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Go forward, Obama!
Michael Burke
Thursday, June 12, 2008
So Barack Obama is now unofficially the candidate for the Democratic Party of the United States of America. Whether he wins the US presidency in November or not, it is nonetheless a big move for the entire non-white population in the United States. The blacks in the United States have certainly come a long way from the days of slavery in the USA, which really came to an end on January 1, 1863.
For the next 97 years until 1960, the majority of African Americans would vote for the Republican Party because the Republican Abraham Lincoln had ended slavery. Emancipation of slavery in the USA was a presidential order by Lincoln. He did it as commander-in-chief of the Army and the Navy (article II, section 2 of the United States Constitution).
In 1960, American blacks swung to the Democrat John Fitzgerald Kennedy. According to Theodore White in The Making of the President, 1960, when Martin Luther King was arrested that year, Kennedy telephoned Coretta Scott King, the wife of Martin. That alone, according to White, resulted in the massive swing of African Americans to Kennedy, which caused his victory in the presidential elections of 1960.
In the USA, the winner of the presidential election must get a majority in the Electoral College. Each state is allotted a certain number of electoral votes equal to the number of its senators and representatives in the Congress. The candidate who wins a majority in 48 of the 50 states takes all of the electors to the Electoral College. In two states, Nebraska and Maine, a single elector is chosen within each congressional district and two electors by popular vote within those states.
In 1960, JFK received 303 electoral votes to Nixon's 219 and Harry F Byrd's 15. But in terms of popular vote, Kennedy got 34,220,984 or 49.7 per cent, while Nixon received 34,108,157 or 49.5 per cent. The black vote did make the difference as black voters, although a minority, were in the millions.
It was during the administration of JFK that Martin Luther King led the march on Washington. At the same time there were black Civil Rights leaders who were far more militant such as Malcolm X. In June 1963, a bill of Civil Rights was introduced by JFK when he sent a bill to the US Congress on June 19, 1963. He did not live to see it come into law as he was assassinated In Dallas, Texas, on Friday, November 22, 1963.
Lyndon Baines Johnson succeeded Kennedy as US president. He wanted the bill passed as soon as possible and saw to it that the bill was hastily put before the Senate after being passed by Congress. The US Civil Rights Bill was brought to a vote in the US House of Representatives on February 10, 1964. After being passed in both the US Congress and the US Senate, it was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964.
But although the bill was passed and it outlawed discrimination against people of any race, discrimination continued. To this day American blacks are terrified while driving when they see a police car in their rear-view mirror. Against this background, the sealing of the nomination of Barack Obama is significant.
True, there have been blacks in the US Cabinet and in the US Supreme Court. And yes, Colin Powell, whose mother was Jamaican, was US secretary of state. But to a lot of people that was tokenism, in that while a back person has been used for the showcase, such as Condoleezza Rice is at present, they have appeared to be, or are in fact "puppets" for the powerful "backroom white men".
And while all political candidates have to make concessions to reach so far, Barack Obama will give a psychological boost to black people. Even if he is elected but does not make any great changes, the USA will never be the same again in terms of the old prejudices if Obama becomes the US president. And its impact would be felt all over the world if Obama were elected.
I do not know if Obama will have chosen a running mate by the time this column is published. I am not sure that it is such a good idea to invite Hillary Clinton to be his running mate. You may argue that with Hillary Clinton as Obama's running mate it will mean a combination of his support plus hers, but the political mathematics does not necessarily work like that. And I have not the slightest doubt in my mind that Obama knows that, and he knows better than me.
From the combined number, Obama would have to subtract those that prefer either Obama or Clinton, but do not want to see a combination of the two. Then he would have to add those that are not really for him, but would support him if someone else were the running mate. Indeed, it might be like a plate of food. Many might like everything on a plate but will not eat anything on the plate if it is arranged in a way that they consider unpalatable. And many who like a hot drink also like orange juice, but would never think of mixing them into one drink.
