Hyperboles are the stuff
of short sight and sports commentators. We speak big when the present appears permanent. After losses, Richard Nixon vowed never to return to the arena ("You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore") only to become president years later; Margaret Thatcher declared that a woman would never serve as British Prime Minister and certainly "not during my lifetime"; Geo. Bush promised no new taxes; Toni Morrison anointed Bill Clinton as the first black president.In each case retrospection stirs us to shrug the shoulders and coo, Who knew?
Who knew that along would come a slender Negro senator from the Middle West with the very black name of Obama. Barack Obama?
Not I. And not the Clintons.
Mr Obama was supposed to be a flash in the pan and already out of the running for Mrs Clinton's historical win; a noble, if not premature, gesture in the belief that anyone can grow up to be president of the United States of America. He was supposed to wait his turn like the ever cautious, cajone-less Senator Bayh. Mr Obama was not supposed to usurp Clinton's black clout. But then reality set in and set in hard with votes and money donations: Mr Obama is black. Mr Clinton is not.
Not I. And not the Clintons.
Mr Obama was supposed to be a flash in the pan and already out of the running for Mrs Clinton's historical win; a noble, if not premature, gesture in the belief that anyone can grow up to be president of the United States of America. He was supposed to wait his turn like the ever cautious, cajone-less Senator Bayh. Mr Obama was not supposed to usurp Clinton's black clout. But then reality set in and set in hard with votes and money donations: Mr Obama is black. Mr Clinton is not.
That this fresh energetic black politician of Ivy league tumblings and street credentials is attracting loyal Clinton supporters (black voters) en masse is turning up the heat in the kitchen and that is one place with which the former Miss Rodham is unfamiliar! Bill Clinton is not pleased with the unhinging of this dependable bloc in their democratic platform because he wants his wife to win and because he likes to be liked. He even accused the Obama campaign of playing the race card...on him!
Black folks still like him but just not as much as the brother man. In fact if Bill Clinton were running for office we would be all for him over the junior senator from Illinois. But such is not so. It's a case of the figurative versus the literal first black president, and the literal one is looking a whole lot more attractive.
Meanwhile, the former president's reaction to this is looking a lot less political than personal. Unbelievably he, of all people, has forgotten a cardinal tenet of coolness and popularity, namely that being accepted as part of the gang is a privilege. And privileges are mighty revocable.
In the wake of Bill Clinton's stumpings, which are sounding more and more like sour grapes (and an ungracious return for our steadfast defense of him and the party), he is losing blackness and looking mighty white. A mighty white southerner, at that. I think the ebbing of the black vote steams him more so than pro-Obama colleagues and delegates like Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, former DNC Chairman Joe Andrews, or Governor Bill Richardson.
Black folks still like him but just not as much as the brother man. In fact if Bill Clinton were running for office we would be all for him over the junior senator from Illinois. But such is not so. It's a case of the figurative versus the literal first black president, and the literal one is looking a whole lot more attractive.
Meanwhile, the former president's reaction to this is looking a lot less political than personal. Unbelievably he, of all people, has forgotten a cardinal tenet of coolness and popularity, namely that being accepted as part of the gang is a privilege. And privileges are mighty revocable.
In the wake of Bill Clinton's stumpings, which are sounding more and more like sour grapes (and an ungracious return for our steadfast defense of him and the party), he is losing blackness and looking mighty white. A mighty white southerner, at that. I think the ebbing of the black vote steams him more so than pro-Obama colleagues and delegates like Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, former DNC Chairman Joe Andrews, or Governor Bill Richardson.
Look for Mrs Clinton to revamp hardcore appeal to gays. Wouldn't be surprised if that's the next card they play.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment