The New York Times article this morning (‘Black Ohioans Backing Clinton Feel the Pressure to Switch’) is certainly worth the read. My comments are going to be short and to the point due to me having to beat traffic this morning.
Check out what Ohio state legislator Eugene R. Miller has endured because of his support of Clinton.
With less than a week before Ohioans go to the polls in the Democratic primary, Mr. Miller and a small group of other black elected officials who are stumping for Mrs. Clinton are nothing if not courageous. Spending eight-hour days talking up his candidate, Mr. Miller finds himself besieged by disbelief, disapproval and at times ridicule from blacks who maintain that he is betraying his race.
“Some people call me an Uncle Tom,†said Mr. Miller, who, up for re-election, faces an opponent next week whose literature includes a picture of Mr. Obama. “There’s a lot of pressure to switch sides. There’s a lot of emotion. All I can say is thank God it’s winter and no one is outside, because there would be more than angry words on the street.â€
…
“To me, it’s not about race,†said Ms. Johnson, her jacket festooned with “Hillary†buttons. “It’s about having a president who knows what she’s doing. Besides, I think it’s time for a woman to be president.â€
Sooooo, its not about race, but gender. Nice!
…
For some Clinton supporters, the heat has been too much to bear. In recent weeks, two black city councilmen, Robert J. White III and Kevin Conwell, have jumped ship to the Obama campaign, saying they could not take the heckling and the scolding stares. At his weekly community meeting at a local library, Mr. Conwell said, a few people wept when he tried to persuade those present to back Mrs. Clinton.
“They said I was on the wrong side of history,†he recalled. “They said I was getting in the way of an African-American becoming president.â€
He was harangued at the barbershop and at the dry cleaner, and calls from the discontented poured into his office.
“I felt like the stepchild of the community,†he said.
Two weeks ago Mr. Conwell gave way.
“Now everyone is patting me on the back,†he said. “It feels good to be loved again.â€
Okay, I get the whole thing that elected officials should represent the opinions of their constituencies. But I do have problems with pressuring elected officials to support Obama only because he is Black. Regardless, a democracy is “…government by the people“. This is clearly an example of ‘the people’ using that power.
#The other thing I found interesting was Black Democrats calling other Black Democrats “Uncle Toms”. No THAT’S funny!
I’ll be back later this morning (or early afternoon if you are on the east coast).
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