Cynthia Tucker’s recent column on race and redistricting is so correct. She wrote:
If black covers think they have made substantial gains simply by having more black representatives in Congress, they’re wrong. They’d have more influence if they were spread through several legislative districts, forcing more candidates to court them.
My county is divided between Congressmen Sanford Bishop and Austin Scott and both are likable and intelligent men fully prepare to serve a cross-section of Georgians. But, as Ms. Tucker wrote, corralling most Blacks into a few districts make the contiguous districts areas ultra White. Voters in ultra White districts equate congressional time spent with Blacks to time spent with liberals because they don’t understand that most rural southern Blacks are actually moderate to conservative in their mindsets on issues. If not for the vitriol created by ultra conservative media, Michael Steele could have drawn 25% of the Black vote into a moderate section of the Right–even Bishop would have likely switched.
Thoughts of brother Steele brings me to another Tucker point: hyper Black districts and therefore hyper White districts discourage moderation. For more on the importance of moderate, one can read almost every previous post on this blog.
I started work at the U.S. Congress when Rep. John Lewis was the only Black member of the Georgia delegation and most southern congress members spent a third of their time in the Black community. Oh, Bishop and the Blue Dogs will serve conservatives on a fair level but will conservatives give an equal ear to the center and the left. An interesting but forgotten fact is that Newt Gingrich had a Black female chief of staff in his personal office back in the day. Ms. Tucker should have an intern count the number of Black staffers in White southern congressional offices and the number of White staffers in Black members’ offices. As they say in sports, we can’t win for losing.
Politics and public policy are like Thai food. For years, I wouldn’t consider eating Thai because spicy food is too much for my system (let’s not go there.) In Tifton, Georgia, I got brave and decided to try Thai food at Coconuts Asian Bistro. My neighbor, who is a food and fitness guy, told me that the people at Coconuts can make Thai dishes without the famous “heat.” He was right and I am developing a tolerance for bolder dishes.
Officials are elected to serve all of the people in their area; not just those who voted for them. My conservative friends are as spicy as Thai food with their ideas about governing and the same can be said about the liberals I know. Of course, moderates can see the wisdom in taking elements and concerns from everyone.
Follow me on this one: GOP congressional candidate Ray McKinney called me minutes after Obama won the presidency and I asked if he wanted me to help him grasp moderation so he could improve his chances of winning in a swing district. Ray and real conservatives will discuss issues with others but see policy flexibility as weakness. Anyone who flexes his positions is a professional politician. Yes, there are professional politicians or public servants who gauge the views of the whole area and serve with secondary regard for their personal views.
The mentality is “I know what’s best for me and also know what’s best for you.” What happen to “all men are created equal.” It’s an insult when some people consider themselves more American than others. President Obama is in Ireland this week. We know when his father came here and his mother was a descendant of an Irishman who arrived in America 160 years ago–which would likely be 160 years after my folks were brought here against their will in the hulls of ships. But, some people feel for whatever reasons that they have the right to make policy without input from those who pay fewer taxes or create fewer jobs. At the same time, knuckleheads in my area have little regard for community and have developed an entitlement mentality but that is another subject for another day.
In my personal opinion, Georgia two senators and my congressman try to serve public policy that is mindful of most Georgians. You would never know that Senator Isakson’s record is so conservative because he plates up his dishes in a cool manner. We all know that Sanford Bishop ran for congress while his personal views were left of center but SDB has a good comfort level with most people and quickly developed the ability to serve those who voted for him and surprisingly the regional interests of those who didn’t. A public servant in a swing district must have that ability.
If conservatives would produce candidates who could dial down the spiciness initially, they could secure more of the center. If you think about it, many current conservatives made the transition over time by developing a palate for the Right (former Georgia governor Sonny Purdue and current Georgian governor Nathan Deal were both Dems in the 90s.) That hot, nasty style of politics runs people off. I would have a better life if I was a vegan or raw foods guy but that is not happening overnight—let’s start with some carrots. If redistricting changes the composition of a congressional district, the temperament of the congress person from that area should also change. Some folks don’t get that and they might be the same people who spice all the food while cooking for others. The recipe says “season to taste.”
Every southerner should be mapmaking during the redistricting process because our representation for the next ten years is on the table. We shouldn’t leave it to the state legislators alone because they work for us. There should be a smart phone app for redistricting.
Because I am watching The Borgias on Showtime, ice-cold Niccolo Machiavelli, Pope Alexander VI and Amerigo Vespucci come to mind when think about our mapmaking. I read in Machiavelli’s The Prince that one should kiss his enemy on the left cheek then the right cheek—no wondering why Tupac liked his writings. Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) stopped at nothing to get the territorial arrangements he wanted and so should we.
How could Christopher Columbus “discover” a land with millions of inhabitants? Columbus didn’t know where he was or what he had but Vespucci came back from current South America and reported to the d’Medici family that the land was larger than anticipated and not the Asia described by Ptolemy or Marco Polo. It must be a New World or new continent. In 1507, mapmaker Martin Waldseemuller produced a world map and named the new continent America after Vespucci’s first name.
It’s my turn to produce a congressional district of Georgia (actually, software programs for this purpose are online.)
It’s my turn to produce a congressional district of Georgia (actually, software programs for this purpose are online.)
My map would feature:
Going back to the 1992 map for the second congressional district (my area) with parts of Bibb County joining Albany and Columbus again. The Republicans in the 8th District clearly don’t want that Macon concentration of Democrat voters and we would take then gladly.
Thomas, Brooks and maybe the rest of Lowndes County should be put into the 1st congressional district because they hate being in a moderate district. Congressional candidate Mike Keown ran strong last year and he would be the heir apparent when Jack Kingston leaves for bigger things or returns to lovely costal Georgia. Yes, Keown is congressional material but not in a swing district.
Because I want to see a congressional district that can elect an African American GOPer member of congress, I would make the new 14th District a collection of moderate Democrats that give headaches to current GOP members but just enough Republicans to win the seat—Hall, Clarke, etc. I want a brother or sister who would say once and for all, “stick to the issues and enough with the nonsense.” Blacks would vote a candidate like that.
Of course, the U.S. Justice Department must review the congressional maps and I am hearing that all of Chatham County might go from the 1st District into the 12th District in an effort to improve the chances for a GOPer the 12th. All of this is wild speculations but every Georgian should have at it. If we have learned anything from the actions of the Tea Party Movement, it would be that elected officials work for us and we have a say.
There is a controversial painting of all American presidents that includes President Obama standing on the U.S. Constitution. The guy was president of the Harvard Law Review and a University of Chicago constitutional law professor but he doesn’t respect the Constitution. Really?
I saw the painting hanging in the district office of U.S. Rep. Austin Scott. Readers of this blog know I appreciated GOPer Scott removing Rep. Jim Marshall because Marshall, a law scholar himself, decided that Speaker Pelosi and the White House wasn’t his cup of tea. The two Georgia U.S. Senators, Scott and Rep. Jack Kingston are the most bearable Republicans in Georgia because they are good guys in person. But, the ultra conservatives are busy and seemingly require that the GOP leaders limit input from Democrats. Kingston has a well-earned reputation for going to policy-hostile events and breaking down his voting record. That’s how you do it and Bishop, Barrow and even Marshall did the same.
