5A
OPINIONS/Charlotte
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Disarray rampant
in the Democratic
Party’s mid-term
election strategy
By all of the polling I have seen, the Democrats are
poised to win back the House and perhaps the Senate if the
numoersnotaupuntueiecuonaay rnatis,
“if” the Democrats don’t find a way to blow
a formidable lead by playing it too safe.
Not only are George Bush’s approval
numbers the lowest of his presidaicy at 32
or 34 percent, depending on the survey but
respondents also say that, by a majority
they feel that the country is heading on the
Ron “wrong track” and that they tnast the
Walters Democrats to lead the Congress.
However, already Nancy Pelosi, leader of
Democrats in the House, has begun to lay down some
tracks for a mid-term election agenda by emphasizing
issues such as: Republicans have led by creating a “culture
of corruption,” the administration should craft a timetable
for withdrawal fiom Iraq, Republicans should take respon
sibility for a failed energy prices since the price of gas is out
of control, and there should be an extension of the deadline
for enrollment in the new Medicare prescription drug ben
efit beyond May 15.
Does anyone think that these issues are structured in a
way that will dislodge the Republicans fix)m their control
of the House? Think back to the right-wing “Contract for
America” that Newt Gingrich and his colleagues put
together as an organizing document to help take control of
the Congress in 1994. There is nothing like that on the
horizon that Democrats have devdoped yet.
But there should be because the contract was a device for
nationalizing that mid-term election and it worked to give
thdr ideology some coherence and power. At this point,
coherence seems to evade the Democrats.
Recently the Democratic'Ijeadership Council produced a
book arguir^ that the way the Democrats should take
advantage of their golden opportunity to take back the
Congress is to resolve the lack of confidence that
Americans have that they can ensure their security by
looking just as tough as Republicans on the issue of
Homeland Security and fluting tororism.
This leads right into the John Kerry trap where, rather
than opposing the war, he posed as tougher than the
Republicans, promising Americans he could do abetter job
of “winning the war on terrorism” and make them safer.
This was a dumb idea when Bush pronoimced it and it is
even dumber now that it has proven to be impossible, by
virtue of the lack of manpower to pursue a military solu
tion, the exhaustible supply of fimandal resources and the
waning patience of the American people.
Some of the other issues Democrats could mobilize such
as corruption and gas prices have traction now, but the
leadei-ship has to be able drive a hard bargain, by charac
terizing Tbm Delay as the Godfather of Repubhcan slush-
fimd politics and tying him tightly to Jack Abramoff, fol
lowing the money and the political influence right into the
White House. Tb prove it, they have to name the names of
Dick Chaney’s oil baron croneys who participated in the
theft of our energy policy, they have to describe his role in
leaking the secret identity of Valerie WTlson, a CIA agent,
and his persistent push for the Iraq invasion by distorting
intelligence even before 9/11. Then they have to point to
Bush’s continued incompetence in responding to hurricane
Katrina, the lag of employment in his tax-cut economic
recovery that has benefitted his rich fiiends and his role in
serving up exploitable migrants to willing profit-hvmgry
captalist.
That Democrats are anything but coherent is iUusti’ated
by Democratic Senator Joe Biden of Delaware who plowed
yet another divergent path by proposing to divide Iraq into
three sections dominated by the Shiites, the Sunnis and
Kurds. This silly idea would fall because of the inability of
American forces to do it without a larger scale of violence
and the fact that Shiites will not be denied the power they
almost have over most of Iraqi affairs. Biden’s presidential
ploy has drawn a massive silence so far.
More proof that not only are Democrats impropared to
lead is exhibited by the fact that they met in New Orleans
the middle of the recent municipal Sections wrongly
cleared by tiie Justice Department, and they did not take
a position on challenging the impediments to the right to
vote for thousands of New Orleans’ citizens.
Yes, they could blow this grand opportunity by their lack
of guts, and mistaken strategies and if this continues to be
the case, they wohld deserve to lose this Fall.
RON WALTERS is the Distinguished Leadership Scholar,
Director of the African American Leadership Institute and
Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland
College Park.
James
Clingman
Dumbing-down of
Black America by
black Americans
Much of what I hear, see, and read in black media these days is
an insult to black people. Entertaining to some, no doubt, but still
insulting-
Knowing that very few positive messages are coming fiom so-
called “mainstream” media, you wotild think our
black media would take up the slack and do more
to uplift, enlighten, and educate our people rather
than acquiesce to the desires of those who control
the vast majority of the media outlets in this coun
try
• You woiild think that, at the very minimum,
black-owned and operated media would make a
firm commitment to smarten us up rather than
dumb us down with sUly meanin^ess, empty mes
sages and images that only capitulate to the status
quo. You would think... But, as Brother Glen Ford
of Black Commentator once chided me for wron^y assuming that
black-owned media are really black conscious media, and for sug
gesting we secure more of the same, black ain’t necessarily black,
is it?
Like many of our black pohtidans, much of our black media are
really doing a job on us by keeping a wide range of black folks,
especially our children and young adiilts, tmiformed, misinformed,
and just plain dumb. Watch that (white-owned) outlet we call
Black Entertainment Tblevision; listen to some of the conversa
tions on some of these so-called black radio stations; read some of
the absolute junk in some of our pseudo-black newspapers, maga
zines, and Web sites. You will see that we are, as our elders used
to say, “Going out of the world backwards.”
