With Rep. Bishop
Albany, Georgia City Commissioner Jon Howard is my classmate from college and one of the most dedicated public servants you will ever meet. He put together a candidates forum this morning and I found myself talking with Bishop, Everson, Monds and Dukes.
That list of names isn’t a law firm but speakers at the forum who represent the whole political spectrum. Sanford Bishop is a sitting Democrat congressman and my old boss. I had three congressmen bosses on Capitol Hill and they all took pride in listening to and serving everyone in their districts—the people who voted for them as well as the loyal opposition. During this election season, I have heard that the Democrats don’t listen to people. I take that personally because I know for a fact that we had hell to pay if we didn’t give full consideration to every citizen from our area.
(Follow me because this is about to get complex.)
When a candidate says “everyone I talk with wants the D.C. crowd gone,” that candidate is being sincere and isn’t lying. That candidate simply has been receiving a constant diet of information from a select or limited group of voters-come to my side of town. Albany State University is playing a college football classic game against Savannah State in Waycross, Georgia, today. Waycross is represented by GOP Rep. Jack Kingston, who prides himself on going to political forums in every area…alone. Jack knows he isn’t going to get any votes on that side of town but wants to stand like a man by his legislative decisions.
Knowing the political makeup of Kingston’s district, I would not move there and badger him for not being a moderate like me. By my logic, the same mindset applies in Bishop’s district. However, Democrats have a tendency to take some elections off or not fully appreciate the work of elected officials like President Obama. So, the squeaky wheel gets the grease and the other side is very loud.
Democrats are too nice to each others. If you support this president, you should vote now because this election to those of the far Right is a referendum on the White House and the Democrat-controlled congress. The vote this November is actually as important as the vote in November 2008 because Obama wasn’t going to win Georgia but we have a lot to lose this year.
Melvin Everson was a GOP candidate for State Labor Commissioner and also a graduate of Albany State University. I told him earlier this summer that I looked forward to voting for a fellow Golden Ram but his party’s primary voters picked someone else. At the forum this morning, he was surprisingly classy to supported other GOPers because I am still tickled about his defeat and the defeat of GOP congressional candidate Dr. Deborah Honeycutt in the Atlanta area. I better leave that alone but…..you know what’s up.
Winfred Dukes is a local contractor and long-time state representative. I never met him before today but admired his fight during the last legislative session. Some young members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity were sitting in front of me and clearly there to support their brother Dukes.
With Libertarian Party Governor candidate John Monds
Before John Monds spoke as governor candidate from the Libertarian Party, I told the young men that Monds was also a member of their organization. Speaking with Monds today was interesting because he could be the kingmaker in the governor race. Monds, whose wife is a professor at Albany State, could get more support from the ASU family and the Omega family than his political party. The GOP could be cruising to victory in the governor race because a woman, Karen Handel, lost in their party to former Rep. Nathan Deal. What party wouldn’t welcome the chance to pull a sizable amount of the women voters from the other side? Monds could get enough of the vote to force the Democrat and Republican into a runoff. So, Roy Barnes’ campaign better not take my community for granted. Monds and the LP have a message that some people are starting to dig.
In politics and policy, you circle the wagon and this president isn’t the horrible leader some would have you think. However, it’s up to us to have real talk about real issues. I was there in 1994 when Gingrich, Kingston and company took over congress in Bill Clinton’s first mid-term. This year is different because Newt had vision (back then) while the Tea Party Movement, which has taken over the Right, has something else in their eyes.
In addition to Newt Gingrich and Tom Delay, the other bigwig in the 1994 revolution was Dick Armey and Armey is very good at what he does. Where is Armey today? He created Freedomworks—the foundation of the Tea Party Movement.
Back in the day, the Right demonized Bill and Hillary Clinton but quietly many on the Right were surprised when they got a better look at her during her presidential bid. Did she change? No, they just got to see the real her rather than believing the rhetoric from the media.
President Clinton recently said that President Obama should nationalized the mid-term election, admit that the recovery is taking longer than planned and ask for two more years to get things done.
I am for that because I am patience and respect elected leaders. When Vice President Cheney said that the war in Iraq would be funded by money from the Iraqi oil fields if we could get to them before they set them on fire, I trusted him. I never voted for Bush/Cheney but I respected the will of the people. Did President Obama ever get a second of similar trust and respect?
Georgia Democrats shouldn’t be mad at the GOP and/or the Tea Party Movement. We should be mad at each other for not using an equal amount of energy to rally real people we help with policy. (They must dial back that spending because I can’t stand owing China.)
President Obama had an issue discussion in someone’s backyard this week and I love it. We should follow his lead and take to the backyards to fire-up the grills and the voters. If we can argue and fuss about football teams, we can do the same about these important elections. Enough with the zillion T.V. ads for the governor race; that money could fund some serious Obama style backyard talks. So, my fancy friends in D.C. need to stop calling me about the elections in our state and send down some Johnsonville brats and Matchlight coals. We will take care of the rest.
Project Logic Ga 