While bloggers and the mainstream media were watching the Lieberman-Lamont smackdown, Rep. Cynthia McKinney, the star of the documentary “American Blackout,” was starring in her own political drama.
Voters in Georgia’s 4th Congressional District decided to bring down the curtain on her political career. McKinney was soundly defeated in the Democratic runoff election by Hank Johnson, a former DeKalb County commissioner.
Like Lieberman, McKinney is out of step with voters in her district. Folks in the nation’s second wealthiest majority-black county no longer think she represents them. One voter, a 25-year-old law student, told the Associated Press:
As an African-American, I am very committed to our people and being strong, but there comes a time when some people overdo it. I want her to be a strong black woman, but I don't want her to be a buffoon.
It's impossible for her to get anything done.
Though McKinney prides herself on “speaking truth to power,” she isn’t on speaking terms with the leader of the House Democratic Caucus. Truth is, no one in power is listening.
McKinney’s defeat may indeed herald the end of an era. As Time magazine recently reported:
Now the next generation of black Democratic pols has arrived, armed with Ivy League degrees, elite jobs at universities and Fortune 500 companies, and political profiles that could make them more electable than their predecessors. And they’re determined not to be defined solely by their race.
