But all of that said I think that she's eminently qualified to be president of the United States. However, I do believe that now is the time that the Black community extracts concessions from her for its vote and support. The Black community is the bulwark of the Democratic Party and its most loyal and supportive constituency. This community has supported many Democratic Party candidates that then turn around and betrayed and kick them to the curb -- including the current president, Barack Obama.
The thing is that our elected leaders -- at the local, federal and state levels -- NEVER act in the best interest of the Black community because they KNOW that Black voters are not welcomed in the Republican Party and therefore have "no place else to go." Thus BOTH Black and white elected officials have taken the Black vote for granted. Barack Obama was elected TWICE on the backs of a loyal Black vote that came out in the 80 percentile for him. In places like Brooklyn, New York, the Caribbean-American vote for Barack Obama in both 2008 and 2012 was over 90 percent.
Hillary Clinton can count on this demographic as she goes into the New York City Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday, April 19. She will win the New York primary with a comfortable margin to that of her challenger Senator Bernie Sanders. There is no doubt in my mind that this will happen.
So this begs the question why has Sanders not able to attract Black voters given the fact that BOTH Blacks and Hispanics, in poll after poll, find him more honest and trustworthy than Hillary Clinton?
Well, lets start with the numbers. United States presidential contests are more about the numbers -- from the party's nomination processes to the November elections -- than the popular vote. Hillary is way more experienced than Sanders in this math game -- she's run before while he's a first time presidential candidate. She knows how to "lock up" big state delegates early in the game so as to make it harder, if not impossible, to overtake her in the nomination race. New York's 200+ delegates will help widen that lead going into the primary home stretch.
Hillary is also a known individual with the Black community. Like her or loathe her, she's been on the forefront of Black issues though at times she can be infuriatingly condescending. However, I don't believe she's racist as some people are saying without any evidence. And her rare, off-color, race-tinged gaffes do not mitigate her record of progressivism when it comes to the Black community. She has a history of articulating, supporting and promoting Black causes and issues.
You can argue politics and opportunism all you want, but she was out front from the get go on the police brutality issues and the killing of Blacks. She's called for and supported so-called "body cameras" to help drive down cop crimes while Bernier Sanders has been largely silent only recently finding his "black voice."
And she's comfortable in a Black church, a soul food restaurant in Harlem as well as the barrios of the South Bronx. She regularly in Black churches and understands the community's issues and concerns. That's why Blacks love Hillary Clinton. That's why Bernie Sanders whose history of Black activism, Black interaction, caring and support is short and largely non-existent.
And yes, there are enough of Hillary Clinton's public statements to conclude that at times she's guilty of "dog whistling" to white constituents using cagey language cloaked in race-like innuendos for political expediency. For instance, while campaigning in South Carolina in 2008, Hillary remarked that Dr. Martin Luther King's dream was "kick-started when President Lyndon B. Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act." In other words, as NBC Meet the Press host Tim Russert pointed out, it was as if Hillary implied "it took a white man to get Blacks to the mountaintop."
Dog whistling to white Americans Hillary also claimed "Senator Obama's support among hardworking Americans, white Americans is weakening," This implied that Black Americans are not hardworking, an implicit reference to an old and discredited racist canard that "Black people are lazy, worthless and sex deviants."
Hillary Clinton's popularity among Black voters and the Black community also explains Senator Bernie Sanders's "Black voter problem." Moreover, his problem or challenge in this regard is certainly not a new thing spawned by the 2016 Presidential elections. If we go back to the problem that white liberals have ALWAYS had with the Black, immigrant and minority populations then we get to the gist, the root, of Senator Sander's problem.
For about 40 years now, white liberals running for President of the United States have had a very hard time connecting with the Black community even when, like Bernie Sanders today, they've "spoken the language and taken on the issues that Blacks suffer from, care about and understand." The list o such liberals includes individuals like Gary Hart, Michael Dukakis and Paul Tsongas. But the problem now is that the changing demographics in America REQUIRES that anyone running to the LEFT of the Democratic Party must deal with this huge obstacle. Senator Sanders's campaign has not fully understood this and adapted to it, as have Hillary Clinton and her campaign.
And too, Bernie Sanders, for all his strengths -- and there are many -- has NEVER had to speak to Black issues as both Bill and Hillary Clinton have. Unlike Sanders who represents one of the whitest states in the Union Hillary (and Bill) have had to win the Southern Black vote as a bulwark against the Republican constituency that has made them sensitive, but not overly responsive, to Black issues. And Hillary becoming a senator from New York State was a great resume booster and gave her the chance to see what America was becoming from a demographic and racial perspective.
But all of this has only caused more questions to be asked about both Hillary and Bernie. For example who is the real Democrat in the race?
I don't believe that Blacks should just sleep walk towards the Clinton Machine and get nothing for their support. I also think that Bernie Sanders makes her a far better candidate since she's had to confront and deal with some uncomfortable issues surrounding her candidate that she does not like to talk about. Issues like her Iraq war vote, Libya as a failed state, $15 minimum wage and others.
On the Middle East, Israel and the Palestine Issues she a militaristic hawk who is not afraid to commit America's military might in areas that she sees America's enemies. Her position is to the right of the Democratic Party and more in sync with the Republican Party and neoconservative position. Hillary Clinton represents and embodies the shift in Democratic and American politics as a whole from the Center (there are no longer Clinton Centrists) to the Right. The Democratic Party of today is vastly different to when Hillary and Bernie first entered politics.
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