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Bill Shipp
Have you taken a look at the roster of likely Democratic nominees for president? Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama lead the pack. Sure, the list also contains several tested names — Al Gore, John Edwards, Birch Bayh, Chris Dodd, etc. In the present atmosphere of the national Democratic Party, however, the well-tried names are nobodies. Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama are hogging the spotlight and likely to soak up most of the early money. Neither has announced for president. At best, Clinton is a thousand-to-one shot to win the election. Obama doesn’t have a chance. It doesn’t take a James Carville to understand that. Any dope who goes for a haircut can figure out from listening to the barbers that 1) Clinton will have trouble getting off the ground and 2) Obama will be lucky to win Hollywood. In a slightly different circumstance, Democratic leaders would be ecstatic. Their big chance to retake the White House is coming up. Republicans are in deep trouble. President George W. Bush’s poll numbers are hitting historic lows. Presidential scholars debate daily about whether W. Bush or W. Harding rates the “worst-ever” presidential title. The GOP candidates’ bench for 2008 is thin at best. The lame-duck Republican-controlled Congress has been a disaster. GOP-led lawmakers abdicated their oversight role in favor of becoming an amen chorus for Bush- Cheney on the war in Iraq. House corruption has been rampant. If you wanted government action, you didn’t want congress. You were better off talking to your county commissioners. Democrats ought to be reinvigorated. They ought to be lining up behind their best and brightest. They’ve retaken Capitol Hill. The White House should be easy. Sorry. That is not happening. Two years before the election, the Democrats’ nut brigade is already on the march. Backed by some party insiders, Sen. Obama has virtually monopolized the political media. Super-pundits tell mil- lions every Sunday morning and every weekday night that Obama is becoming the No. 1 alternative to Sen. Clinton as the nominee. They say this with a straight face. Undoubtedly, Sen. Obama is an admirable figure, potentially a great leader. At the moment, however, he is an Illinois senator with two years’ experience and virtually no public record. He appears to be 14 years old and looks best in a Chicago Bears cap. By the way, he also is an African- American who happens to be left-handed and a chain smoker. He is a current favorite of the Democratic Party’s black leadership, and for a good reason. Even if Obama can’t win, he can prevent Sen. Clinton or any reasonable candidate from winning. Obama and his managers are the gatekeepers. Every Democrat must treat the Obama faction with kid gloves. No Democrat can win the nomination or the presidency without overwhelming black support. If Obama is snubbed — if he is clobbered unmercifully in a primary — if he is not treated with deference — perhaps even if he is not promised a spot on the ticket — he can shut down any Democratic nominee’s campaign to win the White House. If the suddenly high-profile Obama cheering section decides the party nominee (if it’s not Obama) won’t do, the Democratic campaign won’t leave the gate. A Republican — almost any Republican — will win in a landslide. Look no further than Georgia for an example of what happens to Democrats if African-Americans believe they have lost their stake in the elections game. Republican Sonny Perdue wiped out Democratic gubernatorial challenger Mark Taylor in the Nov. 7 election because black voters stayed home. Taylor might not have won in any case, but a strong African- American turnout would have made the race close. Taylor took the black voted for granted, courted the white male vote and lost the election in a landslide. A similar scenario could occur nationally unless Democrats embrace a towering candidate who can rise above the politics of race — a candidate who can select a ticket capable of pleasing all segments of citizens instead of satisfying a handful of bosses determined to control the Democratic nomination even if they lose the election. At the moment it’s hard to imagine such a candidate except perhaps former Sen. Sam Nunn. We tried to phone Nunn for his reaction, but his office said he was not available. We also tried to phone Nunn six years ago and again four years ago. He didn’t take our calls then either, and look what happened.--You can reach Bill Shipp at P.O. Box 440755, Kennesaw, GA 30160, or e-mail: shipp1@bellsouth. net
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