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Rage Against the Machine

Revolution is not a onetime event.
--Audre Lorde--

Self-reliance is the only road to true freedom, and being one's own person is its ultimate reward.
--Patricia Sampson--

The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office.
--H. L. Mencken --

The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.
--William H. Borah--

The revolution is being televised, but no one has taken notice of the true implications! Senator Obama has blazed this unprecedented trail with a theme of change. Maybe he should also include a theme of wake up, because the race between him and Senator Clinton has shined a light for all that are interested to see on one of the problems that our community has faced for the past two decades. It is not racism. It is not an assault on civil rights. It is the stifling of good candidates by machine politics.

Bill Clinton’s remarks in response to the question of why were he and his wife “teaming up” on Senator Obama were insulting. Instead of dealing with the flawed premise that he and his wife had “teamed up” on Senator Obama he chose to dismiss any potential victory by Senator Obama in South Carolina as just a product of black folks voting for a black man. That is insulting, especially since this former President, who had been dubbed the nation’s “first Black President,” had no problems basking in the unwavering support from the black community during his roughest times. Now we are just a bunch of racist, unthinking, monolithic people that can not see beyond color. Wow! Okay, that may be a stretch but there are still some uncomfortable implications in Bill Clinton’s remarks.

If that is not enough, it gets better. Some black folks are coming to Bill Clinton’s aid. And if you have not already guessed, it is the usual list of characters – black preachers and politicians.

I am not the type of person that thinks that all black folks should think alike or that every statement made by a public official should be interpreted the same by all black folks. I think that there may be black folks that were not insulted by Bill Clinton’s remarks. However, it is hard to see how anyone that either heard or read the remarks within the context of the question that had been posed to Bill Clinton would not be a little troubled by the implications.
Bill Clinton did not need to insult an entire community in order to defend his wife or his actions in the primary. All he needed to do was to respond to flawed premise of the question by pointing out that it is not unusual for spouses to be involved in high profile political campaigns. This is particularly true when the spouse happens to be a former President. It is hard to believe that someone as intelligent as Bill Clinton did not know how to truly defend his wife. It seems to me that he took the opportunity to paint Obama as an anomaly and a product of the black vote. I do not think that those comments were misinterpreted or accidental. I think those comments were made in a deliberate attempt to redefine Senator Obama and marginalize him. Yet, now that Bill Clinton has been called on his remarks here comes “the machine to the rescue.”

The machine playbook may have been written and perfected by the old Democratic Party, but it has been used liberally by both parties. The old playbook works in all communities. It works in all sectors of this country. And it has worked without fail within our community for the past forty years to help elect unqualified, uncaring, and unresponsive candidates whose sole priority were to serve the machine.

This playbook has been discussed in books and articles like the American Pharaoh or the articles written in the Chicago Reporter regarding how grants to African-American churches by the city of Chicago have increased as support have increased from those churches. It is an old but successful formula. Get the local politicians and preachers on your side in the African-American community and you can count on the African-American vote regardless of what the candidate’s stances are on the issues. In the case of Bill Clinton’s remarks, they can count on black preachers and politicians giving him a pass for remarks that they would have roasted a republican or non-machine politician. Does that sound familiar?

Look at how the Clintons courted the African-American vote in South Carolina. They leaned on the African-American politicians and they courted the African-American clergy. It is amazing that it did not work, even against as bright, energizing, and qualified a candidate as Barack Obama. For the first time in several generations, the people in the African-American community as well as other communities have disregarded the gatekeepers of the vote and decided for themselves. That is the revolution. Hopefully it will continue through Super Tuesday.

Senator Obama may win his party’s nomination or he may not. That is not the issue. The issue is that we the people in the African-American community and the rest of America need to choose our public officials according to the content of their character instead of who has endorsed them in order to finally break the machine. Once that is done then what started as a trickle of one good candidate may develop into a flood of new, qualified, and responsive candidates in our community and throughout the country. Bring on the revolution!!!

Racism is Not an Issue: It is a Problem!

“Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.”

--Paul Valery--

“Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.”

