from any inner-city experience. But few Blacks listened to Keyes-because Keyes was a Republican, and most Blacks don’t like or trust Republicans. Keyes and Obama had 3 public debates (1 on radio, 2 on TV). I listened to all 3 of them. On the question of raced based affirmative action, Obama took a clear position against it. Keyes, on the other hand, proposed a form of reparations for Black Americans-he suggested that as compensation for slavery, Black Americans should be exempt from federal income taxes for a few generations. But few Blacks listened to Keyes-because Keyes was a Republican, and most Blacks don’t like or trust Republicans.
That was then, this is now. And now, many Black voters (i.e. Black Democrats) are publicly raising some of the same concerns that Keyes raised. Obama’s Black supporters respond to the criticism that Obama is not militant enough by pointing out that it would be political suicide for Obama to be militant: there’s simply no way Obama can get into the White House by having a militant Black agenda or platform-he has to be moderate in order to win. Pity that those Black Obama supporters are unable to apply that logic when examining Republican candidates. If Obama can’t win by being too militant, then how can most Republicans (who have a relatively conservative base) hope to win elections by being too militant. Obama’s Black supporters ask us to accept on faith that Obama’s heart is in the right place-that he does care about the Black community-and that once in office he will advocate on the Black community’s behalf. I have no doubt that Obama’s heart is in the right place. But I also have no doubt that most Republicans’ hearts are also in the right place, but they don’t get that kind of benefit of the doubt from Black voters. Can you imagine how the Black community would’ve responded to Obama if he were a Republican and took a position against race based affirmative action?
It’s time for Black voters to become more politically sophisticated, and look at what politicians do for us, not just what they say. A brief look at our history shows that Blacks have been both helped and hurt by both Republicans and Democrats. Thus, we should not let party labels alone drive our voting decisions-we need to look at each candidate’s position on the issues that affect our lives. Republican Barry Goldwater opposed the civil rights act of 1964 and voting rights act of 1965, but he also was an active member of the Arizona NAACP, and as a city councilman in Phoenix sponsored local ordinances that eroded segregation in that city. Republican Richard Nixon used racially divisive politics with the infamous southern strategy, but he also created the federal government’s first real race based affirmative action program. Republican Ronald Reagan was hostile to civil rights organizations and personally opposed making Dr. King’s birthday a federal holiday, but his economic policies also enlarged the Black middle-class. Our current President Bush filed an anti-affirmative action lawsuit against the University of Michigan, but he also increased aid to Africa, authorized the building of an African-American history museum, increased funding for more working-class Americans to afford their own home, and has made more Black appointments to his Cabinet than any other President.
If we applied the logic of Obama’s Black supporters, (that a candidate sometimes has to take positions they don’t personally agree with in order be politically successful), I think a fair argument can be made that it’s time for Black voters to abandon our one-party voting philosophy. Just as Obama’s public opposition to race based affirmative action and reparations doesn’t mean that Obama is anti-Black, neither do the same positions taken by Republicans mean that Republicans are anti-Black. Politics often requires that candidates walk a tight rope, trying to balance their personal beliefs against the demands of political expedience. If more Black voters understood that, then more of us would be open to voting for Republican candidates. And the Democratic party would no longer be able to count Black votes before they’ve been cast.

Patrick John, Chicago, IL
www.ruffcommunications.com