Joe Biden launched his campaign yesterday and made some interesting comments about another Democratic Presidential candidate.
It seems that Biden made a Freudian Slip while describing Illinois Senator Barack Obama. He described Obama as:
“the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”
I guess "mainstream" = safe....or a member of the elite Country Club. Hmmmm. I have to agree with The African American Political Pundit and The Field Negro on this story.
This was no surprise to me. This was Biden showing his true colors. I have felt for quite some time that he was a Wolf in Sheeps clothing. He is a Conservative RepublicRat. Don't be fooled by the "D" next to his name. The "D" doesn't always stand for Democrat in his case. But I won't go there. ......Ahhh what the hell. Just think of something that rhymes with Slick Fred...use your imagination.
He has been just as sympathetic to Republicans and their causes as Joe Lieberman and Hillary Clinton, and perhaps even more. The racial overtones are consistent with the thought process held by many White men of his social class. What's even worse than the comment itself is that he probably did not think that he was saying anything wrong at the time. They think that this kind of thought process is perfectly o.k.
I got that kind of racial nonsense when I was growing up.....in fact, I got it all the way through college and into some of my first jobs. And I am sure that Obama has gotten that kind of nonsense before. I may not necessarily like him for President, but he is a Black man first before he is a Democrat, a Senator, or a Presidential candidate. And i'd rather see someone else take the nomination only because I don't think he can beat those other rich, ruthless, White (and sometimes racist) men on the Republican side.... let alone deal with a sick American public that would not only not vote for him, but may even try to harm him too. I just don't want to see any of that madness. I've seen enough terrorism for one lifetime. I don't need to see anymore....especially when it comes to American terrorism, which is some of the worst kind.
It looks like the Biden team is getting off to a slow and clumsy start.
And this is in a campaign season where the Democratic field is pathetic. One of the worst I have seen. Hopefully more "viable" candidates will enter the race. With Kerry bowing out.... I really don't like what I see as a whole....but then again, I have never been crazy about the Democratic Party. What concerns me is that with the lack of good candidates, the disaster called Hillary Clinton has a much better chance of actually getting nominated. The Democrats are down to 2 MAYBE 3 viable candidates at this point....and the campaign has not even kicked into gear yet.
I'm even hoping for Wesley Clark to step in- someone who I really can't stand at all. This just shows how poor the Democratic line-up is this time around. But someone like a Clark might be able to draw enough juice away from Clinton, to allow someone else to slide in.
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The instinct to circle the wagons around Barack Obama, and any other black public figure is understandable, goes back a long way, and has served our people well over the years. But our political enemies have learned how to use it against us. At different points the careers of such figures as Clarence Thomas, Condoleeezza Rice, Harold Ford, to name a few -- and now Barack Obama, the right --- and Dems can often be "the right" too --- have counted on the fact that their stooges were in blackface to shield their public policy stands on issues from the scrutiny of blacks who want to stand up for ourselves, and of some whites as well.
Clarence Thomas, you may remember called raising of sexual harassment questions at his confirmation hearings a "high tech lynching". Rice trots out the fact that she was a little black girl in Birmingham at the same time when other little black girls were murdered by the KKK in that same city, and so on. In my own opinion we would be better served if we spent more time looking at Obama's, Ford's and all these mew jack faces in black --- if we spent more time looking at their actual public policy stands instead of rushing to their defense at every slight, no matter how small.
Biden and Obama are both senators with Ivy League law degrees. I'm sure they have lunch together, work out together in the Senate gym, and socialize together on a regular basis.
Our latest issue contains two articles on the junior senator from Illinois, one by me, and one by Paul Street. I talk about the devolution of Obama's stands on health care over the last several years. Street actually read Obama's latest book, and offers some trenchant commentary thereon. You know where to find us. We're at www.blackagendareport.com.
You're invited to check it out, and offer a comment or six.
And thanks for the props you gave my colleague Glen Ford's Lincoln article.
Thanks for the comments...
I'm definitely not an Obama sympathizer. I have been a critic of Obama (read through my archives). I am leery of his cozy relationship with the elites in Washington D.C....especially for a man who seemed to have risen from the grassroots of Chicago.
And you're right. These two probably do have lunch together. They sit on at least one Committee together in the Senate and seem to have become friends (at least to some extent). So that would not be a stretch at all.
But on this issue, I felt the need to point out the problem with Bidens comment. This issue is bigger than Biden and Obama. It pointed the spotlight on a larger issue concerning how Black folks are still perceived in this country (and around the world for that matter).
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