If the picture is in Scott’s office, it is there because Scott feels that the White House’s policy contradict the framers intend; Scott is on a fiscal correction mission. When Rep. Sanford Bishop was a freshman, his Washington office initially didn’t have Georgia flag outside the front door. In an interesting twist, Bishop got the old flag (stars and bars included) but state legislator Austin Scott was (I think) the only GOPer who support changing that flag and he caught hell for it.
The artist who created “The Forgotten Man” said he knew the work was a little strong and I personally think it is too strong. I always respect President George W. Bush and argued with those who thought he wasn’t bright—dumb people rarely graduate from Yale. The birther junk and whatever comes next are insults and thank you to those of the other side who want to stick to the issues. I saw the facebook video statement of Rep. Scott regarding the killing of Bin Laden and yes, he was of the few conservatives who gave President Obama credit.
Democrats have always allowed Bishop, Barrow, Marshall and other Blue Dogs flexibility to included conservative elements in their actions because conservatives are Georgians too. I am concerned that the far Right will not allow the same leeway to any GOP members of congress. Of course, the views of real liberals fall on death’s ear but even moderates and centrists should keep an eye on redistricting and hope that they end up in moderate districts.
When Jon Stewart said that Bill O’Reilly was the “thinnest kid at fat camp,” he meant that O’Reilly was the best person at Fox News and one might say the same about Sen. Saxby Chambliss (Gang of Six) and Austin Scott.
Jon McNaughton’s The Forgotten Man is art and art is designed (like Spike Lee’s and Tyler Perry’s work) to provoke thought. You be the judge.
The HistoryMakers oral history videos on Rep. Sanford Bishop and Howard University Medical School professor Dr. LaSalle Leffall reminded me of the road Black America has travelled. This history series, which chronicles the “struggle,” provides useful insight on those shoulders we are standing. A young person watching these stories should feel guilt-ridden if they aren’t striving for great things.
The leaders of the past often came from Black elite families that stress education and achievement. Dr. LaSalle’s librarian mother in Quincy, Florida, encouraged a kid to become a doctor and that kid is currently Dr. Willie Adams, the mayor of Albany, Georgia.
Where do we go next in Black leadership? I personally want to see more leaders with less than perfect upbrings like Barrack Obama because the traditional Black elite might actually be detached from the average American working families. While former congressman Harold Ford, Jr. is a glaring exception, we need an emergence of Black and White leaders with hardscrabble pasts like Senator Scott Brown or Speaker John Boehner or entrepreneurial skills like Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed. Reed is confronting the city’s budget situation in a manner rarely seen in Democrat politicians during the past few decades. President Obama met with Reed and other mayors to tell them that federal money for cities would be less and Reed went to work on budgetary hard choices.
Some people can’t understand that the Black community in America turned to the federal government when state and local governments treated us anyway they wanted…badly. We must now realize that the next step in the struggle starts with simply remembering the drive, purpose, determination and achievement of the history makers. It always seemed that Dr. King wanted each individual to stride individually rather than waiting for a leader who could be cut down—one way or another.
I was always taught to respect my elders and those who have done so much in the past; I put their many good deeds on the scale. With that in mind, we transitioning from Zell Miller and Sanford Bishop to the next phase of southern leadership. In his oral statements for HistoryMakers, Bishop said that Miller often talked about a turtle being on a fence post and that one thing was certain—he didn’t get there on his own. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a history professor, pushed for an America where every child has an opportunity to achieve. If that child squandered that opportunity, that’s life and the government can’t ensure a certain quality of life for everyone. We are in a democratic and not a socialist state. Dr. Bill Cosby says the same thing.
Every American community would be better if leaders talked plain and told regular folks what the real deal is. The next generation of history makers will contain polished children of the Black elite but also regular folks who are sick and tired of being sick and tired; folks who have always known that your success or failure ultimately being and ends with you. At the same time, we must have compassion for suffering children. The 60 Minutes segment on homeless kids broke my heart.
In December of last year, President Obama quoted a variation of Voltaire’s “Don’t let prefect be the enemy of good” to Democratic Senators. The late Senator Ted Kennedy was famous for saying it is better to get half a loaf than no loaf at all. We need compromise, understanding and dialog in a large diverse nation but the political extremists on both ends seem to be more interesting in constantly fighting in a toxic manner.
Hell, I think I am correct but acknowledge that others feel differently on public policy. Is Voltaire’s “perfect” a drive to completely destroy or eliminate those who feel differently? I personally avoid any members of a political party who thinks the other major party is 100% wrong. Rural Georgia members of congress worked together on Farm Bills that aren’t prefect but are good for most involved interests.
We have recently seen several Georgia Democrats switch the GOP. Is the GOP more appealing or is the Democrat Party in the South no longer a place where they could be. And what will become of those in the state of flux between the two major parties. I agree with the new group Nolabels.org that these people (many still belonging to the D and R parties) are actually a quiet majority of Americans. We have moderate Democrats who appall the far left and centrists Republicans who are being purged from the South GOP…take your hat and your coat and leave..as we say at southern high school sports events.
Governor Palin and Todd were on the Barbara Walters Special last night and the Governor is getting smoother. But know this: the Tea Party Movement was fun and therapeutic but a more measure approach could have achieved better results in a healthier matter. If Michael Steele executed his original plans, more members of the center could comfortably move into a moderate wing of the southern GOP. Oh, my bad…there isn’t a moderate wing of the GOP.
The next step for the southern GOP shouldn’t be converting moderate Democrats into GOPers but teaching their current members that unlikely alliances with moderate Democrats are needed in some situations and on vital regional interests. Democrats shouldn’t lump Senator Isakson in with all national Republicans nor should Republicans do the same to Representatives Barrow and Bishop.
I have all kinds of friends and associates and the ones deep into the southern GOP like their party just the way it is….thank you very much. They want perfect or 100% of their agenda…no compromise, no 80% and no half loaves. If the Democrat Party in the south is to survive, it must get the center back while battling urban liberals who mean well but fail to grasp budgetary limitations.
The American people must asked themselves who the political leaders are supporting—the people or interests that keep them in power. One good thing about the economic crisis is that average people are following legislative actions weekly and daily. It’s not rocket science for Democrat members of congress to start speaking frankly about the mounting national debt and the need for every American to do their part to reduce the need for spending for public services that could have been avoided with better personal decision-making.
Voltaire had another quote that stated “It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.” In this last election season “established men” on both sides spent a lot of time, energy and money (money they raised from who knows where) putting each other down. Otherwise good dudes slamming each other because someone told them that was the thing to do. Come on now. In the South, we came out of the womb fighting during our troubled past and some folks like fighting and fussing. For me, I am siding from now on with the cooler cats who seek to debate and create policy in a civic manner.
I have a new theory about campaigns and elections. Of course, my new theory could be fact that everyone other than me already knows. My theory is that for some people the business of campaigning is more important than actually governing ( i.e. Sarah Palin). Could prepping for campaigns and campaigning be where the money is?