--Ambrose Bierce--

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.”

--Ernest Benn--

If I was on Senator Obama’s staff I would tell Senator Obama that he has been presented with a unique opportunity to demonstrate the difference between him and Senator Clinton. I would tell him that he has been presented with an opportunity to demonstrate the difference between the old way of campaigning and the new way. I would tell him that he has an opportunity to demonstrate in concrete terms what change really looks like by dealing with race in the only way that will finally make any real difference in the African-American community. He should embrace the topic of race like any other problem by talking about issues that are the result of race – or to be more accurate racism.

It is about time somebody said (well wrote) the truth. Race is not an issue. It is a problem. I know what most of you Black Folks out there must be saying to yourselves. “What?!!!” “Have you lost your mind?!!!” No. I have not. Let me explain.

There is a big difference between an issue and a problem. The words are used interchangeably but they are very different. Issues are direct, smaller, and identifiable. Problems are amorphous, large, and difficult to get a handle on. Race is not a problem. Racism is the real problem. Police brutality is an issue. Job discrimination based on race is an issue. Predatory lending that targets African-Americans for sub-prime loans is an issue. Protecting Affirmative Action programs that help African-American small businesses to get started or have an opportunity to break into markets where they have been historically shut out is an issue. Those are just a few examples of issues that can be addressed, by various means, by the government.

In the past, politicians acted as if whatever office they are running for is the panacea of any and all ills that the community that they are pandering for votes face everyday. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Our community does not need any more fairytale promises. We need solutions. In regards to the problem of racism, however, the government can make a difference, but the one thing that government will never be able to do is to force people to change what they feel in their hearts. That task should be left to the churches, temples, mosques, and reason. However, the government can force people to change how they treat “us.” And that is the sum total of any issue that is directly linked to the problem of racism.

That is why Senator Obama should not allow himself to be baited into talking about the problem of racism. He should instead take the opportunity to change the standard of debate in politics as it pertains to our community. He should raise the bar of rhetoric that can finally lead to action by discussing race through issues. This is the only way that race, like any other problem, should ever be discussed in politics. This is way that race has yet to be discussed in a presidential campaign.

Talking about issues will also allow him to shine a light on an inconvenient truth that our community should have addressed over twenty years ago. Our community has been way too dependent on preachers and politicians for leadership. And much of our alleged leadership has sold “us” out for money, fame, and access to political office or power. Many of the preachers and politicians in our community are more loyal to the Democratic Party or to building wealth for themselves through the electoral process than they are to our community. See the article written by William Jelani Cobb on January 13, 2008 for the discussion about the old guard versus the new guard in the African-American community.

Our leaderships' priorities are obvious. It is about them. It is about their careers. It is about providing for their families. However, it is not about addressing issues in our community. I am not making this up. Look at the endorsements of Hillary Clinton by African-American politicians, celebrities, and prominent business people. None of them that I have read about endorsed Hillary Clinton because of her stance on the Iraq War as compared to Barack Obama’s or her stance on Affirmative Action as compared to Barack Obama’s or her legitimate civil rights achievements as compared to Barack Obama’s. No. It is all about paying back an old debt, a misguided sense of loyalty, or a desire to have access to power.

A debate that is centered on issues will remove the myths that our alleged leaders are looking out for “our” best interests instead of looking out for their own. I would tell Senator Obama to continue with his Campaign of Change by changing the standard of debate in our community from image to substance. I would beseech him to continue to talk about issues, even if it includes race.

Fortune Favors the Bold

“Fortune favors the brave.”

--Virgil--

“When you meet your antagonist, do everything in a mild and agreeable manner. Let your courage be as keen, but at the same time as polished, as your sword.”

--Richard Brinsley Sheridan--

“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.”

--Mark Twain--

Most of the media has seized upon the recent bickering between the Clinton and Obama campaigns to help generate ratings. The truth is that the recent bickering is tailor made for increased interest by the public because it seemed to involve hot buttons topics like race and gender. However, in my opinion, the media has not taken the time to really analyze the true reasons behind the attack that started the recent barbs that have been flying back and forth between the Clinton and Obama camps. Before I go any further I feel obliged to restate that I am a Barack Obama supporter so although I believe I have been objective in my analysis, it is more than possible that there is some bias in it. Judge the message first before turning to the messenger.

