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UPDATED
I asked the authors at Jack and Jill Politics to contribute their thoughts about South Carolina, the black vote, the Clintons and Obama. Rikyrah wrote this incredible post, which I have included here, and which she will post later at Jack and Jill. This post sure plucked my strings since I, a white woman, advocated for women to vote for Hillary because she is a woman. It's also important because in 2004, Democrats were assumed of assuming they'd win the black vote, especially in places like Florida, and well, we all know what happened there.
The Disrespect Towards Black South Carolinians
by rikyrahI would like to thank BlogHer.com for the invitation to post here. I was wondering about what subject to write about, and I got my inspiration from reading some of the so-called Progressive blogs.
What upset me was the dismissiveness towards the South Carolina Primary.
A prevailing attitude comprised of, if Barack Obama wins South Carolina:
1. He only won because he's Black
2. It doesn't REALLY count as a win because of the sizeable Black population in South Carolina.I'd like to concentrate on those two points.
1. He only won because he's Black
This is condescending to the nth degree. For this to be the case, then that would mean that Obama would have been leading in South Carolina from the moment he announced in February 2007. And, the truth of the matter is, the race in South Carolina, according to the polls, only has had Obama in the lead beginning THIS MONTH- January 2008. In November 2007, Hillary Clinton had a ten-point advantage; -Late December 2007, Clinton and Obama were tied. So, from February 2007 until December 2007, Barack Obama was trailing Hillary Clinton in South Carolina. So, what happened in December 2007? Did everyone Black in South Carolina JUST discover that Obama was Black and said , ' I'ze gots to vote for the Black guy!'
Or, could it be, as with Iowa, and New Hampshire, and Nevada, Senator Obama began from Ground Zero - little national name recognition and no organization. And, as with those other states, he began to build an organization in South Carolina, from the ground up, and through visiting and through campaign events, he began to become better known and present himself as a viable candidate for President.
You mean, Obama, gasp, actually campaigned for the Black vote in South Carolina?
Indeed, he did.
He said, from the beginning, that he would campaign for Black votes as he would any other group. And, he has done that.
What has he been up against?
Well, a Black Establishment in South Carolina full of Uncle Ruckus'. Uncle Ruckus, for those who don't know, is the self-hating,loathsome Sambo on The Boondocks. He's the type of Negro to which Harriet Tubman was referring when she said: " I freed thousands, and would have freed thousands more - if they only knew they were slaves."
Prime example of this is State Senator Robert Ford, who, back in February 2007, said the following about Obama's run for the Presidency:Ford says he likes Obama, but thinks his candidacy would hurt Democrats. Ford says every Democrat on the ticket would lose with Obama as the presidential candidate because he is black.
"Then everybody else on the ballot is doomed. Every Democratic candidate running on that ticket would lose because he's black and he's at the top of the ticket. We'd lose the House, the Senate and the governors and everything. I'm a gambling man. I love Obama. But I'm not going to kill myself."
Lawd, Lawd, Lawd....The Black Man will DOOM US!Sigh.
He still hadn't changed his mind after Iowa, in case you're wondering.
Obama was facing a very skeptical Black electorate, who just didn't believe that a Black man could actually be elected President. After all, this is America, and a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll asked if the country is ready for a Black president, 72 percent of Whites answered yes; only 61 percent of Blacks answered yes.
So, Obama faced a skeptical electorate; he was an unknown quantity, running against the most formidable Democratic Machine in a quarter century. All they knew about him was that he was a Senator from Illinois. And, what they did hear of him - Kenyan father, White mother, grew up outside of mainland USA - none of that translates well South of the Mason Dixon. Obama had work to do, and he did it. He did the grassroots organizing that helped him in the
