Harlem's own US Representative Charles Rangel endorsed Clark. US Representative James Clyburn, South Carolina's leading black politician, chose former House minority leader Richard A. Gephardt. Harold Ford Jr., a charismatic young representative from Tennessee, tossed his support to Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., son of the civil rights leader, went with Dean. And the list goes on and on.
Each of these black Democrats said they are interested in finding the best person to defeat President Bush, just as white Democrats are. But others in the African-American community wonder whether the scattered endorsements are reducing the collective power of their voting bloc, when a unified show of black support could swing the election, particularly in the crucial South Carolina primary, where blacks probably will make up 40 percent of the electorate.
"It's more than incredible; it's disastrous for the black community," said Ron Walters, a professor at the University of Maryland and former adviser to the Rev. Jesse Jackson. "What they are doing is giving away their collective power because if they had made a collective endorsement, it would have said something different to black voters."
Walters, who was deputy campaign manager for Jackson's 1984 presidential campaign, thinks now is the time for black leaders to collectively articulate what they want for their constituents and for African-Americans as a whole. With the expectation that a big increase in black turnout could win the presidency for the Democrats, African-American leadership can play a decisive role in choosing the party's nominee and platform, he said.
By splitting their support among so many candidates, Walters said, only those officials who fall behind the eventual nominee will gain clout, not the whole community.
Many black leaders agree that the split in endorsements is unusual, perhaps unprecedented. But not everyone feels that this signifies a missed opportunity. Some see the split as a sign of maturity, that leaders of the black community are forging alliances using the same criteria as white politicians.
Others say it reflects a larger phenomenon -- the willingness of many Democratic constituencies to look beyond special-interest politics and devote themselves to defeating Bush.
"What is going to be on black voters' minds is the defeat of George Bush, not what is your position on welfare reform and what is your position on this or that," said David Bositis, senior analyst with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington.
Bositis predicted that the split of endorsements will not hurt the African-American community because black turnout will be so important in the general election that the Democratic nominee quickly will make peace with those who supported other candidates.
Donna Brazile, campaign manager for former vice president Al Gore in 2000, said she welcomed the fact that black officials are making multiple endorsements, though she hoped they would measure candidates by how much they would do for urban America.
"I am happy to see [African-American members of Congress] Al Wynn and Eddie Bernice Johnson endorsing Senator John Edwards and Alcee Hastings endorsing Joe Lieberman," said Brazile, who is African-American. "It's not just about political maturity but of growth, that we have come out of the box."
The box, she said, is the view that only one candidate can represent black interests and that the community's agenda would rise and fall based on that candidate.
| Go back for the rest of Tatsha Robertson's Boston Globe article "Black leaders split support among many candidates"
posted in articles on January 11, 2004 5:59 AM | t (1)
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