A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
"No one deserved rejection by Black voters more than Artur Davis," the caricature of a right-wing Black congressman who lost his bid for governor by a landslide. Davis "decided he could win tons of white votes in Alabama by blatantly giving Blacks the finger." But then he extended a digit to Obama, master of a game Davis was ill-equipped to play.
Good Riddance Artur Davis, Rahm Emmanuel's U.S. House Negro
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
"Davis thought he could take Barack Obama's game to a higher level."
Alabama's Artur Davis says he will never again run for political office. We only wish he had made that decision eight years ago. Davis was elected on a wave of corporate and pro-Israel money in 2002, the same year that Cynthia McKinney was knocked out of Congress by those same political forces. Earlier this month, Davis accomplished a miraculous feat. He lost in his bid for governor of Alabama, not just by a landslide - he lost the Black vote to a white candidate, decisively.
No one deserved rejection by Black voters more than Artur Davis, who has reigned as the most right-wing member of the Congressional Black Caucus since the exit of the ridiculous Harold Ford, Jr., of Memphis, Tennessee.
Like Harold Ford, Artur Davis was the darling of the Democratic Leadership Council, the DLC, the corporate bagman of the Democratic Party. No sooner had Davis replaced the relatively progressive Earl Hilliard, than he was taken under the protective wing of Illinois Congressman Rahm Emmanuel, now Barack Obama's White House attack dog, who was then head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Emanuel groomed Davis as the model right-wing Black Democrat. Hoping to find lots of little Artur Davises, in 2005 Rahm Emanuel put him in charge of recruiting Black candidates for Congress in the Southeast. Luckily, Davis was not very successful, and was unable to clone himself for the benefit of his corporate sugar daddies. In fact, the little club of rightwing Black Members of Congress that Davis hung with back in 2005 has now shrunk from six to only three. Georgia's David Scott and Sanford Bishop are still around, but Harold Ford, Louisiana's William Jefferson, and Maryland's Albert Wynn no longer walk the halls of Congress. With his stunning defeat, Artur Davis should be gone by next year, too, if he keeps his promise never to run for office again.
"Davis has reigned as the most right-wing member of the Congressional Black Caucus since the exit of the ridiculous Harold Ford, Jr."
Apparently, Davis thought he could take Barack Obama's game to a higher level. Obama convinced a near-majority of white people that he wasn't like the rest of Black America, that he sees the world much as most whites do; but at the same time Obama fooled Blacks into thinking he was on their side, deep down. Artur Davis, doubtless under the malignant influence of his mentor Rahm Emmanuel, decided he could win tons of white votes in Alabama by blatantly giving Blacks the finger, rejecting out of hand any involvement with traditional Black organizations. And then, he stepped off the plank, voting against Barack Obama's version of health care. Davis lost by large margins in most Black districts, including his own voting precinct in Birmingham.
So, what is the lesson, here? Unfortunately, it is not that Black people consistently vote their own interests. Not in the Age of Obama. In Arkansas, Blacks gave majorities to the dreadful Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln over a relatively progressive challenger. That's because Obama supported Lincoln.
But Artur Davis somehow believed that he could win, in Alabama, by not only rejecting Black people's political aspirations, but by going further and ostentatiously rejecting Obama, himself. That is the definition of an idiot. For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford. On the web, go to www.BlackAgendaReport.com.
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Danny Haiphong is a long time Black Agenda Report contributing editor. He is now the host of his own Youtube channel.
Orion Meadows is a non-violence trainer with Institute for Nonviolence Chicago.
Michael Li is Senior Counsel in the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.