Roy Barnes raised and spent over $28 million dollars running for governor of Georgia but didn’t win. Much of that money went to media buys like T.V. and radio ads. Old school people like me just assumed a sizable old fashion Get Out the Vote effort was coming and that rallies with sweet smelling Georgia barbecue would be held from one end of the state to the other end. It never really happened because the fancy Buckhead type consultants (who aren’t cheap themselves) pushed ads, ads and more ads. I have never been so tired of political ads and many of the spots were negative against Nathan Deal which was nonsense because everyone knew that Barnes and Deal basically liked each other.
Few noticed that former DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones was in Nathan Deal’s corner and was standing right there during the victory party. Good for Jones because the same fancy Democrat Buckhead crowd didn’t want him running for U.S. Senate against Saxby Chambliss. Sure, Vernon has some history but hey cast the first stone and he would have done better than Jim Martin (I voted for Saxby for regional reasons.) But, the real winners of that election were the fancy fundraisers and political operatives who got candidates who could raise money and pay them.
We remember when Austin Scott was running for governor with the idea of raising smaller amounts of money and keeping it a people’s campaign based on his ideas and policy facts. On the other side of the fancy streets in Buckhead, the GOP types have even fancier offices that require much money to maintain. I think they look past the bright young man with good ideas and toward the four or five candidates who could put big money on the barrel head. Nathan Deal is the new governor and Scott is heading to congress.
Fairness requires that I acknowledge the effort put forward by Rep. Sanford Bishop’s opponent’s team. They hustled hard and made that thing too close—they were a well-oiled machine. I was ticked with the Barnes campaign and the state Democrat party because they were spending money on those freaking ads when people weren’t rallying in person, face to face like the other side was. When we did get together, it was so cool.
The first rule of politics is save yourself and Bishop got old school with his last Get Out The Vote push. He won that election with little help from the top of the ticket and because the people woke up at the eleventh hour.
Looming on the horizon is the 2012 presidential election year. While the presidential race outcome is unclear, you can bet that my community will be there for President Obama in huge numbers. An old theory of mine is that conservative candidates could fair well during that Obama wave if they could swim. My old friend Karen Bogans in Savannah is the only hope the GOP has in winning the 12th District race; she is smart, direct and has the political and professional credentials. Could an African American conservative get out of the GOP primary is the question but her campaign would be hard on the Obama White House yet surprisingly usefully to the Obama presidency at the same time. Hey, she criticizes me all the time and I would be upset if her comments weren’t true and didn’t need to be said.
I told Bogans that she could get a sizeable amount of the Black vote and win a congressional seat without raising and spending much money. She said those fancy folks in Buckhead must get their business/coin or they will push someone else up. I have concluded that the process of campaigning and prepping are likely more lucrative than actually serving in office. Sarah Palin gets $800K for one speech while President Obama gets half that amount as an annual salary. If you are going to be in the game, you must know the rules and the new golden rule is “he who has the gold..rules.”
It’s 5:15 a.m. on Day Lights Saving Time Sunday morning and my clock just fell back. In American politics, it feels like we are falling back in time also. Are we near a cultural Civil war and isn’t “civil” war the ultimate oxymoron. The one thing that is sure is that we need to have a better understanding of other’s points of view and the governmental process under which we function and live.
The Tea Party is a good place to start. By Tea Party, I mean the original Boston Tea Party. We have conveniently forgotten that the British taxes at the center of the debate were to recoup funds spent on the colonies’ defense during the French and Indian War. War and defense cost money. The Boston Tea Party wasn’t a protest inside the current form of government; it was an effort to overthrown the current form of government and some current protest today have the same thing in mind.
President Obama and most reasonable Americans know that the fundamental concerns of the Tea Party Movement are valid: federal spending and debt; size and role of government; and grow of entitlements. The nation would be better if all America “carried themselves” with a moral compass and a sense of shame as we did in the past. The government currently addresses problems that shouldn’t be problems at all. However, extremists on both ends of the political spectrum would ignore the U.S. Constitution and the foundation of this great nation.
It would be socialism if the government provided a nice house for every American. The government should provide a fair climate where every American has an opportunity to grow and prospers but if that doesn’t happen, you deal with the cards resulting from your actions or inactions. On the other hands, extremists on the far Right would interweave church and government for better moral fiber. Would America be better if we all followed a faith? Yes. But, the question becomes should the government mandate this faith and which one? As much as we respect them, the founding fathers at times goofed. Slavery is one obvious time and some believe that Christianity should have been the official faith with tolerance for other faiths.
We shouldn’t play with the intent of the founders or the foundation of this country. We are in a mini Civil War in the South base largely on energy policy and health care policy. President Carter was correct in the 1970s: we need a comprehensive energy policy to end our dependence on foreign oil. The Cap and Trade provision of the energy legislation passed by the U.S. House fueled the Tea Party protest. New York Time columnist Thomas Friedman has written several great books on our energy futures and we must make tough decisions and changes. Of course, the agriculture community gets my deference because we all must eat the food they grow but we must figure out farming methods that use less energy. The last Farm Bill promotes research on producing renewable energy.
I must be half asleep because I am about to type: the problem with President Obama. Okay Tea Party people here it is: We Obama supporters and President Obama himself know that some things could have been done better or differently. The same could be said about Bush 43 who I actually liked on some level. President Obama is real…straight real…too real. We elected him to implement big changes but the adoring crowds weren’t listening to the guy. He constantly said, “It won’t be easy…It’s won’t happen overnight….I can’t do it alone…we must do the hard part.”
As quiet as it is kept, Michelle Robinson Obama was raised in the model conservative family environment and if she starts speaking freely and sternly about how we are “carrying ourselves,” her importance in history might overshadow her husband. The residual benefit Sanford Bishop’s congressional service was always his positive image for the all kids. The Huxtables on the Cosby Show and the Obamas in the White House have the same benefit. The Georgia GOP botched the opportunity to have Dr. Deborah Honeycutt in Congress as a conservative example from a southern family but Mario Rubio and Austin Scott will be there to provide a fact-base form of conservatism that moves the nation forward with dialog rather than fear.
Obama’s The Audacity of Hope outlined problems and solutions with healthcare. He pointed out that preventive care that comes with having every American seeing a doctor regularly could save billions and fund changes. Obama was half right because what was also needed was far Right teeth. I don’t mean a dental plan; I mean public policy with teeth, bite or strong consequences. The kids in my family love their Uncle Teddy and their uninsured Uncle Teddy has made diet and exercise adjustments to stay under 240 pounds. A doctor would tell me that 260, 280 or 300 pounds would trigger health problems that require expensive treatment.
Wait a second; if the doctor and the healthcare plan told Uncle Teddy that buffets could lead to a certain point where expensive treatment would be self-funded or not administered, I basically dug my own grave and they should spend that money on a nice fat double-breasted suit for my funeral. It sounds cold but that is the reality of avoiding taxing or charging some people to pay for life choices of other. While we are working out on the tennis courts, cats drop by with triple cheese burgers in hand. “What’s up, man.” What’s up?…your cholesterol levels and your blood pressure…that’s what’s up.
These mini Civil Wars could be avoided if good conservatives worked with moderates sincerely. In the South, we often find those individuals who feel they are more American than others for some reason. I am proud that I had a dorm assignment at UGA and briefly attended grad school at UF (Go Gators) but I knew that I want to be at my HCBU to study from people who reminded us that we helped built this great nation for free while not free. We actually toiled in southern fields for over a hundred years before America was America in 1776. How difference is “go back to Africa” from “I want my country back.” President Obama likely thinks that we can all join hands and sing “This land is your land…this land is my land” but he did grow up in my dirty South so he doesn’t know that no one is giving up or shares money and power without a struggle.
