Most of us will never get the chance to write our own obituaries but this remains one of the few perks of candidates whose political careers are officially dead. As pundits conduct the equivalent of an autopsy after a loss (i.e. "We all know that campaign is dead, now let's decide what killed it") the candidate goes around trying to "set the record straight" which is usually code for: blame everybody else for his/her defeat. To his credit, Congressman Artur Davis has not done this, going to great lengths during our recent interview to take responsibility for his dramatic loss in last week's Alabama gubernatorial primary. But amidst much of the media postmortem of Davis' race, one major question has been left unanswered: Has President Obama's tumultuous first 500 days in office made it tougher for other black candidates to succeed?
Following President Obama's election in 2008 there was a measure of euphoria, bordering on hysteria among some, about the multitude of racial and social problems he would be able to solve by sheer virtue of being a black man in the White House. Would the nearly 50 percent dropout rate among young, black males in some cities be curbed overnight? Would the negative racial stereotypes of black men=thugs subside now that America had its own real-life Cosby Show taking place in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue everyday? Of course this thinking was ridiculous, but not entirely surprising. The president was supposed to be to America's 200 year-old racial problem what gastric bypass surgery is to a weight problem: a quick fix. But as any gastric bypass patient and surgeon will tell you, what may look like a quick fix to everyone else, is really a painful, complicated, battle for those most affected.
President Obama's election has without question had a positive impact on certain aspects of our country's racial dynamic. A study out of Vanderbilt University tracked the so-called "Obama Effect" on black test takers whose scores markedly improved during key moments of flattering coverage of then-candidate Obama during the 2008 campaign. According to the Vanderbilt analysis, "during the height of the Obama media frenzy, the performance gap between black and white Americans was effectively eliminated." Additionally the racially diverse cross section of young people who voted for him, and their attitudes on race, certainly bode well for our country.
But some of the hopes that accompanied his election have gone unrealized.
Despite some of the expectations that President Obama might open the floodgates for more successful campaigns by black candidates at the state and local level, since his election a number of high profile black candidates have floundered. In a sure sign that Democratic candidate Kendrick Meek is headed for defeat, it was just announced that powerhouse liberal political consulting firm SKDKnickerbocker (the firm of former Obama White House Communications Director Anita Dunn) has signed on to the Senate campaign of Republican turned Independent Governor Charlie Crist. Then there's William Thompson, who lost his bid to unseat New York billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg (a race in which the President's role, or lack thereof, remains controversial.) Presidential friend and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is in political freefall, as is Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty (who a fellow political blogger once referred to as "the poor man's Barack Obama.") New York Governor David Paterson's political career was in such tatters that he didn't even bother running for the seat he inherited from Gov. Eliot Spitzer. Former Rep. Harold Ford (who was the 90's version of Obama before Obama came along) was run out of the New York Senate race before he even had a chance to kiss a baby. And then there's Artur Davis.
If any candidate was expected to have a shot it was Davis. A Harvard Law classmate of the President's, he had managed to remain a popular Congressman with racially diverse support in a deep Southern state. He spent part of his campaign for Governor with a thirty-point lead, before ultimately losing the Democratic primary last week by nearly the same margin. During my interview with Davis which can be found in its entirety here he was circumspect. "Ultimately we did not run a campaign that connected with voters and persuaded voters that I should be Governor." Though many critics have cited his vote against the historic health care bill (which according to reports the White House privately allowed him political cover on) Davis deems that analysis somewhat shortsighted. While he says the campaign may have "Lost our capacity to emotionally connect with the black community after the health care vote," he notes that after a temporary dip in his poll numbers immediately after the vote, he regained his lead, which makes his loss all the more curious.
Davis, who remains a friend of the President, was reluctant to discuss the role of race in his loss. He dismissed talk of a "Bradley Effect" along with any Jesse Jackson Effect. Jackson reached a new low with his Davis barb "You can't vote against health care and call yourself a black man." Yet Davis acknowledged that in some ways the President's shadow became an insurmountable obstacle, noting he heard from black voters in Alabama who said, "If whites in this state wouldn't even vote for Barack Obama for president why would they vote for you?" Not to mention that the President's standing with white voters, particularly rural voters (who Davis struggled with), and frankly all voters, has taken a dive in recent months. While it may not be fair that underrepresented groups, whether women or racial minorities, are often compared to one another, it is the unfortunate reality of being a minority candidate, a subject I have written about before.
