First, the feel-good news: The browning of America may pave the way for President Obama to win the presidency in most states without the same number of white votes, argues Ron Brownstein of the National Journal.
“Compared with 2008, the road would bend toward Obama, at least slightly, just about everywhere,” Brownstein notes.
And, now, the reality check: In this economic climate, the color that matters most to black voters is green, as in who is going to improve this economy. And apparently, the more dire straits the region, the more likely these Black voters will be colorblind at the polls.
Let’s take a look at two local political shifts that caused ripples around the world:
First up, New Orleans, where the struggling black voters elected everybody but a black candidate. In the post-Hurricane Katrina era, former mayor Ray Nagin delivered his pep talk to quell fears that blacks would not return to New Orleans: “This city will be chocolate at the end of the day,” he told a crowd to quell concerns that blacks would not return to New Orleans. “It’s the way God wants it to be.”
Mayor Nagin was right. Today, New Orleans is Chocolate Ciy. Although 61 percent of the city’s residents are black, they have elected an all-white-chocolate government. To wit, in 2005 (pre-Katrina), New Orleans had a black district attorney, police chief and mayor. Today, those roles are filled by whites.
The mayor’s race was especially telling. For the first time in 30 years, New Orleans elected a white mayor, Mitch Landrieu. Landrieu zoomed past three black candidates with 62 percent of the black vote. (Mayor Nagin was ineligible to seek reelection due to term limits).
The mayor’s race is New Orleans was a carbon copy of the mayoral race in Chicago, yet another struggling Chocolate City, with more black residents than any other city in the nation.
In this race, stalwart black leaders, including Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, organized and presented a consensus candidate that would increase the odds for a black mayor.
Blacks overwhelmingly supported Rahm Emanuel, the city’s first Jewish mayor.
The consensus candidate, Carol Moseley Braun, came in dead last with 9 percent of the vote, behind Mayor Emanuel and two Hispanic candidates, Chicago School Board President Gery Chico and Chicago City Clerk Miguel del Valle.
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell ominously predicted that “Carol Moseley Braun’s stunning defeat signals the end of the black political empowerment movement in Chicago.”
Perhaps, but even more feasible is that playing the race card is old hat. Black voters will support those candidates with solid platforms, workable ideas, and the vision and wherewithal to put those plans in motion.
Alas, in 2012, black politicians will no longer take the “black vote” for granted — if they know what’s good for them. –zondra hughes
