Black Caucus May Not Back Nancy Pelosi

Could the Congressional Black Caucus finally be showing some guts? Well, we will have to wait and see if they stand up to Nancy Pelosi like other Democrats who blamed Pelosi for their losses and suggested she step aside as leader. More HERE

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.

Cross posted on MyDD and African American Pundit

Are Black Americans Stupified by Barack Obama?

Stupified: Confused and stupid at the same time.

AAPP: There seems to be a new sense of racial optimism. Very few newspapers or bloggers are talking about "The black-white divide in Obama's popularity. For many, including Obama, silence is golden regarding color and racial matters. Most newspapers and bloggers are talking about how African-Americans are optimistic about Obama. While some blogs dare to ponder The Obama effect: Have blacks in general suddenly become smarter?



I guess black America is going Post Racial or just stupified by post racial madness - like Jay-Z . Soon Obama like Jay Z will say "There Is No Such Thing As Black Music"

Speaking of Stupified and Post Racial - There is a great article in The Atlantic by Ta-Nehisi Coates. regarding The Essental Americanness of African Americans. Ta-Nehisi Coates notes that a CBS News polling data has some interesting results on race. Matt was surprised that a significant number (44 percent) of African-Americans believe that blacks and whites have the same shot at success in this country:

I'm surprised that as many as forty-four percent of blacks say that both races have equal opportunity. I think the evidence is unambiguously clear that they do not. African-American children have parents with lower levels of income and education. Their families, even when they have above-average incomes, tend to have less wealth than white families. And even controlling for parental income and educational attainment, black kids do worse in schools than white kids. Then beyond all that, there's clear evidence of discrimination against job applicants with "black" names that tends to suggest a broader pattern of employment discrimination. There are inequities in the criminal justice system both in terms of more punishment being meted out to black offenders, and the police and the courts doing less to protect black victims.

I'm not surprised that most white people prefer to ignore this sort of evidence and believe in the existence of equal opportunities, but it's surprising to me how many African-Americans have adopted an unrealistically optimistic view.

Ta-Nehisi Coates says: I obviously agree with Matt's assessment of the socioeconomic plight of black folks. But I don't share his surprise. First there is this--If you're black, a quick way to go insane is to think about how much racism has altered your life. But beyond that, I spent a lot of time in my youth as a left-black nationalist arguing with friends and family about race. One thing that became clear is that while a large number of black people recognize the ugly history of racism in this country, many have a hard time seeing themselves as victims of that racism.

This makes sense if you think about it from a human perspective. Black people have to compete, and their kids have to compete. In order to wake up every morning, work your ass off, and pay taxes, then tell your to do the same, it helps to buy in to the idea that "you can win." Perhaps more important than that, African-Americans are Americans, and "you can win" is a part of our ethos. I suspect that overestimating the extent to which "individual effort" matters is an American trait. Maybe even a human one, I'm not sure. More HERE

AAPP: Let me be very clear, I'm no Obama hater. President Obama is hands down, better than George W Bush any day. There are Obama haters who criticize his every move.

There are also some people that are looking at Barack Obama's policies for urban America. At this point Obama is getting an F from a number of Chicago activists. Candidly, I'm hoping that Black Americans are not becoming stupified by President Barack Obama.

President Obama does not want to be called the "Black American - President," and he shouldn't be. He is the President of all the United States, including Black citizens of America. We should hold him accountable like any President and forget about his blackness.

I'm not stupified by Barack Obama. Are you?

Blacks, America, Obama and Ronald Reagan

I'm not sure if you caught Sen. Barack Obama comments to the Reno Gazette-Journal editorial board regarding of all people Ronald Reagan. Check out what is said:

I don't want to present myself as some sort of singular figure. I think part of what's different are the times...I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it.

I'm taking a second and third look at Obama. Does Obama remember what Ronald Reagan did to black America? Candidly, I'm feeling anyone who will kiss up to Republicans and use the name of Ronald Reagan, may not be the change agent America needs.

What did you think about Obama saying "Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not." Maybe Barack Obama should have read the late Steve Gillard's post on Ronald Reagan, when he wrote, "Reagan depicted blacks as "welfare queens" leeching off the society, when in reality, white women are the largest recipients of AFDC. Reagan used race like a club to hammer minorities and pander to the racist right."

Steve Gillard also noted, "We need to ask what hath Reagan wrought. His economic policies crippled this country, preventing the kind of long term structural changes which are still needed. How long will American businesses have to foot the bill for health insurance? How long will unequal funding for schools exist? How long will the right of women to control their bodies be subject to restrictions? This is the real, domestic legacy of Ronald Reagan. His breaking of the PATCO strike began the road to anti-Union policies across business. Once, businesses wanted labor peace, after Reagan, strike breaking was permitted, hell encouraged.

Reagan began the road of crippling America's ability to care for Americans. Now we have this failed trickle down economic policy pushed by yet another President. One that leaves Americans in record debt and record bankruptcies. Instead of tax rates which fairly distribute the burden of funding America, the rich have been encouraged to avoid their fair share. Ronald Reagan began the bankrupting of America and the creation of a super wealthy CEO class, one where their great grandchildren will never have to work, an aristocracy of trustifarians. Under Reagan hypocracy and selfishness became the rule of the road. Not just in public life, where his staff routinely lied, eventually leading to Iran-Contra.

But if Reagan started to ruin America, his foreign policy left the dead around like fallen leaves. His foreign policy was a disater by any standard. Dead nuns in El Salvador, murdered school teachers in Nicaragua, the tortured in Argentina, the seizure of Grenade, the failed intervention in Lebanon, the aerial assasination attempt on Khaddafi, which led to the bombing of Pam Am flight 103. Reagan's policies left a trail of failure and disaster at every turn.

How to explain funding the deeply corrupt Contras? Former Somocista generals who funded their war by the drug trade? Who murdered the innoncent. Or the war in Guatemala and the genocide of the indian population. Or the war in El Salvador, where American nuns, among many others, were raped and murdered. A government so callous that it murdered an archbishop in his church. Reagan's foreign policy left a trail of death and fear wherever it touched." More HERE

Maybe Barack Obama should read more about Ronald Reagan, and stop kissing up to Ronald Reagan supporters. They probably won't be voting for Obama anyway. But that is just my opinion, what's yours?