How progressives view black Arkansas voters?

[angee_is_mad]

I just found this article in the afrosphere and as a black woman in the south who could see the potential of blacks and progressives working together this article PISSES ME OFF!

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/06/10/lincoln/index.html
"Obama exploited the trust that African-American voters place in him to tell them something that is just absurd."

I know this lost is still new and fresh and a lot of people had a lot invested in it, but damn. If you DON'T understand the black voter and the connection that voter has with Obama you better ask somebody. If you don't, what happen Tuesday for the progressives will happen again.

Without a motivated black base in the south, nobody is going to get through a primary. Keep bashing Obama, just keep doing it.

Another thing, from all that I have read, lincoln already had a foundation in the black community in Arkansas before the election. Could it have been, that people voted for someone who has shown their face in their community over the years, versus voting for someone only marginally better that they didn't know. Let's be real here. How many people other than political junkies know who their Lt. Governor is?

[Clio the Leo]

1. I had to laugh listening to Big Ed tonight....

.... swearing up and down that if the President continued to "bash labor" that "he might be a one-termer" because labor wouldn't support him in 2012.

Well, that's genuinely hogwash ... but a fair mount of labor is African American ... always has been ... but if MY union-member African American family members are any representatives, if it came down to choosing between labor and Obama? Well ... it wouldn't be a hard decision.

But it's not a decision they'll have to make ... this too shall pass ... we're in an off year and in control of both houses of Congress and are resting on our laurels.

Both labor AND the White House are smart enough to dance with who brought them.

[angee_is_mad]

2. probably

but when I read that article, something came all over me and it wasn't a good feeling.

[depakid]

4. Better listen up- and look at the electoral map

Wouldn't be the first time that the rank and file abandoned a Democratic candidate. What would worry me more though, if I were the administration is the lack of volunteer support and GOTV efforts that alienating all of these constituencies will potentially engender.

[Clio the Leo]

16. I'm not talking about the rank and file abandoning a Democratic candidate...

.... I'm talking about African Americans abandoning Barack Obama. ANYTHING could happen ... but we're light years away from that point now. And if given the choice between labor and the President, at least MY family anyway, would choose the President in a heart beat.

[butterfly77]

25. Everybody who is talking their big shit..

seems to think they don't need black voters..

[Cha]

3. greenham is an idiot..he knows fuck

all about African American voters and the only one who's "exploiting" is him.

[dionysus]

20. yes, but his unique brand of idiocy makes him a hero to some around here...

:shrug:

[Wandawilkerson]

5. Do you honestly think that if Obama had endorsed Halter, Lincoln would have won among AA anyway?

If so, I have a bridge to sell you.

By the way, you didn't finish Greenwald's quote. You chose to truncate it. Let me complete it:

In other words, Obama exploited the trust that African-American voters place in him to tell them something that is just absurd: that Blanche Lincoln, one of the most corporatist members of Congress, works for their interests. Bill Clinton did the same with the Arkansas voters who still trust him.

Do you agree with the slim majority of Arkansas voters who chose Lincoln that she represents "their interests"?

[Cha]

6. It's moot ..bc the White House backs the incumbent

Democrat.

[Wandawilkerson]

7. It's not moot, because it was a hypothetical question

If African Americans love Lincoln because of her actions only, then if Obama took the unprecedented step of endorsing a liberal non-incumbend, is it your theory that African Americans would still have voted for Lincoln? Again, there's no way for us to know for sure, but if your answer is, 'Yes, Lincoln would have still won among AA," my bridge is still on sale.

[Cha]

10. Whatever..keep your bridge.

[DFLforever]

12. And Greenwald's a better judge of the interests of black

Arkansas voters than they themselves?

I'll be polite and simply call his statement patronizing.

As Artur Davis learned HCR is of great interest to the black community and in all the rancor we forget Lincoln supported HCR which is why the President in turn supported her.

[TheKentuckian]

8. Here's a black guy in Kentucky that don't give a fuck what color Obama is

If Obama is just going to cater to "the stakeholders" and fuck over poor and working folks then he can be neon green if he wants.

What do I think? I think that standing behind someone that is using someone like second hand toilette paper makes them a sucker.

Obama is part of the problem and must be addressed as such. Its a damn shame that the first black President is only concerned with the wealthy and maintaining the status quo but that is the case and as such deserves no special accommodations.

I'll be happy to once again support Barack Obama but first I must feel he is working for the regular people of the country and opposing our oppressors rather than carrying their water. That's my price not common heritage and anybody that sells their support based on fucking appearance is a dumbass and this line of reasoning is stupid, I have no obligation to support Alan Keyes, Ron Christie, or Clarence Thomas.

