Posted on 08/26/2004 6:47:53 AM PDT by SmithPatterson
GOP needs to get serious about grooming Black candidates Armstrong Williams August 26, 2004
Grooming a new generation of black Republican leaders is perhaps the greatest task currently facing the Republican Party.
That's the opinion of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who told me, "Until the Republican Party is able to have black candidates win, not only in black districts but in white districts, only then will we begin to regain some authority on the race issue."
What DeLay is really saying - and what anyone who gives the matter any thought realizes - is that the Republicans will not retain long-term, stable control of government unless they do a better job establishing legitimacy with minority voters.
Presently, blacks don't vote Republican because they don't feel like they're welcome in the party. Makes sense. On the federal level, the Republicans don't have a single black senator or congressperson. The party's greatest locus of support is in rural and suburban areas.
Republican candidates with experience as big-city officials, who maintain regular association with black venues, tend to do OK with black voters. But, as we know, the GOP is not a party of big-city officials. On the whole, black American communities and venues remain unfamiliar turf for Republicans.
By contrast, about one-quarter of the membership of the Democratic National Committee is black. This strong representation within the party means more American blacks get hired by - and elected to - government at every level, under the party's auspices. This creates a positive ripple effect throughout the community. Black politicians typically maintain close associations with other black community figures such as ministers, teachers, entrepreneurs and union officials. These interlocking relationships proclaim to African-Americans that they are part of the Democratic Party.
The Republicans need to take a page from the Democrats and do a better job of grooming black elected officials who can carry their message into the community - because the black community is ripe for appeal. More and more black Americans are coming to the conclusion that liberalism has not solved their most basic problems. Instead, it has put us in the mindset that we have to be fed government programs, instead of being given access to capital and the opportunity to create our own jobs. The younger generation of black Americans is saying it is time to move beyond the basic covenants of liberalism and finally face who we are and what we need, not solely as blacks, but as individuals.
Lacking the psychic scars of their parents and grandparents, young blacks are more optimistic about the idea - and the reality - of being part of the middle class. They don't just want a seat at the table. They expect to own the house.
These differences in perspective are manifesting themselves in seismic shifts in public opinion. According to polls conducted by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, roughly one-third of black Americans under the age of 35 describe themselves as independents. Black support for the Republican Party has more than doubled, from 4 percent to 10 percent, over the past two years. During the same period, support for the Democratic Party has dropped 11 percent among black voters. This new generation is straddling partisan lines on core issues such as education reform and welfare reform.
Even more profound is the narrowing difference between what young black Americans and white Americans rate as their top priority concerns. According to a recent Joint Center study, each group ranked education, health care, crime and the economy among its top five areas of concern. That marks a profound change. Young black Americans are no longer isolating themselves from mainstream society along the fault line of black and white issues. They want issues-oriented solutions, not racial rhetoric.
In political races across the country, these generational shifts are coming into focus. A number of new-wave moderate and conservative black political leaders are gaining local and state office outside the auspices of the liberal Democratic black establishment. Elected leaders such Cory Booker, Harold Ford Jr. and Kwame Kilpatrick are articulating a new vision and agenda.
These new leaders are more conservative than the old guard. They tend to be less certain that racism is the prime reason for the lack of progress among many blacks. Most oppose racially based affirmative action. Unlike the old guard, they do not see America as fundamentally flawed because of its unfortunate racial history, or because of its capitalist economic system. They are more inclined to encourage choice and market-based approaches, such as school vouchers and black entrepreneurship. These new black leaders are not promoting the so-called black agenda. They are laying out a new roadmap that will prepare us to achieve the American dream.
Sadly, they are facing stiff opposition from the black liberal old guard, who are fearful of falling into irrelevancy. Discrimination and victimhood are the foundation upon which they have built their legitimacy as our spokespeople. To this day, they depend on the perception of on-going, widespread racism to remain competitive in the electoral process. They underplay the dramatic improvements in economic and social status experienced by blacks over the last 40 years. They do everything they can to drum the new wave of black conservatives out of the black community. Exhibit A: the vitriolic and irrational attacks the old guard launches against individuals such as Justice Clarence Thomas, Shelby Steele, John McWhorter, et al.
