Black Political Dilemma.

by Staff October 16, 2014 6 Comments News Opinion Politics Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) I know you political junkies are on the edge of your seats now that Dr. Ben Carson has said he will likely run for President. I have been waiting to see what Black folks will do when President Obama leaves office. Well, we are about to find out now, aren’t we? Can you imagine a race between Carson and Hillary? Black voters won’t know whether they are pitching or catching if that happens. I can’t wait!

What will the commentators say? What will the current political insiders talk about? If the prospect of having the “first” Black President was great in 2008, I would think the prospect of having the “second” will be just as fantastic, right? “Not so fast,” some of you are saying. “Carson is Black, but he is a staunch conservative; we can’t vote for him.” That would be the hue and cry from so-called liberal Black folks. On the other hand, to vote for a White woman over a Black man, for some Black voters would also be a big dilemma.

The possibilities are endless with this one, folks. To which candidate do you think Black people would give the majority of their votes? Can you envision Obama supporters, who thought it was so important to elect a Black person to the highest office in the world, saying in 2015-2016 that it’s a bad idea this time around? The debates will be very interesting. All of a sudden politics is getting my attention. I am stocking up on popcorn now.

Ben Carson dissed Obama at that prayer breakfast, you know. He is also the darling of Fox News commentators, who eventually said, “nein, nein, nein” to Herman Cain. Carson also rails against Obamacare and initiatives put forth by the President and, if Carson is nominated, there will be a pit-bull fight in 2016. How will Black people justify their votes this time? Hillary and Wall Street or Carson and Wall Street? Hillary and no reparations or Carson and no reparations?

How will Black folks fare economically under a Ben Carson administration as opposed to a Hillary Clinton administration? Carson is a free market guy, and Hillary has no problem with free market either. Carson made his millions after pulling himself up from nothing, and Hillary says she and Bill were dead broke when they left the White House. As a matter of fact, during their time in Arkansas they had no home other than the Governor’s Mansion. Talk about Horatio Alger stories; this is really going to be good. They can debate on whose situation was worse, and we can cast our votes for the winner.

Black people have been so ensconced in having the first Black President that for many it’s really going to be sad to see Barack Obama leave. Politically, he is all they have. What will Peggy Joseph do about putting gas in her car and paying her mortgage, as she said when he was elected?

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What will Al Sharpton do? I guess he could get close to Hillary if she wins, but you know Carson will have nothing to do with him.

If Carson wins MSNBC and Fox News will trade places by changing their conversations about the President. MSNBC will constantly rail against Carson, and Fox will simply celebrate Carson as their messiah this time. Ain’t politics great!?

On a more serious note, elections have consequences. After six years of President Obama in office, Black people are assessing our progress under his leadership. Some say he has done well, and others say he has done very little on behalf of Black people. The fact remains that he will exit his position in two years. What are we going to do, after reaching the ultimate symbolic high and staying there for two terms? As Peter said to Jesus, “To whom shall we go?”

Have we invested too much emotion in Obama’s presidency and not enough substantive content? Whether it’s Ben Carson or another Republican, or whether Hillary, the odds-on favorite, moves into the White House in two years, we must decide where we will go and how we will get there. In my opinion, we have wasted six years of political positioning by not carrying our demands to Obama the way other groups did when he was elected.

Our political dilemma has never been the lack of a “Black” President. It has been and continues to be our lack of political involvement beyond voting, our failure to build political power based on an economic power base, and our reliance of political symbolism over political substance. Our political dilemma should move us to appropriate action; we must plan now for whoever moves into the White House in 2016.

Written By James E. Clingman

Official website; http://www.blackonomics.com/

6 Comments

rasil says:

October 20, 2014 at 1:21 am

Jack Meyers: You find it expedient to blame President Obama for the condition of America? How quickly we forget. The only reason YOU probly have a job is because of President Obama. He literally pulled all of us out of the muck and mire that GW Bush drove us all into over the 8 years he and his administration destroyed everything including our annuities, stocks, pensions, SS etc. You need to wake up. Ben carson has NO intention of saving America and he is NOT a strong leader. He was a medical doctor. Obviously you are Republican and have no heart for the poor. The poor you will ALWAYS have with you and should be cared for. This is a principle that reaps many rewards but i am certain you know nothing of principles…nothing. Just the blame game. President Obama has done extraordinary things under the conditions he had to forge,but you are too blinded to see. It is impossible for you to see beyond FOX news. God help you!!

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rasil says:

October 20, 2014 at 1:13 am

What makes you think you know the truth about Black people? We are not monolithic nor are we uninformed regarding politics and the strategies of Republicans. In addition, I find your commentary insulting. Ben Carson has as much chance at winning the presidency as a caged monkey. According to polls, he will only obtain 11% of the entire vote. According the word on the streets, he’s the laughing stock. Nobody is interested in another Republican candidate after Bush destroyed the country. Republicans have no interest in Blacks except garnering their vote which they shall not get. The Republicans feel the same way about Carson as they do about all other Blacks. President Obama has done a great job in spite of Republican obstruction. Every president has made attempts at health care and failed.Carson had better take a page out of Herman Cain’s book and disappear or stick with medicine. I find him to be an embarrassment and disgrace to say that Obamacare is the worst thing since slavery is straight from the mouths of Republicans. He is their pawn and hope for garnering the Black vote which will NEVER, ever happen. Another Uncle Tom or better yet Uncle Ben. An complete embarrassment.

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ROBERT says:

October 19, 2014 at 3:05 am

THE basic rules of AMERICAN politics are simple, FOLLOW THE MONEY , without that understand we’re flying blind.

