I recommend that you read Claire Malone’s analysis at Five Thirty Eight, “Barack Obama Won The White House, But Democrats Lost The Country”. It is chock-full of interesting quotes. For example, this one from Ohio state senator Nina Turner:
“African-Americans, no matter what, will vote hook or crook for Democrats, and so that particular demographic is owed a lot more by the Democratic Party than what we have gotten,†said former Ohio state senator and Sanders surrogate Nina Turner. “And what I mean by that is no African-American woman has ever been governor in this country. Democrats need to be making sure that happens.â€
which echoes points I’ve made here. Or this one from Howard Dean:
Dean, a former party chairman, agreed. “The DNC always becomes a completely Washington-centric organization when we have our own president — basically the place is run by the political director of the White House, not the chair, and it’s all about re-electing the president,†he said. “You probably ought to move the DNC to Dallas or someplace and get it the hell out of Washington.â€
or this one, also from Howard Dean:
“We didn’t do any of the grassroots work over the eight years that Barack Obama was president,†Dean said of the party under a leader who had once been a community organizer. Organizing For America (later Organizing for Action), the project intended to rally the president’s supporters primarily around health care and the Affordable Care Act, was, in Dean’s estimation, “a huge mistake.â€
Whatever you think of our system, it remains a federalist one. Under the circumstances, assuming that winning the big desk in the White House alone will give you the power to accomplish whatever you want to is an error.
There is no substitute for ordinary, labor-intensive grassroots organizing. Not winning the presidency, not the bully pulpit, not demographics, not a veto-proof majority in the Senate, not clever number-crunching.
I read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ essay “My President was Black” last night and it was pretty good and I’m not certain what message it leaves for black politicians.
On one hand, much of the essay is about how unique Obama and his upbringing are (growing up in Hawaii, raised by a loving white family). He wasn’t damaged by experiences of mainland Americans, and the anecdote here is the black couple at the car dealer; initially the suggestion is they fear or distrust the white, but as they wait, its more than its important that the brother get the commission and they shrug off a white salesperson who asks to help them. This is the sort of tribal thinking that Coates indicates is normal, but alien to Obama, who floats effortlessly between black and white worlds.
He shares a David Alelrod anecdote about Harold Washington asking him just after winning the Democratic primary for his re-election: What percentage of the white vote did I get? Answer: 21%, up from 8% last time. Washington was saddened because he thought he had been a good mayor for everyone, and he had spent 70% of his time in white neighborhoods. Whether or not he was a good mayor, I don’t doubt the basic framework: elected with the unwaivering support of the black third of the electorate, his re-election depended on getting votes from non-whites.
When is an African-American woman going to be a governor? Either when African-Americans become the majority of an electorate or she is like Obama, an outsider who glides effortlessly between and above tribes. Would that be good for African-American women? The Washington anecdotes suggests maybe not, which would be better, an African-American politician dependent on courting the white vote, or a white politician dependent on the African-American vote?
Yikes: “his re-election depended on getting votes from WHITES”
Pretty good article that could be summed up with a suggestions that the Democratic party forgot that all politics is local.
PD,
Once thing that doesn’t get mentioned much is there is more to “race” than skin color or ethnic origin in this country. We have hillbilly, redneck whites and urban, chardonnay sipping whites and all kinds of whites in between. African-Americans and other ethnic groups are no less diverse but they are all lumped together as “of color” as if they are the same.
A point I made during the 2008 Democratic primaries and frequently since then. Every time I do it’s pooh-poohed. Maybe Mr. Coates has more credibility because of his greater authenticity. Or something.
Or everything could be centralized and generally removed from the political sphere.
There has been a concerted effort to ensure that Hispanics make common cause with blacks. I believe that effort to be doomed to failure and the next decade will see increased contention between Hispanics and blacks for influence.