Barack Obama: Race Over Principle

From Obama WTF

But in Chicago politics reality is never truly colorblind, and political independence comes at a cost, which is why Obama could not bring himself to endorse his friend the reformer, Claypool, who is white, over the machine hack Stroger, who is black.

Instead, Obama remained neutral in the contest, and though this was seen by political observers as a tacit endorsement of Claypool, the question remains why Obama, who claims to be not of the political machine in Chicago and above the politics of race, could not muster up the political courage to make an explicit endorsement of Claypool during the campaign.

Jeff Berkowitz, host of a local public affairs television show in Chicago, put that question to Claypool recently. Here is the exchange:

Berkowitz: why couldn’t [Obama] go that extra length? And, you know Barack. And, you’ve worked with Barack and you helped elect him to the U.S. Senate. So, it’s not like he just knew you as a reformer. You folks – you’ve worked with David Axelrod’s firm. You helped start David Axelrod’s firm, AKPmedia, right?

Claypool: Correct.

Berkowitz: In 1984-85, and you worked closely with Rahm Emanuel, you knew Axelrod, you were sort of the Three Amigos, and maybe the fourth amigo was Barack Obama, why couldn’t [Obama] go that extra length and endorse you? You could have been Cook County Board President. You could have seen reform [enacted]. You could have done a great many things that I know Barack Obama would like to do to improve health care and so forth for people in Cook County. Why couldn’t he make that move?

Claypool: I don’t know. I mean, look, politics is complex. People have multiple relationships and they do the things they have to do and believe in.

Politics is indeed complex, and most politicians “do the things they have to do” to look after their own personal interests – and Barack Obama is no different. In this instance, Obama’s calculus in protecting his interests meant first and foremost showing deference to the Chicago machine, and also not making a move that would cost him support within the African-American community.

Claypool’s remarks sounds eerily similar to the response Jeremiah Wright gave when Bill Moyers asked him how he felt about Obama distancing himself from the Reverend and his remarks:

He’s a politician, I’m a pastor. We speak to two different audiences. And he says what he has to say as a politician. I say what I have to say as a pastor. But they’re two different worlds. I do what I do. He does what politicians do.
Continue reading…Obama WTF: When it came to a moment of truth, Obama placed racial loyalty above principle

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