The Wrong Reading On The Gov David Paterson Situation

Ellis Cose - Black Solidarity No Longer Trumps All

The Grio - Twilight Of The Harlem Four (Rangel, Dinkins, Sutton, Peterson)

The crash and burn of New York Governor David Paterson - and to some extent - the problems suffered by Rep Charlie Rangel, chairman of the "Ways and Means" committee in the US House has brought out several Black opinion writers trumpeting the new day in Black politics.   In this day Black politicians should not expect that the Black voting and political active populace to display a "Black Before All Else" protection strategy.

In my reading of Cose's arguments - he misses the mark.

You see - my political analysis is based on one central theme:  That Black Political Activism is centered upon the attainment of the Black community's permanent interests.  I get the sense that Mr Cose and others who provide color commentary about the fate of these Black politicos and others that they focus upon the figure himself.  In their view this "Black political figure" is himself a vessel.  His very presence in office is in and of itself a statement.

I have previously commented on the folly of "vehicle accoutrement  worship".  This is where people are focused upon the "heated leather seats", the 22" rims and the paint job more than they are inclined to ask for a map.  They are more impressed with the built in GPS LCD screen than they are in noting that the icon on the screen is showing them that they are off track.

When Black people focus more on notions of "representation of their popular viewpoints" and on a Black face in the place - this is akin to "vehicle accoutrement worship".  Now we all know that it is not just a Black face in the name of diversity that they seek.  We have seen clearly that a "Black who doesn't think the right way" will receive more RACIST attacks from other Black people (ex Michael Steele is called "Mr Coonastic" by blogger Rippa).  Thus there is an ideological element to this notion of diversity.

We rarely have the platform of assumptions held by those Blacks who advocate for this popular Black candidate put on trial to confirm that their rise in power has translated to our advancement toward these permanent interests.

I believe Mr Cose misses the mark precisely for these reasons.  It was almost if he wanted to TELL US that this is a "new day" in Black politics so that we will know this is the case.  This trumped any real means testing of this being the case.

Governor Paterson's approval ratings in New York has a clear partisan and racial distinction.

• Black Leader's Support For Governor Paterson Buys Time
• Cumo Has Higher Ratings From African Americans Than Does Paterson

Let's expand this last bullet point and thus show the indictment:

• The attorney general hammers Paterson, 55% to 23%, in a potential Democratic primary, according to a new Quinnipiac University survey. A separate Marist Poll shows Cuomo crushing the gov, 70% to 23%  (To be clear - Among General Democrats )
  
• The Quinnipiac poll found Cuomo has higher approval ratings than Paterson among African-Americans, 78% to 60%, even though black voters still say they prefer the governor 42% to 34%
  

Cose doesn't present these two bullet points which would counteract his claim.
What I am willing to yield to is the point that - UNTIL a Black elected official (of favorable ideology) reaches a certain point of no return - the BLACK VOTER will indeed support him with a greater "benefit of the doubt" than generic Democrats are inclined to do.

Analyzing this in a few different ways:

1. White voters don't have the same detectable pattern in their judgments of an IDEOLOGICALLY SIMILAR elected official which can be distilled as proof of their own "racial loyalty"
2. White voters who DO expressed a "trigger finger" in their precipitous disapproval for a Black candidate will be charged as RACISTS in their motivations.
3. Black voters who's negative positions against a Black political figure who doesn't share their ideology (Michael Steele) don't risk being called "unreasonable" or "bigoted" as would a White voter.

If Mr Cose (and other media figures) were really interested in doing a truthful sampling of where we stand with respect to race in politics they would do a more "above board" analysis of the habits of the Black Voter in regards to Black candidates they like and don't like but more importantly in relation to the act DELIVERY OF their interests beyond the INTENTION of delivering it.



Bottom line - in response to Mr Cose - If his arguments were true then he'd move from an argument that is logically equivalent of noting that "Democrats no longer come to the strong defense of an embattled Democrat" over to the Black community that is more focused upon our permanent interests outside of the "American Political Domain" and thus are willing to jettison anyone who has failed in this effort.

Instead eroding statistics in the Black community and/or misery rates that are 10+ higher than the general population still triggers obfuscation and redirection to the claim that more "RACE WORK" is need to be done against the scourge of "White Supremacy".

From "The Grio" story:

The Gang of Four made Harlem into a bastion of black power -- but the city's black population has largely dispersed to Queens, the Bronx and the outer suburbs, and Harlem is no longer the center of African-American political leadership or electoral power.

It was a tough fight for the Gang of Four -- but they managed to overcome great obstacles. I remember sitting next to Percy Sutton on a plane trip back from Minneapolis where he had attended the funeral of Senator Hubert Humphrey. He told me how upset he was that the voters had rejected him in the Democratic primary for mayor in 1977. He implied that racism might have been a factor in his defeat.

But prejudice against black candidates seems to be long gone. The problems of Rangel and Paterson seem to stem from other causes.

I spoke to Carl McCall, former State Comptroller and unsuccessful candidate for Governor in 2002. He said he was "very sad" about the latest developments. It comes, he added, at a very bad time, with the state facing an $8 billion deficit --and the budget deadline April 1st.

"I don't think the Governor should step down---but, in view of the distractions, I think the governor should turn over the budget negotiations to Lt. Governor Richard Ravitch, a man who enjoys universal respect," McCall said. "Ravitch should be the chief negotiator."