Oops, I am flashing back to those revolutionary days of youth when radicals hit us with too much “knowledge and wisdom.” That stuff could come in measured dosages. From the Boston Tea Party to John Brown to George Wallace to the Black Panthers to the current Tea Party, Americans must remember that our opinions and plans must be coordinated within our framework of government and among all Americans. If the people decide to move slowly, not at all or in another direction, we must respect the process.
After the ballot drama Bush v. Gore, Democrats acknowledged President Bush as leader of this nation. When President Bush decided that military actions in Iraq rather than Afghanistan only was the course, I respected that jacked-up decision (Cheney lied to 43). Oh, but don’t let regular people elected Obama; folks start talking about second amendment remedies and secession.
Big corporations, unions and lobbyists are fueling these civil wars…pitting Americans against Americans. It is shame that some politicians on both sides think the objective for the next two years is winning the White House in 2012. The clear objective is to reduce federal spending while growing the economy and creating the climate for job creation while keeping us safe.
New members of the congress should put the best interest of the nation above partisan politics because the people in this fast internet age have no problem tossing those guys out every two years…work together.
I need to go because it is communion Sunday at church. Yes, Democrats and moderates go to church and try to practice what is preached during the rest of the week. During my lifetime, overhyped people killed folks while they were worshipping in church…be careful with that fun rhetoric because civil wars are nothing with which to play.
The Albany Herald endorsed Mike Keown for congress in Georgia’s second district over Sanford Bishop. I think that newspaper is wrong because Bishop is uniquely qualified and appropriate to represent the urban/rural; liberal/conservative and yes Black/White hodgepodge that is the 2nd District.
Keown is a conservative pastor from a very rural area and speaks with a command similar to a stern father chastising a wayward child. That type sternness has been at the center of the far Right’s reaction to the election of President Barrack Obama. In our system of government, most American adults have the right to elect officials and the actions of those public servants should reflect the will of the people.
That concept sounds clear in theory but we know that a more detailed explanation is that elected officials do the work of those Americans that vote, vote, vote. President Obama and the Democrats did well in southwest Georgia in 2008 and those election results gave direction to Rep. Sanford Bishop. For some reason, the Tea Party division of the conservative movement feels their votes count heavier that other Americans’ vote. It must because they are smarter or something.
If Rep. Sanford Bishop did everything the Tea Party Movement wanted during the last two years, he would have been functioning in an unconstitutional manner because he would have ignored the desires of the majority that put him in office. As a moderate, I could accept a Republican taking this swing seat if the guy was a policy wonk like Austin Scott or a conservative with a personal history of talking with various communities like Rep. Jack Kingston, Senator Johnny Iasakson or former Senator Sam Nunn.
Bishop came to congress 18 years ago after serving in a majority White state legislature seat; he prides himself on relating to and having a comfort level with everyone. As a blogger, I watched the Keown campaign from day one and rarely saw them working to build relationships with my community. The tone in Tea Partiers’ voice when then say “Barrack Obama,” “Sanford Bishop” and “Nancy Pelosi” is something different from regular Republicans. You know the tone and if you have forgotten it shame on you. Those who don’t remember history are doomed to repeat it.
Keown ran a strong race but some other congressional district or statewide position would be better for him and better for us. Bishop won’t win this election if the people who gave him a mandate in 2008 don’t vote on November 2.
An Albany city commissioner, who is also a Darton College professor, told the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call that Rep. Sanford Bishop was a $100 million dollar industry in south Georgia based on this position on the House Appropriations Committee. In one of the poorest areas of the nation, the voters shouldn’t drop a congressman who secures funding for economic development, training and job creation.
This hard campaign has served the purpose of making Rep. Bishop aware that he must be in the middle of helping President Obama shape more-moderate policy if he wants a second term. And that’s it; the reason far right conservatives want Bishop gone from the Democrat Caucus is so the remaining Dems are so liberal that the presidency will go their way in 2012. The Tea Party candidate for president will be Sarah Palin and keeping Palin out of the White House starts with voting for Bishop on Tuesday.
Did the Albany Herald ever ask Mike Keown about his opinion of a possible Palin presidency? Keown keeps bring up my old boss Rep. Charles Hatcher, who Bishop defeated in 1992. As one of the last loyal Hatcherheads, I can say Hatcher always said you don’t get rid of committee chairs and appropriators because they deliver for home. Hatcher knew the Farm Bill like the back of his hand and wouldn’t jeopardize the provisions of interest to south Georgia by bouncing Bishop during tough times.
Our shrewd plot has been foiled a week before the elections. The moderators of Project Logic Ga have always supported candidates from our parties (Democrat for me and who knows for Helen) but we also prepped for the worst case scenario by sending best wishes to the best candidates from the other side. The residual benefit of this idea centers on saying “if you had more candidates like this one, you could get a wider range of support.”
Senator Johnny Isakson has been in the game since 1974 and has a comfort level with every segment of the Georgia electorate; who ever met Isakson and didn’t personally like him. The GOP botched opportunities with Dr. Deborah Honeycutt, a conservative with a comfort level in our community.
In South Georgia, wise people have noticed conservative Austin Scott’s career for years because he seems comfortable in many circles, knows the issues and votes his mind. Scott was recently talking with T.J. Holmes of CNN like they were college chums at homecoming. T.J. didn’t likely hear about a rough patch Austin had when he voted to change the Georgia flag a few years ago.
I don’t want to see real Democrats lose to GOP candidates but if and when it happens, I hope the GOP candidate would be reasonable and comfortable in every community. The shrewd plot was voting for the occasional conservative who supports our regional interests while thinking that fair-minded conservatives would do the same when the shoe was on the other foot…no, not shoe…boot. That situation is not the case (I was wrong) because I can’t understand why regional interests would not compell south Georgia to continue supporting Rep. Bishop.
The Boot Sanford Bishop idea must be rooted in the old Boot Roy Barnes and Boot Austin Scott efforts after the flag vote—for the record, I wouldn’t have change the flag nor would I tear down a concentration camp—lest we forget. While some might seem naïve, the thought of politically “booting” someone in the South comes from a fantasy of actually doing it and the concept has ugly connotations. I mentioned this to Bishop’s opponent at the Grits Festival this year and he sincerely had no idea about someone gleaming a corporal aspect. I can’t say the same about some of those guys supporting him.
I could trade a Blue Dog Democrat for Isakson or Scott but I don’t see Bishop’s opponent being comfortable in every community. GOP Congressional candidate Ray McKinney from Savannah is a regular guy who can talk with anyone but I have rarely seen Bishop’s opponent in different circles.
The Georgia 2nd congressional district race comes down to one simple point for me: Rep. Sanford Bishop is the goose that laid the golden egg. We, the 2nd district voters, have positioned him to serve our state and that posturing took time and effort. Tossing our employee now wouldn’t be smart.
An Albany, Georgia, city councilman who is also a college professor recently called Bishop, a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, a $100 million per year industry for South Georgia. I can get concerned about staff miscues and oversights but protecting a 100M per year is a bigger concern.
