The CBC has a bit of a history of flexing for a few days, then wimping out and getting nothing but promises without real outcomes for black folks.
They don't have much of a history of showing guts for the long term. They backed down when George W. Bush gave away the U.S. treasury to the banks, mortgage companies and Wall Street. What makes it any different this time?
According to Krissah Thompson of at The Washington Post a compromise designed to end a nasty political fight in the Democratic Party has left an important contingent dissatisfied - the Congressional Black Caucus.
As you remember from my previous post I reported that Speaker Nancy Pelosi had developed a tentative deal in which she would remain the party's leader in the House when Democrats become the minority in the next Congress. The Washington post had reported that Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (Md.) would take the No. 2 spot, and Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (S.C.) would move down to the third-ranking position, which Pelosi has called "assistant leader."
As I noted in my previous post, I was surprised that Clyburn accepted the position. Now we learn from Krissah Thompson that he is discussing what his new role will entail.
OK, I don't get this. Why would someone as smart as Rep. Clyburn take a position, then after accepting the position discuss what his new role will be? Sounds kind of ass backwards to me.
Get this, Krissah Thompson also reports that after meeting with other members of the CBC on Monday night, he told reporters, "We're still working on it." Get this, The Washington Post reports several caucus members have suggested that they will withhold their votes from Pelosi (Calif.) if more details are not provided about Clyburn's responsibilities or that the caucus could go along with a bloc of moderate Democrats in the Blue Dog caucus and vote to limit Pelosi's authority as minority leader.
"We had a full discussion about this, and we actually wanted to look at the portfolio that is being developed with Mr. Clyburn's input, and we wanted to see what that portfolio would be," said the CBC chairman, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), explaining the decision to withhold support for Pelosi's plan.
Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (D-N.Y.) said she is "reluctant to want to vote" for the party's leadership without more details and wants to make sure that Clyburn's new role is "not a marginal, ceremonial type of position."
Pelosi met with CBC members Tuesday night to discuss their concerns. Afterward, members of the caucus gave no indication that they felt differently than they did heading into the meeting, an aide said.
In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Clyburn said he has encouraged caucus members to support Pelosi and believes the new structure is fair. More HERE
AAP: "What new structure? It's the same old leadership that lost the mid-term elections, no change as far as this pundit is concerned." Nothing has changed, and the American people, particularly Democrats and independents such as myself don't get this musical chairs effort that does nothing but pat the current leadership on the back for losing the U.S. House of Representatives to the Republicans.
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