[Raineyb]

13. This black woman agrees with you.

I don't give a fuck what color anyone is. You claim to be a Democrat you'd better stand up and fight for some progressive principles or I have no bloody use for you. My current congress-critter is a member of the CBC. And he's a useless, feckless, worthless, wanker of a representative who is screwing over this community as much as any white politician can. So why the hell would I give a damn that he's black? I'd vote for a white candidate in a heartbeat if someone worth running opposed him.

And frankly, that quote in the article chilled me to the bone. The woman didn't have any clear idea of who stood for what and she admits to voting for Lincoln because she got a mailer or whatever from Obama pleading Lincoln's case and Lincoln doesn't represent working people. Black people are more likely to join a union than any other ethnic group. Voting for someone who is proudly anti-union is NOT in black people's interest.

[TheKentuckian]

14. Fuckin A! What kind of fool would put themselves out of work for a politician

who works against them because they see a similar background?

All I can guess is a sentiment of a little taste of tit for tat, where it is believed all the white Presidents work for the wealthy to get over then why does the black guy get held to different standards.

It gets lost on those type that some people weren't trying to sit for the fuckings before and race, gender, orientation, nor religion (or lack thereof) makes the fuckings anymore attractive.

Hell, I can totally identify with Obama, my mother is white, my father wasn't one, I spent a lot of my early years with white conservative grandparents, blah, blah, blah

However, I know what I believe in, what my priorities are, and a lot of our shared problems are apparent. I know which people I'm behind and know to follow the money. Which means identifying with someone doesn't buy them too much extra latitude and probably pisses me off even more because they should know better.

[Carolina]

15. This black woman agrees with the article.

I have become totally disgusted with Obama but when I talk to black friends, family members and colleagues... they dismiss my misgivings/disappointment with his cabinet/advisor choices, his repeated (stupid) attempts bipartisanship, his abandonment of the public option, his proposed troop increase in that sinkhole of Afghanistan, his overall weakness... by saying "oh but his heart is in the right place and he's doing his best." They are still in awe that he is the first black POTUS and, though educated, would be easily swayed by his presidential pressure to vote for an incumbent like Blanche :puke:

[RedRoses323]

17. +10000000000000000

:toast:

[treestar]

28. This is Arkansas

they are going to send a Republican anyway. Better Lincoln than that.

[Cha]

9. Here's something interesting from Matthew Yglesias on

leverage the White House had on Lincoln.

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2010/06/lincoln-and-leverage

[gmoney]

11. What's this about Black Oak Arkansas?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n3NH8gSrMs

[xchrom]

18. kick nt

[jefferson_dem]

19. You/we are perfectly justified in being pissed off at this bent.

The use of "exploit" bothers me. Like Saint Greenwald knows best for everyone, especially those low-information African-American voters? Fuck him.

[Sebastian Doyle]

21. When I think of "black Democrats", the first thing that comes to mind is the CBC

As in.. the only Democrats who had the BALLS to stand with President Gore as congress certified the fraudulent Chimp enabling "electoral vote" in 2000 (ironically presided over by Gore himself).

They're on the correct side of things most of the time before and after that event too. While it's an assumption on my part to believe so, I'd guess that the majority of African American voters would be more in alignment with the CBC than with Blanche Lincoln and the DLC.

Am I wrong to believe that?

[politicasista]

22. How insulting

The article that is. :puke:

[Uzybone]

23. The internet "left" really does look down on minorities

blogs posts don't vote, real voters who go to the polls do.

[dionysus]

24. +1

[butterfly77]

26. A lot of people seem to forget that.

Black Americans haven't been watching what has been thrown at Obama throughout the campaign and after he took office for many,it is the same as if they are talking about them and they won't forget it..

Just because they don't hear from a lot of AA doesn't mean they aren't listening. They have seen the double standards when it comes to this President. The media seems to think that AA haven't been watching them with their hypocritical,racist bullshit..

This shit about it was the same for Clinton is just that a bunch of bull they hate him just because he is black and they think they are superior to all races..They throw out all kind of shit to see what will stick.

[KingFlorez]

27. Many progressives don't understand the black vote anymore than the right-wing

Blanche Lincoln represented the 1st District of Arkansas in the House of Representatives for four years, that district includes the Delta and most of the black population in the state. She has a solid connection to black voters. The notion that black voters don't think for themselves is ludicrous, all politics is local and if they didn't like Lincoln, they wouldn't have voted for her.