"The Democrats could mess up a one-car funeral. "
Writes Pamela D. Reed in an article entitled, "Democrats are their own worst enemy" published on Jan. 6th, 2009 in The Daily Voice an online publication that bills itself as "Black America's Daily News Source"
Reed continues…
"As a child, I knew a mortician who was fond of saying this about anyone he deemed inept. It basically meant that the person in question could screw-up even the most simple task.
And watching the spectacle of the Democrats, at both the national and state level, in the wake of the jaw-dropping victory of Barack Obama as America's first Black President, I have new appreciation for the undertaker's sentiment.
What else can you say about a political party that could manage to make Obama's transition and the run-up to his historic inauguration a second-tier story? And, further, that would allow embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to make them look like contemporary, real life Keystone Cops?
And say what you will about Blago, his choice of Roland Burris to fill Obama's vacant U. S. Senate seat was, tactically, a master stroke. Sure, morally and ethically it may have been a questionable move. Still, he just out-and-out outsmarted the Democrats. Flat-out.
Mind you, this is a party that has not had much to celebrate for several election cycles, what with George W. Bush's eight-year train wreck of an administration, during much of which the Republicans controlled both houses of the Congress--and many state houses.
And now that they are poised to be in control of the White House (and did I mention the Democratic President-elect is Black), and they hold majorities in both Houses in Congress, what are they doing these days? Are they reveling in their magnificent, historic November victories or, better still, strategizing the great American Renaissance? Wouldn't that be nice?
Instead, they are trying to kill each other, figuratively of course.
On the first day of the 111th Congress, with 34 new and re-elected United States Senators being sworn in, and with Obama's inauguration in less than two weeks, what is the lead story? It is the sight of Roland Burris, a 71 year-old Black man, former Illinois Attorney General, no less--the first African American to hold that state-wide office-- and arguably the junior senator from Illinois, standing in the rain, conducting a press conference on Capitol Hill, announcing that his Senate "credentials are not in order and will not be accepted." This after the Senate secretary and sergeant-at-arms informed Burris that he would be denied access to the Senate floor. Presently Burris, the esquire, is weighing his legal options.
Timothy W. Wright III, a Burris attorney, summarized it thus. "Our credentials were rejected by the secretary of the Senate. We were not allowed to be placed in the record books. We were not allowed to proceed to the floor for purposes of taking oath. All of which we think was improperly done and is against the law of this land. We will consider our options and we will certainly let you know what our decisions will be soon thereafter."
Alas, Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, now finds himself--fairly or not--being likened to George Wallace and his infamous 1963 "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door" when he attempted to keep two Black students from enrolling at the University of Alabama, then segregated."
(Read the article in its entirety by clicking on the link below)
Of course Roland Burris was finally admitted into the U.S. Sentate and say what you want about the man, he handled the controversy like a gentleman, he didn't pitch a fit, he didn't resort to dramatics, he simply adopted a wait and see attitude maintaining that he felt he would eventually be seated
"Worst enemy" again came to mind as I heard Reverend Lowery's benediction during President Obama's inauguration and yet again when I heard Obama economic adviser's comments regarding where the rest of the economic stimulus money should go.
Perhaps the Colorado Gazzette summed it up best in an Editorial that appeared in its January 23, 2009 issue which stated…
"Some liberals are obsessed with race. It's all they can think about. So here's the state of our nation, after the election of our first post-racial president:"
The Opinion piece continues…
"In an otherwise fabulous inauguration ceremony, the Rev. Joseph Lowery, a Methodist minister who's black, shocked the masses when he infused racism into a prayer. He asked God "to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right"
The vast majority of white people almost always do what's right, Rev. Lowery. In fact, there's no reason to believe that white people embrace what's right with less frequency than brown, yellow, red or black people do" Finally the Gazzette wraps up their Editorial by stating:
"Upstaging Lowery's racist remarks were those of presidential economic adviser Robert Reich - labor secretary under President Bill Clinton - who advocated a racist approach to President Obama's proposed economic stimulus plan while meeting with members of Congress this month.
"I am concerned, as I'm sure many of you are, that these jobs not simply go to high skilled people who are already professional or to white male construction workers," Reich said. "Criteria can be set, so that the money does go to others, the long term unemployed minorities, women, people who are not necessarily construction workers or high-skilled professionals" So white men who pound nails and pour cement are the villainous ruling class now, and they must be denied federal largesse because of their skills and professionalism. And making sure they get no pork will be Reich, a man born into privilege who graduated Dartmouth, Oxford and Yale, after attending one of the finest high schools in New York.
This enormously wealthy man - who's white as white can be and born with a silver spoon in his mouth - wants to make sure the government goes out of its way to exclude hard-working, blue-collar men who happen to be white.
Racism and sexism don't get bolder than that."
Agreed, it doesn't get any bolder than that, or more stupid, or more reckless in my opinion. The Democratic Party is alienating its base, all of it. Offending black Americans by trying to refuse Burris his appointed Senate seat, and then offending blue collar white construction workers by implying that they don't "do what's right" and slapping them even harder with Mr. Reich's comments that they are undeserving of stimulus money.
"Daddy was a veteran a Southern Democrat , they ought to get a rich man to vote like that" sang the country music group Alabama in their much revered "Song of the South"
Thanks to Reverend Lowery and Robert Reich, it is unlikely that a "rich man", a "black man" or a "white construction worker" will be voting for the Democrats in the future, unless they get their act together.
A good place to start would be looking at the example that Senator Jim Webb (D) Virginia has set.
His PAC website, www.bornfighting.com carries the news that Sen. Webb was recently named one of the 75 most influential people in the world stating:
"Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, has done more to repair his party's relationship with the military than anyone since the Democrats ran afoul of the rank and file during the Vietnam era by appearing not so much antiwar as antimilitary. Webb's new GI Bill, passed this year, will treat returning Iraq veterans much the same way World War II veterans were treated when the GI Bill was first conceived.
A highly decorated marine in Vietnam, a secretary of the Navy under Reagan, and an early favorite to be Barack Obama's running mate, Webb withdrew from consideration, saying that he was content in the Senate, prompting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to tell us: "Jim Webb is that rarity in Washington. He knows himself." Which is why he will have the ear of whoever wins the presidency.
For all his varied and influential career in public service, Senator Webb, the author of nine books, thinks of himself first and foremost as a writer, and says the rigor and watchfulness required of writing influences all of his work in Washington."
Senator Webb is a rarity in Washington, but he doesn't need Senator Reed to tell him that, in fact he'd probably be better off without Reed's endorsement but the fact remains that Webb sets an example that the Democrats should be paying attention to, a traditional centrist in his politics, who fights for America's military and working class.
Read more about Senator Webb:
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