The attacks between the two camps are not about race. The attacks are not about gender. They are about votes. The recent attacks are about an inconvenient reality that the Clinton camp has in regards to the battle for votes with Barack Obama.

Senator Clinton can not call Senator Obama out directly on his opposition to the Iraq War without exposing her own dirt. How so? I will explain. Much of the current bickering started with Bill Clinton’s mischaracterization of Senator Obama’s opposition to the Iraq War. The Clinton’s argue that Senator Obama has been inconsistent in his opposition to the Iraq War by not openly criticizing the 2004 Democratic Nominees during the presidential race, and that he voted for funding for the war after our young men and women were already deployed into harms way. It is a specious argument, but that is not the point. The point is that if the Clintons really wanted to criticize Senator Obama they could have asserted that it took no political courage for him to have opposed the Iraq War since he was a state senator from the Hyde Park neighborhood on the Southside of Chicago, where there was a huge opposition to the war. However, even that argument is debatable since Senator Obama still took a great risk because he was getting ready to run for the United States Senate at the time so if the war would have gone well, that could have killed his U.S. Senate aspirations before they got started.

The Clintons are very shrewd politicians that know how to pick and choose the best arguments for their campaigns. It is a reason why they did not go the political courage route. Choosing that argument presented the greatest risk of having it smack right back in Senator Clinton’s face because her vote for the war in 2002 was not so much an issue of lack of judgment as much as it was an issue of lack of political courage. It is hard to believe that Senator Clinton was not smart enough to know the inherit risks of overthrowing a regime. What did Colin Powell say? “You break it. You buy it.” Her vote was not about Iraq. It was not about weapons of mass destruction. It was about the 2008 presidential election. It was about not having the courage to say no to a very popular President and political party that was labeling anyone that opposed them as either weak or traitors. It was about courage or the lack there of.

Now the Clintons are attempting to have their cake and eat it to. Senator Clinton claims thirty-five years of experience, although she has only eight years of elected experience. She is also in a position where she can not come out directly and claim credit for the successes of her husband’s administration because then she would also have to take the failures as well as the embarrassments. During her interview on Meet the Press this Sunday, Senator Clinton referenced political battles that she was involved in while her Husband was in office, but when asked about the embarrassing issues regarding the last minute pardons that her husband issued, she quickly claimed no prior knowledge of that. That took a lot of audacity to claim the good while trying to ignore the bad all with a straight face. She could have used some of that audacity in 2002.

VP Dilemma

"Be careful that victories do not carry the seed of future defeats."

--Ralph W. Sockman--

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."

--Theodore Roosevelt--

"What is defeat? Nothing but education; nothing but the first step to something better."

--Wendell Phillips--

"You can take from every experience what it has to offer you. And you cannot be defeated if you just keep taking one breath followed by another."

--Oprah Winfrey--

It ain't over until the fat lady sings and she is not even clearing her throat. Barack Obama's campaign made a mistake when they allowed the thrill of victory to raise the expectations of a community, a state, and a nation to transform him from a challenger into a frontrunner. Now, we who are the supporters of Obama feel defeat in what should only be seen as a victory. That is not spin. It is fact. Obama is taking on a candidate with the resources and organization of a former two term president. He is in a fight with a juggernaut. The bottom line is that after the first caucus and primary where only a few delegates have been cast the veneer of invulnerability has been stripped from Hillary Clinton, the real frontrunner, which means Obama is in it to win it. But that is not why I am writing this article.

Bloomberg in New York may be the biggest Hillary fan on the planet right now because if she wins narrowly over Obama then things could get interesting. If the Clinton's lose, then there is no problem, but if they win there could be a problem if Obama continues to stay close. The Clinton's may have a problem in victory because there could be a backlash in the African-American community if the community feels that once again an African-American has been pushed aside. Barack Obama will not play the race card.  That is not who he is and how he conducts himself, but it may not matter.  He may not be able to stop the train of anger and mistrust once it is on the track and gathers steam. 