Where were these budget-minded people when we were spending billions “nation building” in Iraq. No one supports our troops more than me but I wish we would have allowed the military the leeway to take down Saddam and his sons with a Navy Seal Team quickly rather than a prolonged situation that had us building schools, hospitals and roads there while our infrastructure crumbles.
The conservative movement seems hypocritical because Bishop is one of the few Congressional Black Caucus members willing to work with conservatives on issues. To me, the massive effort to remove Bishop is centered on 2012. With moderate Democrats gone, the remaining congressional Dems would be more liberal and easier targets for presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
It may sound silly but keeping Bishop and his seniority reminds me of that comedy bit by Sommore. Her man explains that the woman he is with provides the resources he uses to acquire Sommore’s nice things. Sommore tells the man to cover her up so the “blank” doesn’t catch cold.
Bishop’s slight oversights are nothing compare to governor candidate Nathan Deal’s mulitmillion dollar oversights but I don’t care about oversights; cover Bishop up so he doesn’t catch cold. Bill Clinton was “involved” with a chubby intern but his economic policies led to record budget surpluses; we covered Clinton up so he wouldn’t catch cold. Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss protects our regional farm and military interests with Bishop; cover Saxby up with an appropriate red blanket so he doesn’t catch cold and cover up GOP Rep. Jack Kingston so he doesn’t catch cold while he works (again with Bishop) to securing funding to deepen the Port of Savannah, a leading economic engine for the South.
To confuse the golden goose/poultry parallel, Bishop could be the 100M golden goose or a chicken on the TV show Survivor. While some castaways want to eat the chicken for protein now, wiser team members protect the bird for a constant supply of eggs. Everyone outside the Tea Party Movement know the Obama reelection wave of 2012 will take the 2nd district back for the Democrats. So, bouncing Bishop would hurt south Georgia for no good reason. We shouldn’t rally to help Bishop and Obama; we should rally behind Bishop to help ourselves.
I am ticked off that “rallying” is needed anyway. Let me get this right: Obama comes on the national stage and folks are crying and swooning (he is a great leader.) But, Bishop has been break his neck for Georgia for decades and folks need to be rallied. Excuse me. Sommore needs to be his campaign manager because nobody knows money like Sommore knows money.
Oh, we know Bishop after decades of public service and we know the he wouldn’t jeopardize his status or legacy behind some little part-time jobs or small scholarships. Please. Bishop’s efforts regarding job creation involves billions and college money would be billions in regular scholarships for working people and veterans education benefits for our returning troops and their families.
Democrats and reasonable moderates need to vote in southwest Georgia or our goose is cooked. Tea and golden goose liver pate would be one costly dish.
Could it be true: are some people too dim to vote. I just noticed a comment on a post about John Monds, candidate for governor in Georgia from the Libertarian Party. The comment said “he short as hell” and I did not know if the writer was referring to my picture with Monds or with Rep. Sanford Bishop. Monds, Bishop, and MLK are all Morehouse Men and like Dr. Benjamin Mays of Morehouse they emphasize achievement and intellectual stature over physical stature.
John Monds is taking the high road in a governor race that has seen negative ads after negative ads from candidates who aren’t generally considered negative people. I think a cottage industry has developed in which people are more interested in making money from fundraising and media ads than actually winning the elections.
Monds has represented the LP movement well and introduced a southern style of the LP. Nationally, the LP generally stands for freedom and liberty from government regulations and involvement. Monds has pushed those principles without bringing up the marijuana card that could spicy up his numbers with some voters. I am not for smoking cannabis or for gambling personally (gaming being another hot button issue) but many political observers would play that card with the current changes in California in mind.
Monds is a powerful man in Georgia politics because his governor bid could provide ballot access to the LP for future elections and his run will likely force a runoff. Former congressman Nathan Deal is fighting to hold his base and former governor Roy Barnes is fighting to turnout the Dem base while attracting moderates. Politicos I bumped into during the local HCBU’s homecoming all said the same thing: why are Democrats spending 30 million dollars on media buys and very little on the streets.
“The streets” or Get Out The Vote (GOTV) operations have traditionally been a method of awarding those with great community networking skills and those with well-earned reputations as community problem-solvers. Today, that money goes to run more and more TV ads and the real winners during election season are HBO and Showtime—no commercials.
Mark my word and file this post: the down ballot Democrat candidates are suffering from a lack of GOTV and if the governor race goes into a runoff, Democrats are not coming back out because getting them out now is unbelievable hard. Some Democrats are rumored to be voting for Monds as a protest for Barnes taking them for granted while courting conservative voters.
Again, are some people too dim to vote? You have Dems who cried when Obama was elected but won’t vote in the mid-term elections. We also have conservative voters whose views are shaped by TV and radio talking heads and the Tea Party Movement rather than seasoned public servants or policy wonks. When did experience become a bad thing? Rep. Charles Hatcher told me that lobbyists like dumb candidates and heavy turnover because congress is complex and under those conditions the lobbyists have the knowledge and power.
Recently, former governor Roy Barnes bumped into 8th district GOP congressional candidate Austin Scott and Barnes joked that a picture together would ruin Scott’s reputation. Barnes was so right because the GOP voters want candidates who detest Democrats and Scott must cloak the fact that Democrats and Republicans down here consider him a bright and likeable guy. Of course, there can be zero mention of the fact that Scott voted to change Georgia’s flag when Barnes was govenor. If Scott wins next month, his history of voting his mind will put him at the top of the list of freshmen Republicans that President Obama wants to know.
That last line means that the conservative Austin Scott would be better for this White House than the current Democrat congressman Jim Marshall who is slamming Obama and Pelosi every chance he gets.
Come to think about it, I am taller in pictures than Austin Scott, Sanford Bishop, John Monds, Rep. John Lewis, Senator Johnny Isakson and Rep. Jack Kingston but that doesn’t mean a thing when we remember MLK’s line about contend of character. (The same could be said about U.S. Senate candidate Michael Thurmond, who I never met. He would be a great asset in the U.S. Department of Labor.)
In America, no one is too dim to vote. However, we clearly have those who are too dim to realize the importance of voting but I am not worried because they didn’t read this long blog post. If weed was legal or decriminalized, those dim cats would be even dimmer. Former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders is off on the marijuana issue.
I watched the movie The Blindside on cable on-demand with my mother yesterday and she enjoyed the first football film of her eighty years on earth. Watching a movie was a welcomed departure from the political campaign ads but that movie still had me thinking about election season 2010 which is more like the movie The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Moms understands football blocking and protecting the quarterback now. Big Mike’s Crusaders football team seems like the Democrats and that would make either President Obama or Rep. Sanford Bishop the quarterback.
The massive, quiet and undeveloped talent of Big Mike brings to mind Obama supporters. While we are in the proverbial fourth quarter and the clock is ticking, the gentle-natured giant that is the Democrat base needs to get aggressive and start blocking. In sports, few things are more gruesome than watching an unsuspecting quarterback get hit on his blindside. Rather than staying in the pocket, his first inclination is to start running up field alone. As the rapper rhymed in “Walk it Out,” even Jesus had twelve disciples and don’t start that Obama Messiah talk again. But, it does seem like that gospel song that say “must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free…there is a cross for everyone…there is a cross for me.” Mr. Luke could raise that hymn at St. Johns in Poulan, Georgia, during my childhood. My point is everyone needs help.