I like DR. CARSON and I thinks it’s beneath him to run for president because the office is controlled by the most criminal element in our society.

IT’S very easy to tell what the next presdents policies will be by simply looking at their donors this is why OBAMA never fooled me because I knew who gave him his money.

THE same is for all presidential candidates inluding DR. CARSON if we see him giving a audition to JEWISH billionaires like SHELDON ALDESON, we know we’ll be getting more of the same.

LET’S learn our lesson and not make a god out of a politician that can’t be criticized or questioned like we did OBAMA and if DR. CARSON refuses to recognize and address our interest we have to be politically mature enough to not support him.

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Hunter says:

October 17, 2014 at 10:39 pm

James, you certainly saved the best and most enlightening part of your piece until the very end!

“I believe in Ben Carson’s diagnosis of the problems that blacks face. The break up of the family since the 60’s and lack of education act as a magnet keeping people trapped in that environment. I believe that a strong leader like Ben Carson could start the wheels moving in a direction that would provide jobs and economic opportunity for people.”

You are correct, of course, that Blacks have much to gain by skillfully engaging in productive, meaningful social and business relationships in this complex, multi-layered American lifestyle. I believe that the wheels have indeed been moving, through hard work, educational advancement and spiritual growth…all good things. Unfortunately, there is no sacred path to wholeness, to happiness, or to financial success — those things represent the steady progress of the focused, the energized, and the enthused. America has come a long way since the dark days of the painful ’60s; it certainly has far to go before the deep roots of disparity and social tension are replaced with honest competition, decency and truthfulness. Another way to put it is that spiteful, adversarial relationships aren’t all they are cracked up to be.

I believe that Blacks should embrace Dr. Ben Carson as a genuine and powerful potential candidate, not because he, too, is black, but because he aspires to be a great individual, a great motivator, a great leader. Don’t support him because of his race; support him because you have engaged his enthusiastic optimism, his courage, his passion for common sense reform and his view of American exceptionalism.

Don’t be fooled: his personal success has come at an enormous price of making difficult choices throughout his lifetime, and not like many, by making political promises that are impossible to keep. Through trials and tribulation, Dr. Carson has endured unimaginable hardships in his professional life. Choosing not to bask in the sun, he continued to swim upstream all the way, chasing off the vicious sharks as he swam. There are still plenty of sharks, unfortunately, many eagerly waiting to emerge in an early 2016 feeding frenzy.

But feeding frenzies are reactive in nature, and that’s not how decent, respectful humans should behave. Somehow, the counter culture has warped our senses to the point of not believing that seemingly normal people are to be valued and afforded dignity above all else. When did it become a bad thing to succeed through hard work and dedication only to retire and work harder to help a failing nation led by narcissistic incompetents? The ignorant and divisive among us deserve no attention, no respect. Simply blasting hate speech ad nauseam results in nothing but abject chaos and a breakdown in social interactions at all levels with neither side listening to, or believing in, the garbage being slung.

Other cultures have learned this lesson well. In time, so too will many in the American Black community, following the lead of a growing number of competent and admirable black leaders who cherish good over evil.

As you say, it will take time, perhaps generations, to advance to that point, but we must remember that every day each of us has the opportunity to do (and be) our best, and that is all anyone can ask.

Like his potential competition, Dr. Ben Carson isn’t perfect. But then again, the corruptive influences which have poisoned at least some of them (can you say “What difference at this point, does it make…?”) certainly don’t apply to Dr. Carson. In my view there is no better role model in presidential politics to emulate. Ben Carson is indeed the real deal.

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Joe Michael says:

October 17, 2014 at 5:53 pm

Actually, Ben Carson if elected by the American Populace would technically be the first black American elected to office since Barack is Bi-Racial, his mother was white. Also unlike Barak he shares a commonality with the ‘ordinary black kid’ because unlike Barack who was raised in one of Hawaii’s most exclusive schools, Ben went to a tough inner city school. “Raised in poverty on the gritty streets of Detroit by a poor hard working single mom who taught him the value of a good education, even though she was a high school dropout. Barak simple does not know what it means to be black in America. Ben Carson certainly does; both by experience and by genetics, he is quite simply far blacker.
You write to strategize national division, we all want to have work in order to provide for our families and are sick of labels. Raven Symone recently told Oprah in an interview, “I am sick of labels, I am not African American I am an American!” Wow, let’s stop poisoning the next generation with this old and tired divisiveness, Ben Carson is the voice of unity for ALL AMERICANS.

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Jack Meyer says:

October 17, 2014 at 12:53 pm

Your post does a great job of exposing some problems with how many people vote. They vote for a race or gender candidate. They vote for a party because they have always voted that way and so did their parents. Success, then, is measured by who gets elected and not by what they accomplish.
Ben Carson, interestingly, wrote in his recent best seller, ONE NATION; What we can do to save America’s future, that he would love to see names on ballots without party affiliation there. This way people would need to do a little research on what people stand for when they vote.
I think that the Obama administration had helped only to end up locking the poor (of any race) into their dependence on government subsistence. People leaving the work force is the highest since the 1970s and a proportionately large number of those are blacks. Carson, who has experienced poverty and inner city life as a child, knows that the best way to get out of that difficult environment is through education and hard work. He has established the Carson scholarship fund to help promising young people get to college.
I believe in Ben Carson’s diagnosis of the problems that blacks face. The break up of the family since the 60’s and lack of education act as a magnet keeping people trapped in that environment. I believe that a strong leader like Ben Carson could start the wheels moving in a direction that would provide jobs and economic opportunity for people. It will take a generation or two to make large gains however the current approach will never work. I think the approach that liberals use to “help” the poor is disrespectful toward people and provides no long term benefit.

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