AL CALLOWAY SAYS: Will few blacks vote in 2010 elections?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have really screwed up.

First of all, the two congressional Democratic Party leaders discounted the black perspective that clearly saw white nationalism working through their leadership as they, and others, attempted to restrain President Barack Obama via an extension of the politics of containment.
Along with other “corporate Democrats,” including the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) – all of whom are dependent on corporate contributions and are thereby controlled by corporate interests – Reid’s and Pelosi’s intention is to keep the first black president from leadership of the Democratic Party.

President Obama’s brilliant counter was to put the health care bill in congressional Democratic leadership hands to write and shepherd through Congress. Reid and Pelosi made a mess of it.

President Obama will get the start-up health care bill somewhat like the compromise he envisioned, understanding the inner workings of Congress, the corporate community’s impact on legislation and control of mass media, including polls, and therefore much of public opinion. And while Obama’s poll numbers are reportedly going down due mostly to the congressional fight over health care legislation and the broad agenda he inherited – including two wars – a virtual depression, an energy crisis and global warming, his stock will slowly rise with the economy in 2010.

Not so for Reid and Pelosi, who now have to worry about Democratic Party losses in the upcoming 2010 congressional, state and local elections, which leads to my second point: The election of Barack H. Obama as the first black president of the United States of America has frightened white nationalists of every stripe.

The Republican Party leadership openly discounts moderates and tinges on the edge of being anti-black by virtue of promoting pro-white as Americana through its now neo-conservative mandate.

White nationalists in the Democratic Party, led openly by “Blue Dog Democrats,” are attempting to shut down the liberal wing of the party via the opening provided by Reid and Pelosi’s bungling. The liberal move to contain President Obama, who shifts to the middle with calm and ease (like a chess player castles with the rook when the king is in check) has, perhaps, irreparably damaged Reid’s and Pelosi’s leadership value.

Added to their troubles (especially Pelosi’s) is the quiet storm of powerful liberal ally and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel’s ethical and legal troubles. From Harlem to Kenya, no one can forget how Rangel – the so-called black congressman from Harlem – fought tooth and nail, from beginning to end, against the Obama candidacy while supporting Hillary Clinton. I’m told that a statement hand-printed on a mid-western prison wall reads, “You only get what your hand calls for.”

Suddenly, the CBC has jumped out into the media, exclaiming faint yet derogatory murmurs about Obama forgetting black people. During the eight-year Bush administration, the CBC apparently communicated from as far off as Pluto about their predominantly black constituency. It’s quite possible, though, that their corporate sponsors (bosses) “encouraged” them to attack Obama while the health care reform bill is in the throes of being passed.

Actually, the more than 90 percent of black voters nationwide who vote Democratic get nothing commensurate for supporting Democratic Party political campaigns and going to the polls and voting for Democratic candidates – mostly for an entire Democratic slate!

And where there are black elected officials representing largely black communities, in too many instances those communities tend to fare worse overall during their tenure in office. But those politicians emerge owning properties and doing well as consultants, et al.

It is common for black voters to stay away from the polls during mid-term elections. Why? Because in the main, black voters are not up on the issues and know very little about the candidates and the offices they are seeking.

Blacks vote in very large numbers every four years for president, and vote the Democratic slate as they are told to do by black Democratic Party shills. They even help elect judges who were former prosecutors with sterling records as white nationalists.

The people don’t know, and the shills don’t care, as long as they get paid “30 pieces of silver.”

Al_Calloway@Verizon.net