The coach and the quarterback can only do so much; they need blocking and play execution or the game is over. While continuing the football parallel, we must acknowledge the tenacity and determination of the other team. As we say in the South, it isn’t the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of fight in the dog. The GOP and their injection of adrenaline/steroids known as the Tea Party is undersized but hard-working and crafty.
About size, it burns my britches to hear Tea Party folks (some of whom are my friends) say, “All I hear is this,” “everyone I know thinks this” or “Obama and the Democrats never listen to people because I told them what to do and they didn’t do it.” Do you hear yourself? Like Sandra Bullock’s character in that movie ,they seem to be living in a bubble on one side of town with zero knowledge about the existence of other parts of town. But for God’s grace and mercy, Big Mike could have been any of us.
Big Mike’s tutor (Kathy Bates) was the only Democrat the Tuohy family knew. When Michael saw that famous Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving painting, he wanted to have a family holiday dinner for the first time. I couldn’t help but think that some people realize the painting isn’t realistic because an old woman couldn’t hold a turkey that size at that angle without falling over. We should leave a tender moment alone because the same type ugly people who point out that turkey fact are the type people who spent November 2008 saying “it won’t work….America can never come together…I hope the young president fails with this hope and change crap.” Norman Rockwell would have enjoyed the Blindside and likely voted for President Obama because the social progressiveness in his art is legendary. From that old lady to Obama supporters, we should never underestimate our strength.
As President Obama repeatedly says, the Tea Party Movement Republicans have valid concerns about the size and role of government but I share the president’s concern with the TPM’s” my way or the highway” mentality. They seem to ignore the people who voted for the other guys and want officeholders to do the same. Okay, the ugliness of the TPM seems like the loudmouth football player that Big Mike eventually blocked off the field and into the stands.
We have two weeks to start blocking for the Democrat quarterbacks or it’s game over. I have always favored political teams and groups that look like a microcosm of America or my southern state. Ask yourself if the TPM protest looked like Georgia. While they are acting sweet and nice now, they showed they natural -sses during that healthcare debate and it seemed like 1968 all over again. Oh regular Republicans like Senator Isakson and Austin Scott have a variety of supporters across the state but most of these TPM candidates listen and learn from people in their circle of friends and associates only.
In The Blindside, that family and Michael learned about different ways of life and everyone grew. That situation is similar to the positive energy that catapulted President Obama into the White House. We were hopeful after lifetimes of ugliness, division and bitterness. What kinds of people thrive on bitterness and smirk at every little misstep someone makes. Is that really how someone wants to live life? Who wants to carry rage and anger constantly in their hearts? I know the national debt is too large and owing China keeps me up at night but did Democrats go crazy when Bush 43 made costly decisions about Iraq. I, for one, respected the president and I would appreciate the same courtesy from my friends on the Right now. (And people in hell want ice water but they are not going to get it.)
That family in The Blindside must have been thinking about the benefits of developing that gentle giant; we shouldn’t be naïve. President Obama, Roy Barnes, Sanford Bishop and other high-profile Democrats will be okay personally but I am more concerned with regular people like me who want to see our South move forward with positive energy rather than falling back into that classic “us reverse them” mindset. President Obama sought counsel from the conservatives in congress when he took office but few would break ranks and enter a dialogue.
I know for a fact that Rep. Bishop has always cultivated relationships with every type southerner. While some aren’t watching the congressman’s blindside, many still have his back because he has had their backs during decades of public service. You might get knocked down but just don’t stay down.
At this point in the game, we can’t blame the other team or the referees. It’s time to collect ourselves, focus and start blocking for our team—play your position and the rest will take care of itself. In football and in life, size and raw talent can be defeated by a determined and focus smaller opponent. Winning at football and at this political game also requires good coaching, a little cheerleading and some motivational pep rallies. Hell, Obama must quarterback, block, cheer and drive the team bus. If we lose, we deserve it because we didn’t do our parts.
Some old friends recently started the facebook page Georgia TruthSquad and we will be having a few pep rallies—better later than never. Sandra Bullock’s character has nothing on the lady who create GTS because she simply refuses to have her hometown represented by a TPM congressman. I know too well that the coach of the GTS has no problem “motivating” the team.
Sidenote: I wrote the blog post below during the healthcare debate protest in the summer of 2009. I turns out that I was wrong about the GOP creating a moderate section to balance the Blue Dogs. That protest movement know as the Tea Party actually took over the GOP and they might win next month (if unchecked) by using time proven techniques. It’s called winning ugly. My daddy took a train from Macon, Georgia, to study agriculture and play football at North Carolina A&T in the 1930s when one of the best ag schools in the nation was just up the road in Athens. He had to attend grad school years later at Tuskegee when one of the best ag schools was just up the road in Athens. Oh, we have been down this road before and we are heading back to the future. He was proud of Sanford Bishop but he never would have imagine Barrack Obama in 2008 or our complacency in 2010.
As quiet as it is kept, I have some close friends who are Black conservatives. Those people have had some sleepless nights over the direction of the Republican Party. One would think Black conservatives would be hot commodities with President Obama in the White House but that isn’t necessarily the case.
The Tea Party Movement (TPM) Republicans have pushed pass most Black conservatives and told the GOP moderates to sit in the corner. While most conservatives agree on policy, the techniques and methods of the TPM resembles protested from our troubled past too much for some people. Disagree, yes but don’t do it in a toxic combative manner.
In Georgia, we went from centrist Senator Sam Nunn to regular Republicans as senators without trauma or drama. But, going from moderate Sanford Bishop to a Tea Party-type Republican would be too much. That Tea Party candidate might fit well in a conservative district but Georgia’s 2nd is a mixture of rural and urban and includes two HBCUs. Quick question: who around the TPM knows what a HBCU is and no it’s not an intercontinental ballistic missle..that would be ICBM. I attended events at Albany State University’s homecoming and never saw a thing in support of Bishop’s opponent and would imagine the same was true at Fort Valley State’s homecoming last week. With 20,000 people on “the Yard,” a second district congressional candidate should have been there gladly.
The only time I saw TPM members at ASU was during the healthcare town hall meeting. To be fair, we have two senators who have no problem visiting Black colleges; Isakson has a long relationship with Morehouse College and Chambliss leadership on the Senate Agriculture Committee connects him to FVSU Ag department’s research programs. Rep. Jack Kingston maintains a friendly and functional relationship with Savannah State University. I worked for Bishop predecessor and his post-homecoming game reception was the place to be—a tradition that Bishop continued.
Why in the world would a poor region bounce a member of the House Appropriations Committee for a TPM Republican who would be a one-termer. The TPM wave this year is strong but the reelection Obama wave in southwest Georgia in 2012 will be even stronger.
The GOP candidate in the 2nd District might have a future in a conservative congressional district but this isn’t it—not now and not here. In preparation for 2012, the masterminds of conservative movement really want Blue Dog congressional seats. Let me hip you to the game: if most moderate to conservative Democrats are bounced from office in 2010, the remaining Democrat Caucus would be more liberal and easier to demonize in 2012. Those Blue Dogs are often the voices of budgetary restraint in party meetings and the Democrats who work better with conservatives.