The old guard of liberal black leaders has every reason to be fearful. The day when the black voting populace automatically rubber-stamps the Democrats is coming to an end.
The Republicans - and black America - are facing a historic opportunity. Should the Republicans get serious about grooming this new wave of conservative black leaders, they could carry forth a new narrative about how this younger generation faces different obstacles than those encountered by their parents and grandparents, and how new approaches are desperately needed. That would be a refreshing change of pace for a community that has been stuck on the dead-end street of victimhood for too long.
Michael Steele: Maryland's Lt. Governor.
He is scheduled to speak at the RNC - likely on Tuesday night around 9PM. A fantastic orator, a principled man. You absolutely cannot beat the combination Steele offers.
How can we take any candidate series if he cannot take care of his own hair styling?
Actually, I think black Republicans are more likely to win in "white" districts than black.
Armstrong Williams has it backwards here.
The GOP has no need to "get serious" about grooming candidates from any racial/religious/ethnic group that consistently sends about 90% of its vote to the Democrat Party.
The GOP will "get serious" about grooming black candidates when blacks "get serious" about supporting the GOP. As someone else pointed out here, the irony of this issue is that a black GOP candidate is more likely to win in a district dominated by whites than in a district dominated by blacks.
He's right. The Pubbie's talk about a "color-blind" society but they are reluctant to promote black candidates, because they have so many Anglo-guys who lust for public office. A little affirmative action is in order, because most of the time the anglo guys are not much to write home about.
Vernon Robinson.
>>>> The Pubbie's talk about a "color-blind" society but they are reluctant to promote black candidates, because they have so many Anglo-guys who lust for public office.
Unfortunately, they were falling over themselves to promote Dylan Glenn and Vernon Robinson in key primary races this spring. Virtually nobody of any stature in the party dared to endorse their white opponents. Both blacks got beat though.
Why..because everybody knows blacks vote their own color first regardless of issues or characters...and want only to hear the words of one of their own who hate white people and are dedicated to tearing down the America of it's white founding fathers?....
Doesnt America need to cultivate voters (citizens) of better character and work ethic first....
of all colors including white..
I would settle for the GOP just cultivating real honest to goodness 'conservatives'
"The content of a man's character is more important than the (outside) color of his skin"
-paraphrased from Martin Luther King...
Says something about Republican voters, doesn't it? They don't know how much more visible a black official is than a white one. They only "get it" if the party puts up a celebrity. Friends, black reps are instant celebrities.
What is needed though is a bottom up approach to it with support from the top. The LOCALS matter most. If I want to make inroads in places like Flint and Detroit, the best approach is to use people from there, who know the area, and have credibility there.
We need to start to convince people to go from "I don't vote republican" to "I don't usually vote republican, but he's a good guy" to "I'll vote person, not party".
The Republican party has just such an opportunity today. Will they run with it? Let's watch Illinois and see what happens.
Afro Sheen or Jheri?
Vernon was a major Bush-basher, from what I hear. But there are plenty african-american leaders like Herman Cain and JC Watts who are GOP visionaries that can lead the party. Can't keep em on the sidelines. An african-american Republican in Congress is the DNC's worst nightmare. And there are Cuban, Indian, Hispanic, etc. Republican leaders out there who need to be in Congress.
But seems Keyes has already split his GOP base in the 20 days he's campaigned. But the GOP still has Marvin Scott, Butler University sociology professor, who's running to unseat Evan Bayh in GOP-stronghold of Indiana. He's a staunch conservative speaking Monday afternoon at the GOP convention. Check him out @ MARVINSCOTT.ORG
His "base" was split before he came to IL -- just as the GOP is nationally.
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