Anderson@Large

Gov. Barbour’s Kamikaze Mission

Rumor has it that Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is testing the waters for a presidential run. If true, Barbour and the Republican Party will go down in flames.

The Associated Press reports:

If the Republican Party is in danger of being marginalized as a conservative, white male Southern enclave, is Haley Barbour — the longtime Washington power broker and current Mississippi governor — the best person to turn things around?

Many rank-and-file Republicans and party leaders say yes, as the 61-year-old Barbour prepares to ramp up his national profile this month with back-to-back trips to the early presidential voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

If Barbour is the answer, it's one helluva question.

I don’t want to think about 2012 until, well, 2012, but I want everybody to know about Barbour.

Frankly, all you need to know is that as chairman of the Republican National Committee, Barbour did nothing to reach out to black voters. He admitted as much in a Jan. 16, 1997, Washington Post op-ed:

We are failing to communicate effectively to many women and minorities why our proposals are the right policies to solve the problems that concern them most. Too often we Republicans are satisfied to say what we’re for, but not why we’re for it.

Whatever.

As a gubernatorial candidate in 2003, Barbour exploited the fight over the Mississippi state flag, with its Confederate emblem, to oust the Democratic governor.

Barbour also spoke at a rally hosted by the Council of Conservative Citizens, an organization of white supremacists.

If the GOP's strategy is to win a presidential election with zero black support, then Haley Barbour is the one.

Molten Steele

Michael Steele’s erratic performance as chairman of the Republican National Committee brings to mind the wisdom of Uncle Remus: If you try to be something you ain’t, you ain’t.

From throwing the GOP's pro-life plank under the bus to riffing about his love for the “Pack Rat,” it ain’t working. BTW, Mike, baby, it’s the Rat Pack.

Former presidential wannabe Mike Huckabee threw the Platform book at Steele:

Comments attributed to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele are very troubling and despite his clarification today the party stands to lose many of its members and a great deal of its support in the trenches of grassroots politics. Since 1980, our party has been steadfast and principled in believing in the dignity and worth of every human life. We have supported a Constitutional amendment to protect life and the party has taken the position that no one individual has the supreme right to own another person in totality including the right to take that life. For Chairman Steele to even infer that taking a life is totally left up to the individual is not only a reversal of Republican policy and principle, but it's a violation of the most basic of human rights--the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. His statement today helps, but doesn't explain why he would ever say what he did in the first place.

Steele’s rival for RNC chairman, Ken Blackwell, threw the Good Book at him:

Chairman Steele, as the leader of America’s Pro-Life conservative party, needs to re-read the Bible, the U.S. Constitution, and the 2008 GOP Platform. He then needs to get to work -- or get out of the way.

In an interview with GQ magazine, Steele said:

I mean, who’da thunk it in 1963 that in 2009 two black men would sit on top of the political world of this country? How friggin’ awesome is that? You cannot look at that and not go, “Wow.”

Wow, baby. You're friggin' off the hook.

Race in the Age of Obama

On Wednesday, Columbia University’s Center on African American Politics and Society will sponsor a public lecture, “Studying Race in the Age of Obama.” I had planned to attend the lecture; instead, I’ll be in DC.

President Barack Obama, a Columbia grad, had this to say about race in, well, the age of Obama:

I think it’s fair to say that if I had been advising my attorney general, we would have used different language. We’re oftentimes uncomfortable with talking about race until there’s some sort of racial flare-up or conflict. We could probably be more constructive in facing up to sort of the painful legacy of slavery and Jim Crow and discrimination.

Obama added:

I’m not somebody who believes that constantly talking about race somehow solves racial tensions. I think what solves racial tensions is fixing the economy, putting people to work, making sure that people have health care, ensuring that every kid is learning out there. I think if we do that, then we’ll probably have more fruitful conversations.

Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page recently wrote:

Rush Limbaugh’s “dittohead” fans might not seem to have much in common with embattled U.S. Sen. Roland Burris’ mostly black and liberal supporters. Yet each group, in its own way, has shown us how the race card endures even in the age of Barack Obama. African-American ministers and politicians have held news conferences and rallies in Chicago calling for everyone to leave Burris alone. Partly as a result, Democratic lawmakers in Illinois and in the U.S. Senate have backed away from their early calls for Burris to resign the seat to which he was appointed by now-impeached-and-expelled Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Page continued:

This was the sort of commentary Michael Steele, the first black Republican National Committee chairman, criticized as “ugly” and “incendiary” on CNN. Steele has been trying to help his party reach out to minorities and the moderate swing voters that the Grand Old Party needs if it is going to have a future as something more than a regional party. But after Limbaugh raked Steele over the coals on his radio show, Steele melted. He apologized to Limbaugh and made himself and, by association, his party, look all the weaker. Like his Democratic counterparts, Steele learned the hard way that he should not to violate the first rule of party politics: Thou shalt not divide thy political base, even when the base doesn’t mind being divided.