My conservative friends said glowing things about the GOP moderate movement of Christie Todd Whitman and Michael Steele in the past. Oh, they were going to create a less bitter, “stick to the fact” division of the Right that would appeal to moderates, centrists and independents. That (blank) fell apart and most moderates were tossed out of the GOP…don’t let the doorknob hit you….
I went to hear Steele, chairman of RNC, speak recently and couldn’t help but think what could have been if they followed his blueprint for inclusion and diversity. Steele and I talked briefly and I told him that he should have won that U.S. Senate because that was a more natural fit for him than chair of his party. I then told him that I wouldn’t hear him speak in Albany, Georgia, because the Blue Dog Democrat in my district was a better fit. Little did I know but the 2nd District TPM candidate rejected having Steele’s bus tour come to southwest Georgia. They chose to have a prominent RNC member arrive on the bus the following Tuesday. To me, that move was cold. If you running against one of the most conservative Black members of congress, how do you turn down the Black GOP chairman who is in your area. I am not making that racial but it is surely a sign that Steele’s moderate history rubs the TPM the wrong way.
In south Georgia, we have grown accustom to moderate Democrats and even some Republicans but a TPM congressman representing Georgia’s 2nd District will not fly.
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.
A Pyrrhic Victory is a victory offset by staggering losses. King Pyrrhus’ of Epirus Army suffered tremendous casualties in the defeating the Romans in 280 BC—winning at all cost. As a student, studying the massive loss of human life during the American Civil War was rough.
Some observers have liken the current political battles to Pyrrhus’ situation since there are those who want to win with little regard for functioning after the election. The GOP has been tossing out quality conservative incumbents because the likeable lawmakers have histories of attempting to serve all the people. While it might be selfish, I have supported a Georgia senator from my area because his knowledge and leadership on agriculture and military issues helps key economic engines in rural Georgia.
The Blue Dog Democrat who represents southwest Georgia is in a serious mid-term battle and the far Right is giddy about their chances. They should remember Pyrrhus or better, Pickett and Lee at Gettysburg.
While I am busy be selfish, I can’t understand why more voters in swing congressional districts are standing idly by as a relative small group of very involved activists, Tea Party, shape elections and policy. From President Obama down to my city block, Democrats are too freaking nice…to each other. I have seen the enemy and it’s the complacent face in the mirror. We should find solace in the fact that our lack of voting produced the coming results.
A bust of Pyrrhus in a Copenhagen museum is missing it’s nose. I couldn’t help but think about wild voters in 2010 who seem eager to cut off their noses to spite their faces. That Georgia Senator has a staffer who evidently wrote something ugly on a blog when he or she should have been protecting the farm bill provisions on crops, nutrition programs and renewable energy so our southwest Georgia troops can return home soon rather than being entangled in hostile oil-rich regions of the world. Pyrrhus and I wouldn’t have been cool because I am selfish and hella practical.
I am pleased to see the White House finally pushing their supporters to the polls with references to their legislative record–talk about your Pyrrhic Victories.
I was in a discussion this weekend about the worst-case scenarios for election night in November; the situations and outcomes that should have been debated and considered now.
Lately, the GOP in Georgia has been taking heat in my community because African American (AA) candidates Dr. Deborah Honeycutt and Melvin Everson couldn’t make it out of their primaries; the GOP voters spoke and the message bounced from GA to DC.
Former Governor Roy Barnes, who beat a field that included long-time Attorney General Thurbert Baker, heads the Democrat big ticket. The Black community supported Barnes for governor over African American Baker because they thought he had the best chance of winning. Frankly, a Black president and a Black governor at the same time just weren’t going to happen in the Deep South.
Barnes’ strategy seems to center on adding White moderates to the Dem base. But courting the center requires running from President Obama and national Democrats. Once again, the base gets taken for granted. Barnes and conservative Democrat Jim Marshall are slamming Obama’s health care reform with a risky passion but hey, what can the AA voters do since they won’t vote for the GOP candidate? The wild card in the race is Libertarian John Monds who is a Morehouse Man and Omega Psi Phi just might get enough votes to tip the election.
The big Dem ticket includes AA candidates Michael Thurmond, U.S. Senate; Darryl Hicks, Secretary of Labor; and Georganna Sinkfield, Secretary of State. While I think every candidate runs to win, my friends feel these candidates real value is to get out the Black vote and to help Roy Barnes secure the Governorship.
We must read the signs…literally. If you see a campaign yard sign for the GOP candidate for governor, you also see a cluster of other GOP signs. The same situation is true on the Dem side in my community. On the other side of town in areas of people who don’t look like me, you see Barnes signs and that’s it.
In other words, the White support Barnes will receive could only be for Barnes, the White and Black congressional Blue Dogs and that’s it. Is it every man for himself? The Dem ticket is D.O.A. without new voters who love President Obama and we are noticing the slighting he is receiving from his team.
That slighting seems to justify the vigorous campaign for Sanford Bishop’s seat. Okay, let me get this right: one of the most conservative Black members of Congress gets the biggest target. Mind you, Rep. Jim Marshall’s district was won by John McCain in 2008 and Austin Scott, the GOP candidate against Marshall, has a functional relationship with Blacks in his district and Blacks in the state legislature. Bishop must be flattered because the GOP really wants to remove a moderate CBC member so that the CBC will be as liberal as possible as they prep for 2012. The GOP is good at being bad. Dam good. Marshall isn’t catching the heat that some Blue Dogs are experiencing because he remembers Polonius’ speech from Hamlet—To thy ownself be true- and he votes “no” on major Dem legislation before bragging about it back home. They must think real Democrats won’t notice.
The worst-case scenario would be that all of the big ticket Blacks will end up having a bad election night while Marshall and Barnes win. If the governor’s race goes into a runoff, you can best believe my community would not come back out. Barnes is a smart guy and has time to adjust his approach. I am going to need President Obama himself to personal explain why we should care about Marshall.
Another worst-case scenario would be far Right conservatives taking over the congress; people who have little involvement or past interaction with folks different than them. On Meet the Press today, David Gregory played an old clip of Rudy Giuliani talking about the big tent that is the GOP and their numerous moderates. When asked if that was still the case, Giuliani didn’t have much to say. Rep. Jack Kingston under congress as a firebrand in the early 1990s but the tide as changed so much that GOP Rep. Bob Inglis of South Carolina, who lost to a Tea Party candidate, rightly points out that Kingston is now one of the only the voices of reason in South congressional politics.
On the bright side, President Obama’s White House might be pulled toward the center after election night or maybe before.
Chicago Congressman Bobby Rush’s personal history includes being born in Albany, Georgia and time in the Black Panther Party. While working for Albany State University, I bumped into Rush coming out of the old Broad Street Bistro downtown. When I called him congressman, he was surprised to be recognized in south Georgia. Unfortunately, he was in town for the burial of his father and said that Rep. Sanford Bishop made the customary congressional courtesy offer of putting his local office at Rush’s disposal during his visit to the district.
Congressional courtesy is a classy gesture that is quickly vanishing. Traditionally, the same consideration applies on the staff level. Recently, I bumped into Bishop’s District Director at a function and he listened to my laundry list of policy concerns in the parking lot because that is what staff does for former staffer or those who are “informed constituents.” This director’s counterpart to the east makes it a hobby to not humor this particular former colleague—alright then.
