AFRICAN AMERICAN ELECTED OFFICIALS OUT OF STEP WITH THE PEOPLE IN THEIR SUPPORT OF CLINTON OVER OBAMA

A majority of African American elected officials in the south are out of step with their constituents in their rush to support Senator Hillary Clinton while maintaining that Senator Barrack Obama lacks experience and is unelectable. My Congressman John Lewis, who represents the 5th Congressional District in Atlanta, was one of the first to jump on the Clinton bandwagon.

I was on the campus of Morehouse College attending the Joseph E. Lowery lecture series on the failed American criminal justice system when I learned that our Congressman was preparing to endorse Senator Clinton. Dr. Lowery used my cell phone to call Mr. Lewis to plead with him to withhold his endorsement. He went ahead with the endorsement using as a rationale that he needed to be out front which would have more impact. He wanted to be accepted by Bill and Hillary Clinton without regard for the people of his district. It reminded me of the “house slave mentality.” Since then the Black house slaves have been steadily lining up to get on the “Clinton bandwagon.”

There is a new, fresh wind blowing in the American body of politics!!! I observed it when Mr. Obama was elected to the U. S. Senate and when Devaul Patrick was elected as the Governor of Massachusetts. African Americans were narrowly defeated for the US Senate in Tennessee and Maryland. The notion that white people would not vote for an African American was unraveling before our eyes.

Talk radio was abuzz with excitement by last Thursday morning as radio jocks were rallying people to gather to watch the Iowa caucus. Before the end of the evening the people of Iowa had spoken giving Mr. Obama a resounding victory!

By now people like Congressmen John Lewis and David Scott, Labor Commissioner Michael Thurman, who was a real surprise to many of us, Attorney General Thurbert Baker and Ambassador Andrew Young must be having some real second thoughts about what they will do to control the “field hands” who are overwhelmingly supporting Mr. Obama as we head toward “Super Tuesday.” This is when caucuses and primaries will be held in 22 states across the nation.

The main question now is will Hillary survive New Hampshire and South Carolina? Will she still be viable by “Super Tuesday?” We must be ready to send a strong message to our elected officials that if you get out of step with your constituency, maybe it is time that you look for a new job, or in the case of Congressman John Lewis consider a well deserved retirement!!!