Posted on 03/12/2007 8:23:56 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
The Obama drama and the law of unintended consequences are definitely in sync. Just ask Chicago journalists and pols. My phone has been chiming off the hook and the e-mail box is stuffed with missives from radio stations, TV shows and newspapers craving the authenticity of a Chicago perspective on an international phenomenon -- Sen. Barack Obama.
Chicago exists! For the first time, the national media establishment is looking to Chicago for answers. I've lived in a fly-over city for so long, I have developed a chronic stiff neck. The national media are reaching out for Obama stories from Japan, Poland and beyond.
Everybody is getting into the act. Politicians are using Obama to prop up their reps and reaching for national attention -- attention they couldn't get before. Take Rep. Bobby Rush. Take him -- please. Rush is having trouble even getting his own alderman elected. His "endorsement" of 2nd Ward Ald. Madeline Haithcock managed to help her capture just 20.8 percent of the vote and a decidedly disadvantaged second place in the April 17 aldermanic runoff.
Now Rush has chosen to set himself up as a forked-tongued Obama pundit. Those two have got a lot of history together, going back to the whipping Rush gave Obama when he had the audacity to challenge the congressman for his seat in 2000. Those waters still run roiled and deep. Being the sore winner that he is, Rush promptly endorsed Blair Hull over Obama in the 2004 U.S. Senate primary.
So when Rush pronounced his support for Obama for president, I just about fell over. Alas, the shock was temporary. In recent weeks, Rush has been bad-mouthing Obama to news outlets like the Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio. He may not be able to get his 15 minutes of fame through legislation, by golly, so he'll get it by mau-mauing Obama.
The name Obama has morphed everything into a news story, and everybody is getting into the action. Last week, AFSCME threw a huge rally at the Hyatt Regency to bring attention to the plight of health care workers across the nation. Union leaders know how to get their people out -- a diverse crowd of 1,200 showed up on a frigid Saturday morning to hear two hours of speechmaking.
A gaggle of labor hotshots, including AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, were flanked by congressional heavyweights like Senate Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin and House leader Jan Schakowsky.
Still, I was stunned to walk into the ballroom and see a phalanx of TV cameras from all over the world. You'd better believe they weren't there to capture a rallying call for labor equity. The media hung on until the end -- for a closing speech from Obama.
More unintended consequences. Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ is a very mainstream, middle-class congregation. Yet its pastor was scotched from Obama's presidential announcement festivities last month after the Candidate got cold feet.
I can testify that it was indeed cold in Springfield on Feb. 10 -- it was about 8 degrees that morning. But Obama's decision to disinvite his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, from making the invocation that morning was more about heat -- the heat Obama would get about his association with an Afrocentric church.
Then it came out that Wright once traveled to Libya to visit Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi -- with Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan. Wright dropped that little tidbit on the New York Times last week. Hell hath no fury like a preacher scorned.
Look for more controversial but close Obama associates to be outed in coming months.
The unintended consequences for black leadership are incalculable. While Obama was making friends among civil rights stalwarts in Selma, the Rev. Al Sharpton was hanging on to Hillary Clinton's coattails. The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson was scurrying off to Ghana. Meanwhile, talk show host Tavis Smiley was traversing the nation on a promotional tour promoting his "Covenant with Black America."
Black "leaders" who have been cool to the Obama candidacy, beware. A recent Washington Post poll revealed that black voters are warming up to Obama. Race men, tread lightly. You risk ending up on Obama's "bleep" list along with "Cousin Pookie" and Bobby Rush. Unintended consequences, indeed.
mailto:lauraswashington@aol.com
mau mau ping?
What if Barry Obama had been 100% white?
None of this would be happening.
Al Sharpton must be snapping.
Remember Al's 2004 slogan(thanks to Anne Coulter)? "Hello, room service?"
Priceless.
I assume the author is black. Am i correct?
Actually, he is. He was raised in a white household and sent to preppie schools in Hawaii by indilgent white grandparents. The only genetic connection he has to black people is his sperm donor, which is what you call a man who disappeared when he was 2 years old, not a father.
And that is his entire claim to fame. There are genuine black people with genuine accomplishments available such as Thomas Sowell, J.C. Watts, Tony Dungee, Alan Keyes, Walter Williams and Ken Blackwell, just to name a few. But none of them matter to the lamestream media because they are Republicans.
I am fairly certain that Alan Keyes is no longer a Republican, but a Libertarian.
Effective "market segmentation" by Clinton and Obama increases the risk to Republicans. If Obama manages to get the "black vote" and Clinton manages to get the "female vote", then the Clinton-Obama ticket won't have to grab many Republican-leaning voters to win the Presidential election.
With their "joint but separate" appearances, Clinton and Obama already appear to be running as co-candidates for the nomination.
Perhaps someone will speak up , note, and even criticize BO now that George Soros is opening his money bags for him.
Sure, why not?
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