While a black Republican is as rare as a blue chip stock, Steele has a black Republican hater, North Carolina committeewoman Dr. Ada Fisher. After only five weeks in office, Fisher says it’s time for Steele “to step aside as chairman.”

Stocks are tanking but with Steele “at war with his own party, often live on television,” this might be a good time to invest in a popcorn company.

GOP’s Magic Mountain

Oops, he did it again.

Chip Saltsman, a former chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party and a candidate for national party chairman, distributed a CD of holiday music that includes the song, “Barack the Magic Negro.” The parody has been featured on Rush Limbaugh’s playlist for nearly two years.

Saltsman accurately notes:

Liberal Democrats and their allies in the media didn't utter a word about David Ehrenstein’s irresponsible column in the Los Angeles Times last March. But now, of course, they’re shocked and appalled by its parody on the Rush Limbaugh Show.

I firmly believe that we must welcome all Americans into our party and that the road to Republican resurgence begins with unity, not division. But I know that our party leaders should stand up against the media's double standards and refuse to pander to their desire for scandal.

My friend Raynard Jackson, a longtime GOP activist, writes:

But, what is even more disgusting than the audacity of Saltsman to send out these insulting CDs, is the deafening silence of Black Republicans, especially the two who are running for national party chair.

I have searched all over the internet and have not found one word of outrage from any of the Black Republican “talking heads!” Where is Tara Wall or Amy Holmes (CNN)? Angela McGlowan or Star Parker (Fox News)? Joe Watkins (MSNBC)? These are the people the party parades out to the media and wonder why these people have absolutely NO standing within the Black community.

I am not surprised at Saltsman’s behavior. He is who he is. He is the same person that was part of the state party that ran the infamous “Harold Ford” TV commercial with the white blonde bombshell asking him to “call her.” But what surprises me, no infuriates me is the embarrassing response from the two Black candidates for chair, Ken Blackwell (former State Treasurer of Ohio) and Michael Steele (former Lt. Gov. of Maryland).

Frankly, I think the MSM is making a mountain out of a molehill. Parody comes with the territory. That said, in matters of race, Republicans have no margin for error

In the wake of his latest racial blunder, Saltsman is likely out of the running for GOP national chairman. But then again, it is the Stupid Party.

GOP Debate: Presence of Absence

The four empty lecterns at last night's presidential debate spoke volumes about blacks and the Republican Party.

I left the party in 2000. I announced my resignation in the weekly column I wrote for PoliticallyBlack.com:

Truth be told, the Republican Party left me some time ago. My switch (to independent) comes in the wake of a pattern of racial blunders that I cannot dismiss as mere "mistakes."

Make no mistake: The front-runners made a strategic decision to skip the debate. In doing so, they put the race card on the table.

Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, convenor of the Coalition for the People's Agenda, often says that black folks turn out to vote when they are "glad, mad or sad." The absence of the likely presidential nominee ensures that in 2008, black voters will be madder than usual with Republicans.

So get ready.

A GOP Blast from the Past

Alan Keyes, a not so golden oldie, is back. And he’s running for president – again.

When Keyes ran in 1996, he was arrested for trying to crash a Republican debate in Atlanta.

By contrast, Keyes may be welcomed with open arms to the presidential forum at Morgan State University, moderated by Tavis Smiley. Tavis won't have to squeeze Keyes in since there will be four empty podiums on the stage.

Meanwhile, the Republican frontrunners send their, um, regrets (and here).

Harlem Book Fair

Book lovers will gather Uptown for the 9th Harlem Book Fair on Saturday, July 21 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Former congressman J.C. Watts Jr. will deliver the annual State of African American Literacy. Who knew?

J.C. couldn’t read the writing on the wall when Republicans would trot him out to try to shatter their illusion of inclusion.

While I’ll pass on J.C., the schedule is full of interesting speakers, including Howard Zinn, Walter Mosley, Herb Boyd and Yvonne Bynoe.

The event is free and open to the public. For more info, click here.