I am not just making this up. This was the prevailing sentiment of many of the callers on an African-American talk show in Chicago right after the results of the New Hampshire Primary was revealed. Even if this sentiment is only in Chicago, that could mean the difference between victory and defeat in Illinois. It is unlikely that any democrat can roll into the White House without winning Illinois. There was a lot of anger and mistrust. Does that mean that the anger and mistrust will continue if Obama loses? Who knows, but at least I can say I was the first to mention it.

However, I do not think it will be an issue because I think Obama still has a great chance to get the nomination. The difference between victory and defeat for Obama will be how well he is able to circumvent the Clinton machine and appeal directly to the voters. I think New Hampshire was a wake up call for Obama. Now the work begins.

The C Word

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.
--Andy Warhol--

Change your thoughts and you change your world.
--Norman Vincent Peale--

It's not that some people have willpower and some don't. It's that some people are ready to change and others are not.
--James Gordon--

Barack Obama became the first African-American politician to actually have a chance to win his party’s nomination for the President of the United States by winning, in convincing fashion, the Iowa Caucus a few days ago. All the political experts on television stated that he is the embodiment of hope. They stated that he has created the hope and change movement, so he is a force to be reckoned with in 2008. I agree. I have bought the promise, but I must in good conscience state here and now that for the sake of the country, for the sake of our community, and for the sake of hope – Barack if you are elected please deliver!!!

Barack Obama is not the candidate of change in politics in the future. He has already changed much of the landscape of politics in this presidential cycle. He has already exposed the game for what it is. It is what is. I have ranted on this blog for months about how good people are muted by the political moves of well trained, well funded, deeply rooted political machines that exists for the sole purpose of getting politicians of their choice elected. Politics is about everything but issues. Politics is about delivering things for everyone but the people. It is not and has not been for a very long time about delivering good governance for the people. I know that sounds overly negative and cynical, but it is true. I still believe that can change once we start to look at issues instead of images.

I have constantly preached about how we as a community should vote solely based on issues instead of on just how much we personally like the candidate. I still stand by my position. Yes. Barack Obama has never been elected to an executive office. Yes. Barack Obama has only been a Senator for about three years. Yes. Upon inspection Barack Obama’s record in state office does not necessary reveal him to be a maverick that has changed the landscape of politics in a city that desperately needs it. But, Barack is a very smart person that understands that what he promises he must deliver. He also has the experience of cracking the machine ceiling to break through into the United States Senate so he knows how to deal with dirtier politics-- keep your hands clean. And he is not bad on the issues either.

Barack also knows that the best candidate and the best public official do not always win. He has experienced that already. He has broken open for our community to see plain as day how politicians routinely give their endorsements away solely based on political convenience instead of philosophical integrity. That is why many of the members of the Black Congressional Caucus endorsed Hillary Clinton before the Iowa Caucus. That is why scores of African-American state politicians in South Carolina jumped on the Hillary Clinton band wagon months ago when she looked like a lock for the nomination. That is why several African-American politicians in Chicago gathered under the cloak of anonymity at the Ballroom on Martin Luther King Drive in Bronzeville on the Southside of Chicago several months ago to pledge their support for Hillary Clinton. It was not about any issues. It was not about any differences in policy between Obama and Clinton. It was about picking up their thirty pieces of silver.

Well, now that the race is wide open and Obama has demonstrated that he can win, the calculations have changed. Will all those African-American politicians jump ship and beg Obama for forgiveness or will change come on the local level as well as nationally? I guess only time will tell. I hope Obama continues to captivate the hearts, hopes, and dreams of the country and march right into the White House. And I hope that he starts to deliver real change from the moment he finishes his giving his oath of office until the moment that he hands over the keys to the new occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. And I hope that change does not stop there and that it flows from Washington, D.C. into our hearts and minds so that we can change our way of choosing politicians.