TheNewMajority: "Houston's Minority News Reader"

The New Majority endorses Senator Barack Obama in the March 4th, Texas Democratic Primary : the March 4th, Texas Democratic Primary

Coming out of Senator Hillary Clinton's camp concerning Senator Barack Obama's qualification to be president are veiled tones whose underlying message is creeping ever so close to traditional White racism.

Maybe it's because they are beginning to feel Mr. Obama's competitive heat thanks to across the board support from White men, Independents, Republicans, African Americans and 18-30 something year olds, whose almost religious fervor for the senator from Illinois is likened to the fervor felt for Bobby Kennedy by young people in the 1960s. But Camp Clinton needs to be very careful.

It's one thing to point out policy differences between your opponent and yourself. But Ms. Clinton and her followers suggesting that Mr. Obama is a good poet who lacks the necessary prose to hold the number one political office in the land is similar to 19th century slave era Whites who suggested that African Americans had good physical ability but lacked certain mental qualities which would qualify them as human.

Point of fact; when it comes to official political experience, Mr. Obama is more qualified to be president than either Ms. Clinton or then Texas Governor George Bush prior to when he obtained the presidency in 2001. Which is one of the reasons why The New Majority endorses Mr. Obama in the Texas Democratic Primary on Tuesday, March 4th?

The Harvard Law School graduate served as a state senator in Illinois from 1997-2004. Since 2005 he has been a U.S. Senator. Ms. Clinton's political experience can be summed up in her two terms as the junior senator from New York State. Mr. Bush was governor of Texas from 1995-2000.

Ms. Clinton's only major policy initiative is a failed health care plan which failed to garner congressional support in 1994 when she was first lady to former President Bill Clinton.

A claim by the 60 year old Ms. Clinton of possessing 35 years of political experience would dwarf Mr. Obama if it were true.

"In most respects, I don't know Hillary's experience," said former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani on the Fox News program, "Hannity & Colmes" in October. "She's never run a city; she's never run a state. She's never run a business…So I'm trying to figure out where the experience is."

Included on the Clinton resume as political experience is the registration of Latino voters in South Texas in the 1970s, as well as work she did as a private attorney for Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children's Defense Fund during the same time period.

Before running for the Illinois senate, Mr. Obama had similar political "street cred" as a civil rights attorney, college lecturer and community organizer.

The reality is that Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton overwhelmingly have more similarities than differences politically, notwithstanding their approach to health care and the war in Iraq. Ms. Clinton favors universal health care where all Americans are forced to have health care insurance whether they want it or not, whereas Mr. Obama's seeks to make health care insurance affordable for all Americans by lowering the cost. To pay for his plan, Mr. Obama would raise taxes on America's wealthiest citizens. Mr. Obama had the foresight to realize that America should not have gone to war in Iraq. Ms. Clinton did not.

Their only real difference is cosmetics. Both are attempting to satisfy historical first; Mr. Obama as the first African-American president and Ms. Clinton as the first female president respectively.

Not surprisingly it is understandable for White women, African Americans and other minorities who have an affinity for both to entirely alienate themselves from the other candidate once the decision has been made to become an "Obamanite" or "Clintonian." Both are fierce competitors and the belief here is that they honestly don't like one another.

But comments by Bill Clinton suggesting that Mr. Obama "is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen," will not endear Hillary Clinton with Barack Obama supporters who are African American IF she is the Democratic nominee. And those Clinton supporters who are African American (the rich, yet ignorant Bob Johnson) would be wise not to belittle the qualifications of Mr. Obama nor view as insignificant the history he is attempting to make.

What makes Mr. Obama attractive to White voters (Iowa, New Hampshire, Washington, Nebraska and Super Tuesday proved that he may not need an overwhelming majority of the Black vote to gain the Democratic nomination) is a spirit which reminds some of Bobby Kennedy who no doubt would be looked at as a political novice by Ms. Clinton if this were 1968 as opposed to 2008.

What makes Mr. Obama attractive to many of his African American supporters is his "out of the box" journey to political office success. Mr. Obama did not wait his turn to obtain a political office as is the case with many Black Democratic office seekers. He did not seek the blessing of the Black Church. He has no association with "we shall/have over come" 'negroes.' He does not appear to be the typical Black politician (Democrat or Republican) who has proven himself/herself time and time again to be no different than their White counterparts when it comes to taking advantage of their political status by padding their personal fortune.

(Slightly off topic for a moment) Mr. Obama should not feel pressured to respond to Tavis Smiley who recently charged that none of the candidates are speaking to issues raised in his book "The Covenant with Black America." Any idiot who has watched any of the 18 debates which Mr. Obama has participated in and has read exerts of Mr. Smiley's self help thesis is well aware that Mr. Obama speaks to issues of importance to African Americans all the time and unabashedly in front of predominantly White audiences.

Mr. Obama should not apologize to Mr. Smiley for not making a big enough effort to respond to him concerning his appearance at a future DC/Virginia/Maryland debate with Mr. Smiley as host.

For one of the few times in American history we have an African American politician who is not beholden to the Black community or the White community. The cloth which covers Mr. Obama is the American community and it is to that which he owes any allegiance.

As for Mr. Smiley and his "covenant" it should be placed in the same heap along with books by T.D. "Fake" and Joel "Hell No" Steen." If Black folk or any other folk want to learn about self help or discover definitions in any other morality dictionary, a copy of the Bible, Koran, or Torah is sufficient enough.

(Back to politics) The wildcard group in the Democratic Primary is the Latino American vote. Why they thus far are overwhelmingly aligning themselves with Ms. Clinton is a great mystery at its basic point and borders on the disbelieving at its most sinister tip.

The reality is that on hard core political issues of importance to Latino and African Americans there is no difference. Education, jobs and the discrepancy of judicial justice are all important to both groups.

Ms. Clinton and former president Bill Clinton do have past alliances that make them friends to both African and Latino Americans. But California Latinos voting almost 2-1 in support of Ms. Clinton in Super Tuesday primaries is similar in the eyes of this editor as Texas Latinos voting in high numbers for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 (who has never shared a single issue of any real importance with them) and brings up words shared to me by my late grandfather Sammy Smith.

"Don't you ever think a Mexican "wanna" be "wid" Negroes. He think he White. And no matter what, "dey" don't "wanna" have "nothin" to do "wid" you," he said.

Latinos like former Houston City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado (who by the way is in Ms. Clinton's camp) offers some hope that Grandpa Sammy was wrong, but the more one lives……

The point is that if Mr. Obama is the Democratic nominee he will automatically get the support of traditional Democrats. The "we shall/have over come" 'negroes' will attempt to embrace him and pose for pictures with their pearly white teeth all aglow. Latino support for Mr. Obama will probably reach 60 percent (though once again many for some unknown reason will most likely align themselves with the Republican nominee).

But if Ms. Clinton is the nominee there is no guarantee that the new invitees to the Democratic Party will support her. Republicans and White men will most assuredly vote in overwhelming numbers for the Republican Party nominee. Independents will do what independents have done traditionally, cast votes equally for both. More importantly the record number of 18-30 year olds, many who are participating in the political process for the first time and who tend to lead with their hearts instead of their heads will stay at home; particularly if Camp Clinton continues to see Mr. Obama as a joke.