This might also apply to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
ekrubm765@yahoo.com
Michael Burke
Thursday, June 12, 2008
So Barack Obama is now unofficially the candidate for the Democratic Party of the United States of America. Whether he wins the US presidency in November or not, it is nonetheless a big move for the entire non-white population in the United States. The blacks in the United States have certainly come a long way from the days of slavery in the USA, which really came to an end on January 1, 1863.
For the next 97 years until 1960, the majority of African Americans would vote for the Republican Party because the Republican Abraham Lincoln had ended slavery. Emancipation of slavery in the USA was a presidential order by Lincoln. He did it as commander-in-chief of the Army and the Navy (article II, section 2 of the United States Constitution).
In 1960, American blacks swung to the Democrat John Fitzgerald Kennedy. According to Theodore White in The Making of the President, 1960, when Martin Luther King was arrested that year, Kennedy telephoned Coretta Scott King, the wife of Martin. That alone, according to White, resulted in the massive swing of African Americans to Kennedy, which caused his victory in the presidential elections of 1960.
In the USA, the winner of the presidential election must get a majority in the Electoral College. Each state is allotted a certain number of electoral votes equal to the number of its senators and representatives in the Congress. The candidate who wins a majority in 48 of the 50 states takes all of the electors to the Electoral College. In two states, Nebraska and Maine, a single elector is chosen within each congressional district and two electors by popular vote within those states.
In 1960, JFK received 303 electoral votes to Nixon's 219 and Harry F Byrd's 15. But in terms of popular vote, Kennedy got 34,220,984 or 49.7 per cent, while Nixon received 34,108,157 or 49.5 per cent. The black vote did make the difference as black voters, although a minority, were in the millions.
It was during the administration of JFK that Martin Luther King led the march on Washington. At the same time there were black Civil Rights leaders who were far more militant such as Malcolm X. In June 1963, a bill of Civil Rights was introduced by JFK when he sent a bill to the US Congress on June 19, 1963. He did not live to see it come into law as he was assassinated In Dallas, Texas, on Friday, November 22, 1963.
Lyndon Baines Johnson succeeded Kennedy as US president. He wanted the bill passed as soon as possible and saw to it that the bill was hastily put before the Senate after being passed by Congress. The US Civil Rights Bill was brought to a vote in the US House of Representatives on February 10, 1964. After being passed in both the US Congress and the US Senate, it was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964.
But although the bill was passed and it outlawed discrimination against people of any race, discrimination continued. To this day American blacks are terrified while driving when they see a police car in their rear-view mirror. Against this background, the sealing of the nomination of Barack Obama is significant.
True, there have been blacks in the US Cabinet and in the US Supreme Court. And yes, Colin Powell, whose mother was Jamaican, was US secretary of state. But to a lot of people that was tokenism, in that while a back person has been used for the showcase, such as Condoleezza Rice is at present, they have appeared to be, or are in fact "puppets" for the powerful "backroom white men".
And while all political candidates have to make concessions to reach so far, Barack Obama will give a psychological boost to black people. Even if he is elected but does not make any great changes, the USA will never be the same again in terms of the old prejudices if Obama becomes the US president. And its impact would be felt all over the world if Obama were elected.
I do not know if Obama will have chosen a running mate by the time this column is published. I am not sure that it is such a good idea to invite Hillary Clinton to be his running mate. You may argue that with Hillary Clinton as Obama's running mate it will mean a combination of his support plus hers, but the political mathematics does not necessarily work like that. And I have not the slightest doubt in my mind that Obama knows that, and he knows better than me.
From the combined number, Obama would have to subtract those that prefer either Obama or Clinton, but do not want to see a combination of the two. Then he would have to add those that are not really for him, but would support him if someone else were the running mate. Indeed, it might be like a plate of food. Many might like everything on a plate but will not eat anything on the plate if it is arranged in a way that they consider unpalatable. And many who like a hot drink also like orange juice, but would never think of mixing them into one drink.
This might also apply to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
ekrubm765@yahoo.com
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