While I cannot say definitively, without significant polling data to back it up that there is an Obama backlash afoot, the question bears asking. If for no other reason then we know that Democratic candidates nationally struggle when a Democratic president struggles, so does it not stand to reason that black candidates may struggle more as a black president struggles in the polls and in the eyes of the American people?
With his congressional career drawing to close, Davis is preparing to return to life as a private citizen, yet there remains one black candidate who owes his political success directly to the president; however it is the one candidate that the White House (or anyone for that matter) would probably not want to take credit for. It is Rod Blagojevich's going away gift to America, Roland Burris.
Talk about irony.
This post is republished courtesy of TheLoop21.com for which Goff is a political blogger.
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We as black people must stop thinking if a black person is elected or chosen for a position will change our lives, only you can change your life.
I watch people ask President Obama for a job or i lost my job what shell i do, i wanted to ask what hell did you do before he was elected. People were not listen to Pres.Obama during his
Campaign, he said the jobs outsourced were not comming back, go to trade school learn new skill, they didn't listen until that unemployment check ran out, people have no right to expect
anything from Pres.Obama just because he is a Black President.
The Country was in trouble before Pres. Obama took office, the Stock Market, Banks was Forclosing.
As for as President Obama election making tougher for other black canadidates, my answer to you is no. One name you listed was Harold Ford, i new he wasn't going to win in New York, once the people of NY learned of the Ford family here in Memphis Tennessee, Harold election was over.
Dr. O. P. Sudrania
Not only can white Democrates and Republicans lie in office but so can black ones. Color means nothing.
Two days ago on the Today show Obama took down teachers in one of his statments. Hey Oprah you need to talk to Obama on that one too. He said one of the reasons why that high school he was visiting was so excellent is because the teachers do more than what is in their contract. Wow this comes from a professor too.
I don't know of any teachers that don't do more than their contract. Those contracts are not that great and the only thing preventing horrendous abuses by districts. We all can agree that teachers are poorly paid under those same contracts. These teachers unions are comprised of mostly women and they get dumped on by school districts if they can get away with it.
Obama will be a one term president and possibly impeached for the oil coverup.
Well we are in total agreement about the one term thing. He may not even last this term if they impeach him. I think he hasn't shown us he is any better than the rest of the democrates and republicans who give politics a bad name.
All American people bitch and moan? That is an extremist statement and totally inaccurate.
I would love to not have to deal with Obama anymore and I wished I had never voted for him. I bought into his balony and regret it. He has lied one too many times for my tastes.
I am sure he will make money doing speaking engagements since Sarah Palin left office she too has peddled her brief policial career into a money maker. Gosh if she can do it with her awful contribution to politics then there is "Hope" for Obama.
Yeah go Obama back to Chicago where Oprah will be silently waiting for you.
Short answer: Yes.
Why do people write about this stuff? This is all conjecture. And not constructive to even discuss.
Stop drinking the cool-aid by printing such articles
We have a good president who is leading us. The world recognizes this. Now the question is: do we disserve him?
He doesn't have executive experience and it's painfully obvious. I don't think it's a code word - if it was he would have never been elected.
Zulu, we do not have a good president - he is leading us down the wrong path. He can't handle being president. Unless you wrote this blog in January (when he had most of the world fooled) - I would not agree that the world recognizes him a good leader.
Personally, I will disserve him every chance I get - because we don't deserve him we deserve better.
I refuse to deal in the abstract.
Can you elaborate on what you call lies?
Can you please give specific. The wrong path? You mean the path that is different from yours?
He can't handle being president? I dont know what to make out of this statement.
Can you define what executive experience is?
The fact of the matter he took us from the brink of economic disaster to recovery (remember that cool and collected leader), one may agree or disagree with healthcare but at least he took some actions. One may agree or disagree with the financial but at least some actions are being taken there as well.
He just put a deficit commission together to make some suggestions in regard to the course to take on the country finances
He is only 1.6 years in office.
How such a man can reflect negatively on black candidates?
The points I cited above should reflect positively on black candidates/men in this country and around the world. I see the image of a man (black) who is a family man, good father, hard -working, articulate, logical, competent, educated, self-confident while not wearing his blackness on his sleeves.
Guess what? A good portion of the population is terrified to see that man (that kind of black man) succeed. His success will blow away the traditional image that suggests that leadership and competence are anything but black.
The right wing has done such a good job in painting the president in such bad lights now the the left and even some African Americans are starting to believe the hype.
Stop drinking the cool-aid by printing such articles
We have a good president who is leading us. The world recognizes this. Now the question is: do we disserve him?
Thank you for the compliment. :-)
I am a big fan of yours!
One can learn a lot from listening more and talking less.