Bobby Rush has the distinction of being the last opponent to defeat President Barrack Obama. After the 2000 congressional race, Obama regrouped and did well for himself. Rush spoke to our Black congressional staff organization once and told us that he was late for a Panther meeting that ended up in a conflict with the authorities; he might have been dead or in prison if he was on time that day.
Rush said that the Panthers felt that Blacks in America were similar to a trained elephant in the circus. A baby elephant is tethered to a steel rod in the ground and taught to walk in a circle. After the animal grows into a massive giant, the trainers can push the rod into the ground with their hands only because the trained mind of the elephant does not realized it could simple free itself by recognizing it’s powerful potential.
Rep. Rush also told the sad story of baby elephant being found next to their mothers’ bodies after ivory hunter killed the mother. Babies elephants have been discovered dying of dehydration while standing in the river. The mother was slaughter before teaching the young one to reach down and drink. Rush’s parallels between the Black community and elephants were classics.
This blog’s foundation is political diversity because different voices and histories at the table create better discussions and better solutions. Judge Sonia Sotomayor needs to stop back peddling on her statement that her Latina experiences brings different judicial perspective to the table or bench.
To use a worn term, she is uniquely qualified and I will be smiling when the next election brings a less bitter GOP House member or maybe a woman into the Georgia delegation. Georgia has only had six women in congresss and three of them serve less than a year. If Bobby Rush can go from Black Panther to congress then Georgia should have more than three females in Congress since World War II. It’s not affirmative action to think that the Georgia delegation’s vibe is a little testosterone-driven.
My daddy play college football at North Carolina A&T during the one platoon, leatherhat days—let him tell it, he was on the field for every play for four years.He taught me that in sports a guy can make head and feet moves all day but watch his waist or his belt buckle—that’s where he is going.
President-elect Obama plays basketball with the best of them.I have been “watching his waist” on team-building and I think where he is not going is telling us the sections of the Democrat Team that he has quietly and inadvertently put on the bench.For example, Obama is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus but Sanford Bishop is the only member of the CBC who was seriously considered for a cabinet position.There is one school of thought that dictates that Obama is a CBC member at the top of the table so why should others be there.
Obama clearly respects Bishop and fellow Harvard Law grad Rep. Artur Davis; but I am starting to think he wonders why other CBC members and other Democrats did not provide better congressional oversight during the Bush years.Are CBC members mostly interested in keeping themselves in office?Rangel, Thompson, Waters, Holmes-Norton and Clyburn are major players on the Hill but most members of the CBC could have or should have done more with policy and legislation for the years they have been in office.How does a skinny kid with a funny name blow pass you in route to the White House in a few years?
Listen to my daddy and read Obama moves.We had a pastor at my AME Church who uses to say she was tired of hearing people pray “Lord, they need you over here and they need you over there.” Pastor said God must be thinking, “Why do you think I put you down there…you fix it, then come back and tell me about it.”Obama must be pissed with so-called leaders who fail to see these huge problems or messes coming and must be think how dare those guys think change starts with them when they help get us in the ditch in the first place.
Obama promised change but my friends are wondering if some oldheads will be surprised when he starts calling Dems out for being asleep at the wheel.He can start with me: I confess that I believed Vice-President Cheney when he said that if we can get to the Iraqi oil fields before Saddam Hussein sets them on fire again, we will pump enough oil to fund the war.Then again, I am not a baller in the game.
Before the primary season, old school Black leaders and many CBC members lined up behind Clinton and Edwards because those leaders had clout with those teams.I like the way Black leaders did not automatically get with the Black guy.But reading their waists in retrospect, they knew changing the politics, methods and policies of old would mean they were old dogs who need to learn new tricks.The same thing applies to Republicans: conservatives who are sincerely interested in ensure that the new administration’s initiates include sound fiscal and budgetary provisions are good Americans.Conservatives who want failure so they can get political power again should be ashamed.
President-elect Obama is like Michael Jeffery Jordan standing at the top of the key explaining exactly what moves he is about to make on the way to scoring.If you stepped into the arena with a weak game and much mouth—you better eat your Wheaties.
The news of Cooper Tire Plant closing in Albany has made for a solemn holiday season in southwest Georgia. I can’t go to the post office without having a gloomy conversation or two about the families involved—cousins, classmates, friends. If you read the past post on this blog, my writing implored south Georgia voters to declare Saxby Chambliss and Sanford Bishop our guys so they could focus on getting Cooper off the cropping block like Georgia members of Congress have kept our military bases safe. It turns out the fix could have been in from the start.
The Albany Herald Editorial Board wrote today (article found below) that Cooper Tires might have been “playing” south Georgia. They speculated that Cooper knew the Albany plant would close and they used the study period to entice sweeter deals from the other three plant cities—good business or dirty pool?
I am reading The Last Lecture by the late Randy Pausch—positive man who departed this life to soon. In his chapter “Don’t Complain, Just Work Harder,” Dr. Pausch wrote,” Too many people go though life complaining about their problems. I’ve always believed that if you took one-tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you’d be surprised by how well things can work out.”
The Cooper employees are being dignified about their situation at this point but if they get to feeling down they can remember that Randy Pausch and many others would love to be in their shoes—this too shall pass.
Was closing inevitable? http://www.albanyherald.com/stories/20081218e1.htm
Based on the information that has come out, it may have been the right decision for Cooper, though it is a devastating blow to a region that is already the ninth-poorest congressional district in the United States. Metro Albany’s unemployment is above the state average, and it’s guaranteed to trend upward as the layoffs progress in the shutdown process that will be completed by the end of December 2009. Southwest Georgia and its retail core of metro Albany are already struggling with the stagnant economy that is gripping the nation. Losing the half-billion dollars a year that Cooper meant to the regional economy will make the hole deeper and harder to climb out of.
What makes the already bad situation even worse for many is the suspicion that the decision was made long before the study was conducted.
In mid-November, The Albany Herald received anonymous correspondence from a source that purported to be Cooper employees at Findlay, Ohio. The letter bore a Findlay postmark. Verifying the contents of the letter was problematic, but in retrospect the contents proved to be remarkably prescient. “It is with a great degree of certainty that we know Cooper plans to close the Albany plant,” the letter stated. “Unfortunately, the facility study is a ploy to fleece the other states out of any financial assistance they can offer.”
If that was the strategy, it worked ideally for Cooper. In Findlay, Ohio, union workers at the Cooper plant voted to accept a pay cut. In Texarkana, the union voted to kill its contract and pass another one in which workers’ salaries were frozen and other concessions were made. Mississippi is giving Cooper $30 million in incentives to keep its non-unionized plant in Tupelo open. As soon as the last piece — the Texarkana plant vote last week — fell into place, Cooper’s board met and the decision to put Southwest Georgians out of work was made.
If the decision to close the plant was made completely on the merits, then, painful as it is, you have to accept it for what it is — a reasoned business decision. But if Albany’s workers never had a chance and were merely held out as human bargaining chips so Cooper officials could wrestle better deals at their other plants, that is contemptible.
And given the timing, the letter and the chain of events, there unfortunately is some reason to be suspicious.
— The Albany Herald Editorial Board
Project Logic Ga 