03/14/07 Coon Alert: Obama Don't Get a Free Pass

It ain’t about Barack Obama not bein’ black enough. The issue is whether or not the junior Illinois Senator represents the interests of everyday black Americans. And so far, the case could be made that he does not. At least not as much as he should if he wants the black votes needed for an Obama victory in ‘08.

A long time ago, back when folks called it the Conscience of Congress, the Congressional Black Caucus usedta say African Americans had “no permanent friends, no permanent enemies—just permanent interests.” And nearly 40 years after the formation of the caucus, for better or worse, those interests remain.

So fuck his skin tone because, truth be told, he’s darker than a good number of African Americans. Fuck if he chooses to speak “ebonics” or Shakespearean, too. And the recent example of Bill Clinton's presidency shows that an elected official needn’t be racially profiled or forced to drink from a colored water fountain in order to appreciate and relate to the black experience. None of that shit’s relevant.

Of relevance is the fact that in 2005 and 2006 Barack Obama was graded a C by the CBC Monitor, the first group to ever critique the individual performances of black members of Congress by measuring how consistently they voted in the interests of black Americans on key pieces of legislation. Of relevance is the sad and unfortunate reality that there are white lawmakers—Dennis Kucinich, for example—who, when graded by the same criteria, uphold and promote black interests more than Obama and many CBC members have in the past decade.

That’s not a good look. And the niggas with the balls to question the Senator’s remarkably unremarkable record on race are dismissed as haters.

The cold shit truth of the matter is that a black president is long overdue. But if he ain’t representin’ to the extent that black people need him to represent, why should he deserve the black vote? Make that nigga work.

Props on the accomplishments, though!