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Obamas Base: Broader Than Black

By Laura S. Washington

At 45, Obama didn't sprout from the civil rights movement. He's not beholden to either the Washington or New York black establishment.
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Black leaders, be wary. If you eschew the Obama phenomenon, you may have to pay a price. On Feb. 10, Sen. Barack Obama announced his presidential candidacy in Springfield, Ill., the Land of Lincoln. The Obama train has left the station and it ain’t comin’ back.

Playing petty plantation politics may feather a few nests and puff up some chests, but Obama is looking to turn the black political equation upside down. If he goes all the way, black politics will never be the same. That’s a good thing.

On a sunny, sub-freezing Springfield morning, Obama’s top strategist, David Axelrod, shared some of the Obama strategy. “Sometimes movements from the grassroots can overcome entrenched politics, and I think this is one of those times,” Axelrod told me. “No one represents a ‘turning of the page’ that we need, no one represents the future, more than Barack Obama.”

African-American leadership had better get ready to turn the page with him. That isn’t going to be easy for black pols who have been hamstrung by dubious and dependent relationships with the Democratic Party for far too long.

Some Obama critics were outraged by his recent endorsement of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s re-election bid. Daley has been challenged by two African Americans who are running as progressive reformers. But Obama doesn’t need Daley. It’s the other way around.

At 45, Obama didn’t sprout out of the civil rights movement. His father wasn’t a sharecropper. He’s not a preacher. He’s not beholden to either the Washington or New York black establishment

Illinois State Senate President Emil Jones, Obama’s political mentor, recently set ‘em straight. The salty and savvy Jones was on the Obama train before the East Coast elites had even heard his name. Like Lincoln, Obama launched his political career in the Illinois Senate.

In early February, according to the political news site Politico.com, Jones flew to Washington, D.C. to speak to the Democratic National Committee’s black caucus. He used the platform to make a no-nonsense plea that black Democrats coalesce behind Obama, noting that they don’t “owe” any allegiance to other presidential contenders, àla Hillary Clinton.

He noted the jobs and appointments President Bill Clinton had doled out to blacks. Some of those people were in the room. Then Jones went in for the kill—he asked when they would stop owing the Clintons.

Some Clinton allies in the room were livid. “‘You could hear a pin drop,’ said one person in the room who doesn’t currently support either Obama or Clinton,” the Web site reported. Jones says he’s not backing off. African-American leadership, Jones says, must get past “the crabs in a barrel syndrome. Every time one of us pulls up, we want to pull him down.” 

There has been a backlash. While Obama was announcing in Springfield, PBS host Tavis Smiley was honchoing his annual State of the Black Union conference at Hampton University in Virginia. Coverage of the all-day event on C-Span was interrupted for the Obama announcement.

Smiley said that Obama had called him to apologize for missing the event. The Rev. Al Sharpton scolded Obama for making his announcement before a predominantly white crowd in Springfield, rather than at the forum. He added that he is looking for Obama to explain “what’s his embrace of our agenda.”

Cornel West, the Princeton University professor and black intellectual, said African Americans should ask Obama, “How deep is your love for the people” and “Where is your money coming from?” In the background were a blinding array of banner logos trumpeting the “sponsors” of Smiley’s conference: ExxonMobil, Verizon, Wells-Fargo, McDonald’s, Allstate Insurance, etc.

The Obama candidacy is dead in the water if he adopts a sectarian agenda. Until now, African-American presidential candidates have made little serious effort to extend their attention beyond the base. This is one big reason why black politicians usually crash and burn when they seek office in white majority districts.

Thirteen percent of the nation cannot elect a president. And the last thing Obama needs is to be seen pandering to the race men. It’s time to turn that page and play ball with the adults. The crowd that cheered back the chill in Springfield was predominantly white and spanned all ages. Obama’s kickoff rally the next day in Chicago turned out thousands more, mostly black. Obama has true rainbow appeal.

That spells progress for our issues and a surge in progressive power. Last month, my In These Times colleague Salim Muwakkil noted that Obama’s prospects present black America with a “brand new bag.” Salim, here’s one back at you: Obama’s candidacy adds a new set of hues to the Democratic palette.

Laura S. Washington, an In These Times senior editor, teaches journalism at DePaul University and is a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times.

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    I must say, Obama seems to be pushing all the right buttons.  Even though his moves are becoming more obviously calculated they seem to be the right moves nonetheless.  I think if he wins the nomination it will be because he and the people around him are just much smarter than their competition.

    And to piss off a bunch of entrenched DC ass kissers gives me a new found respect for Emil (ComEd rate hike) Jones.

    Posted by theloneous on Mar 2, 2007 at 2:23 PM

    I guess it’s safe to assume that when Cornel West said, African Americans should ask Obama, “How deep is your love for the people,” he wasn’t referring to all the American people.

    Sharpton’s scolding for “...making his announcement before a predominantly white crowd and asking “what’s his embrace of our agenda.” isn’t helping things either.

    I’m hoping Obama is too smart to go down that path.  Since he is half black and half white he may be the one to finally get beyond this dead end.

    Posted by whattheheck on Mar 2, 2007 at 3:29 PM

    WTH, we can’t get beyond race because it is a part of objective reality.
    But Rev Al ain’t getting no reparations from me. As an atheist I’m personally ready to baptize him.

    Posted by blondemike on Mar 2, 2007 at 7:40 PM

    Take a look at Barack Obama because he has a father from Africa; or, if you are from Kansas, because his mother was from Topeka; or, if you are in Hawaii, because he lived with his grandparents there.  Take a look at Hillary Clinton if you are a woman; or, if you went to Yale; or, if you live in Arkansas; or, if you were born in Chicago.  Then, take a look at their issues and listen to them talk.

    Obama is relatively new to the national scene so has had less time to be observed than Clinton. I was able to hear him talk in person. He does not have the experience of government that many other candidates have. His knowledge proferred reminds me of many young men’s reaction to certain computer programs...they are thrilled with the bells and whistles and in disbelief if told another program already does what they admire or that the work done is itself nothing new. His vision is to tell us we should have a vision like JFK gave us with the space program, but he does not mention his own specific vision. Commentators who claim to apply a vision to him claim it to be some artificial concept of bringing us together, apparently in some mass love affair and brainwashing into uniform belief.

    In Massachusetts, when people elected Deval Patrick to the governor’s office, his skin color and background were less important than his experience and vision. It seems to me that we as a nation are obsessed with the level of blackness in Barack Obama because he does not have the experience and vision to be president, at least not in 2008. Yet, people are also excited by his candidacy because he is allowed to discuss topics other than Iraq, which says more about the people and the news media than it does about the candidate.

    Posted by SillyLeftist on Mar 3, 2007 at 6:42 AM

    Mike,

    Yes, objectively there is a difference, but what both Sharpton and West are introducing into the mix is their SUBjective slant. Whoever runs for office had better avoid that prejudiced “special interest” battle cry if they want to win.

    Rev. Sharpton never had a prayer (preacher or not) of winning anything except talk show status — even after the haircut.  He could have the map “to the promised land” and never get past GO to collect his $200 with his “embrace of our agenda” attitude.

    SillyLeftist,

    I agree Obama is lacking in experience, but if he can inject some serious debate on real national issues into the 2008 campaign we will all be better for his participaton.

    He’s young enough to learn from this time around and we can learn whether he has what it takes. So far I give him more points in handling the trivial BS than most of the “experienced” candidates.

    Posted by whattheheck on Mar 3, 2007 at 8:27 AM

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Appeared in the March 2007 Issue
Also by Laura S. Washington
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