Race and Failed Leadership

The “American Race Problem” has created a new and interesting challenge. Until the last decade, black leaders were - in the political world – leaders of blacks. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, members of the congressional Black Caucus, were leaders in a world where the followers were black, or elected from districts that were created for them for the purpose of racial homogeneity via Gerrymandering. The thought of replacing any of these men or women with a “white” person in simply inconceivable. Replace Jackson or Sharpton with … Michael Moore (to pick someone who shares their views)? The question is simply silly. Their ethnicity may not be sufficient, but it is necessary.

In politics that situation has changed. To bring two examples to the fore, we now we have a black President and a black Republican Party chairman. Both lead majority white groups. And both have lost the confidence of many of their followers. Both want to hold on to their jobs for another term and both have a card that no white candidate can play: the race card.

For black followers of Barack Obama, which appears to include well over 90% of the black population, his critics are racists. I was sent a copy of a newspaper article by a retired black teacher which appears to reflect her views. These views include the assumption that Barack Obama’s life is in danger because he’s black. Andrew Manis, Associate Professor of History at Macon State College put it this way:

First, every day that Barack Obama lives in the White House that Black Slaves Built, I’m going to pray that God (and the Secret Service) will protect him and his family from us white people.

Second, I’m going to report to the FBI any white person I overhear saying, in seriousness or in jest, anything of a threatening nature about President Obama.

Third, I’m going to pray to live long enough to see America surprise the world once again, when white people can “in spirit and in truth” sing of our damnable color prejudice.

Professor Manis is white. My correspondent is black. Can you imagine the reaction from them and millions of others if the Democrats, fearing a continuation of the electoral catastrophe that began this year, decided to try to deny Barack Obama the nomination for a second term? The Democrats – who are now of the opinion that Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing – are caught in a vice of their own creation. They absolutely need a monolithic black vote to win national elections so they cannot antagonize that part of their coalition. Having an incompetent, unpopular black man as their leader puts them in a virtually impossible situation which they are trying to wriggle out of. The article in the Washington Post Douglas E. Schoen and Patrick H. Caddell is the answer that would – mostly – get them off the hook. But the “Lightworker” whose election would cause the seas to recede and the earth to cool is not that kind of man. In case they have not noticed, it’s not about them, it’s about him.

Michael Steele is a problem for Republicans. He was elected to be the Republican Party Chairman in part to prove that Republicans were every bit as inclusive as Democrats. Steele is a politician and, like many politicians he likes the spotlight. He has had the unfortunate habit of putting his foot in his mouth too often. Party chairmen should neither be seen nor heard. Their job is to raise money and to tend to the party machinery. It now appears that Steele is prepared to play the race card if he does not get a second term. Since his tenure as chairman has not seen an increase in Republican support in the black community, Steele’s hold on the Chairmanship is much less secure. For whites, the accusations of racism – thanks to the rants of Professor Manis and other like him – has lost much of its sting. “You’re calling me a racist? Whatever.” Still, we can be sure that the Liberal community and their megaphones in the MSM will be sure to make the case that Steele is being dropped because he’s black.

There are things that are so emotionally charged that they are immune to logic. Race is one and religion is another. People who have been seeking a secular savior – someone who looks like them – will not let him go even if he brings misery to his people. That’s the hold the First-Black-President™ has on the overwhelming majority of the black community. To give another example, the photo “Piss Christ,” like a lot of Andres Serrano’s work product is - when stripped of its appeal to emotion - not much more than a blurry image in various shades of yellow. A visitor from Mars would wonder not just what all the fuss was all about but why it was put on exhibit in the first place. Only a Christian would have an emotional reaction and be offended.  Only someone who has contempt for Christians but understands the insult would like the picture.  So it is with the new class of black political leaders. If they become leaders due to their race – as Obama was in part – they create a racial crisis if they are found wanting.

So what can a non-black group or culture do if they find themselves governed or led by a black man who is unsatisfactory?  Can enough people find the courage to do the right thing; to look beyond the racial dimension and make a color-blind judgment?  What will be the result?

As I have said in the past, Barack Obama may well be the worst thing that has happened to the black community since the days of Jim Crow.  Many view him as a test case.  This is a problem that will not go away until another generation passes away. I always thought that the Bible verse about the sins of the fathers being visited on the children was unfair. As I have grown much older, I see it’s just the truth.

UPDATE: 

The very white Nancy Pelosi and her very white underling, Steny Hoyer, are now deeply enmeshed in the Democrat’s Black Problem©. It seems the number 3 Democrat in the House, James Clyburn, wanted to move up in the ranks but it seems Queen Nancy believes that she had nothing to do with the Democrat’s defeat so she’s staying, which means Steny is staying which means that Jim Clyburn doesn’t get the promotion that he believes he deserves. It seems that affirmative action is only for the little people since none of Jim’s white overlords is willing to give up his or her job for the affirmative action black man.


The answer? Create a new position. Let’s call is the Senior-Black-in-the-Democrat-House-Party position. He’ll have a car, a driver, a nice office and no power. Sort of like welfare on a grander scale. Hey, it’s worked for the Democrats for several generations.