Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Good Riddance Harold Ford…Again
Glen Ford, BAR executive editor
03 Mar 2010
🖨️ Print Article
Harold FordA Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
by BAR Executive Editor Glen Ford
 
Click the flash player to listen to or the mic to download an audio in MP3 format.

Harold Ford Jr's latest senatorial hopes have been shot down, but the Black Blue Dog who lied that his own grandmother was white and avowed his “love” for George Bush, can be counted on to ooze up yet again from the corporate swamp.

 
 
Good Riddance Harold Ford…Again
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
“Before Wall Street and Barack Obama discovered each other, Harold Ford was the Great Black Hope of the super-rich.”
Harold Ford, Jr. rises periodically like muck from a sewer to pollute the national political conversation with corporate obscenities posing as public policy. After a brief but nauseating bid for the Democratic senatorial nomination in New York, the former five-term Tennessee congressman has thankfully flushed himself back to his Wall Street cesspool. Ford backed out of the race this week, claiming he wants to save the Democratic Party from a bruising battle between himself and incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand, who was the most right-wing Democrat on the New York delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives before being appointed to the Senate last year. Harold Ford made Gillibrand look like Angela Davis.
Ford is truly a prince among corporate political prostitutes. That’s why the Merrill Lynch investment house, which is owned by Bank of America, pays him the princely sum of $2 million dollars a year – a guaranteed salary to a lawyer who has never passed the bar and has no history or visible talent in the field of investment banking. But his racial background is what has always made Harold Ford special in the eyes of the financial oligarchy.
Before Wall Street and Barack Obama discovered each other, Harold Ford was the Great Black Hope of the super-rich – the up-and-coming young politician who would make corporate predation palatable to African Americans at-large. Ford was an instant darling of the DLC, the Democratic Leadership Council, the mechanism for distributing corporate money within the Democratic Party. In return for Harold Ford’s worthless soul, the DLC anointed him keynote speaker at the 2000 Democratic National Convention – the same prize they would bestow on Barack Obama, four years later.
“Harold Ford made Gillibrand look like Angela Davis.”
Thirty-year-old Harold was catapulted to national prominence, his reward for having created a small right-wing faction within what had previously been an almost uniformly progressive-leaning Congressional Black Caucus. Ford became one of only two Black Blue Dog Democrats, and one of only four Black members to support the invasion of Iraq. But Ford’s faction in the Caucus grew, nurtured by corporate contributions. By 2005, the Congressional Black Caucus had been rendered all but useless to progressive politics – Harold Ford’s great service to the right wing. Ford became George Bush’s favorite Black politician, an ally in the Republican assault on Social Security. In his unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid in 2006, Ford flirted openly with the racist Tennessee redneck vote.
Harold Ford may be a whore with no shame – but he is Wall Street’s whore. He's still pulling down $2 million a year as a Black front for white capital. He's still chairman of the DLC, the corporate headquarters of the Democratic Party. And he's still filling the air with flatulence on MSNBC. Harold Ford will never have to pass the bar or sell a toxic security to make a living. He's a made man for the corporate mob, and loving it.
For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford. On the web, go to www.BlackAgendaReport.com.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com. 

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Hamza Hamouchene
    The psychology of oppression and liberation
    03 Jul 2024
    As the world watches the ongoing genocide in Gaza, a thorough reading and understanding of Frantz Fanon's writings around colonialism, revolution, and psychology are critical to the struggle for…
  • Jim India
    Dear Haiti, our Kenyan police are a problem
    03 Jul 2024
    Kenya's police are notorious for their violence and disregard for the Kenyan people. As they arrive in Haiti for the "security support" mission, Haitians should be aware of the brutality they…
  • Eric Umansky
    How the N.Y.P.D. Quietly Shuts Down Discipline Cases Against Officers
    03 Jul 2024
    Police Commissioner Edward Caban has often relied on an obscure authority to intervene when officers are accused of serious wrongdoing, often handing out little to no punishment.
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio June 28, 2024
    28 Jun 2024
    This week, we discuss the Shelby County v. Holder Supreme Court decision and the need to reinstate the gutted provisions. Also, Washington, D.C. activists mobilize against the new crime bill. But…
  • Al Sharpton press conference
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Sharpton and Black Misleaders Support the Occupation of Haiti
    28 Jun 2024
    Dahoud Andre joins us to discuss Rev. Al Sharpton and other self-titled New York City Faith Leaders who are openly supporting the latest occupation of Haiti, which has recently begun with the arrival…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us