Having been a guest on many radio shows, and a several televi
sion shows, across the country I can attest to the fact that there
are media hosts who do not fall into the dumbing-down category
I desperately want to name them for you, but I know I will omit
someone. If you really want to change the messages going into
your brain, you can find them; it’s not that difficult to do.
One of the first things you can do is use your critical thinking
skills to determine the vahdity and usefulness of what you listen
to on these shows. Don’t just settle for the entertainment aspect.
As a conscious person, ask yourself what the benefit is to listening
or watching certain material. Rememb^ “Garbage in, garbage
out.” If we are getting a daily mega-dose of nonsense, of falsehoods,
of non-educational clap-trap and slap-stick, it’s no wonder we are
so far behind in serious aspects of eccaiomic empowerment. It’s no
wonder we seldom follow throu^ with initiative that will make
us stronger, as individuals and as a collective.
In case you didn’t know, as Booker T. Washington once said,
“There are some Negroes who don’t want the patient to get well.”
They want us to remain psychologically crippled to keep xos danc
ing to their beat and buy what they are selling They want us to
keep on bobbing our heads and shuffling our feet and gufiawir^
throu^out the day oblivious to our plight and totally without a
clue as to how to fix it.
Thus, we get a barrage of jokes, self-deprecating comedy and
exploitation on television. We are on the receiving end of mindless
‘heats” that are pounded into our brains by 1200-watt speakers in
the backseats of our cars. We are fed some of the most useless
rhetoric, much of which is not even factual, by brotheis and sisters
on the radio who obviously have no idea what they are talking
about. And, as we read some of our Black newspapers, we are
ensconced in a lifelong dream of hitting the number, getting psy
chic readings, or checking our horoscopes before we make a move.
Even in the spiritual marketplace, we are the subjects or, should
I say fodder, of hucksters who want to sell us God’s blessings, as if
they have cornered the market on His grace. It’s fascinating that
on Simday mornings we can find a white “preacher” on BET sell
ing us a quarter-oimce vial of miracle water that will cure sickle-
cell disease, all for the low cost of $206. Of course, if you send him
more money well, you know the deal.
Broths and sistore, isn’t it bad enottgh that we are being dumb-
ed-down by white folks? Why do we accept Ihe same thirtg finm
our own people? We must do better than that. Take politics. What
do you think of the statenent attributed to the ex-footballer, Lynn
Swann? “I certainly believe that Gecage W. Bush is the most qual
ified and most credible candidate to fulfill the role as president of
the United States.” Now, I didn’t hear Swann say that, I just read
that he said it. But if he did say that, in h^t of what we have
experienced over the past five years from the Bushman, why
shotild anyone, blacks especially vote for Swann to be theii- gover
nor?
We had better take stock of what is going on in this coimtry ri^t
in our own backyards. There are black folks who control media
outlets that do not operate in the best interests of black people.
Why woiild you support them - in any way? They do not want us
to get well, nor do tliey care if we ever get well. The next time you
find yoTirself wasting your valuable time ingestii^ their mind-
munbing potion, ranember this saying: “When the ax enters the
forest, the trees view the handle as one of thdr own.” Just because
it’s black on the outside, doesn’t mean it’s black on the inside.
JAMES E. CLINGMAN, an adjunct professor at the University of
Cincinnati’s African American Studies department, is former editor of the
Cincinnati Herald newspaper andfounder of the Greater Cincinnati African
American Chamber of Commerce. His Web site is \vwwblackonomicsrom
or call him at (513) 489-4132.
When diplomacy
really means war
By Norman Soloman
GLOBAL INFORMATION NETWORK
One of the nation’s leading pollsters, Andrew Kohut
of the Pew Research Center, wrote a few weeks ago
that amor^ Americans “there is httle potential sup
port for Ihe use of force against Iran.
“This monlh the White House has continued to
emphasize that it is committed to seeking a difio-
matic solution, Yettiie U.S. government is very likely
to latmch a military attack on Iran within the next
year. How can that be? In the run-up to war, appear
ances are often deceiving. Official events may seem to
be movir^ in one direction while policymakers are
actually headed in another.
On their own timetable. White House strategists
implement a siege of public opinion that relies on
escalatir^ media spin. One administration after
another has gone throu^ the motions of staying on a
diplomatic track while laying down flagstones on a
path to war. Several days ago President Bush said
that “the doctrine of prevention is to work together to
prevent the Iranians fix)m having a nuclear weapon”
— and he quickly added that “in this case, it means
diplomacy”
On April 12 the Secretary of State, Condoleezza
Rice, urged the U.N. Security Coimcil to take “strong
steps” in response to Iran’s annoimcement of progress
toward enriching uranium. Bush and Rice were
engaged in a timeworn ritual that involves playacting
diplomacy before taking military action.Seven yeats
ago. President Clinton proclaimed that a U.S.-led
NATO air war on Yi^oslavia was startii^ because all
peaceful avenues for dealing with the Serbian presi
dent, Slobodan Milosevic, had reached dead ends.
The Clinton administration and the major U.S.
media outlets failed to mention that Washington had
handed Milosevic a poison-piLl ultimatum in the fine
print of the proposed Rambouillet accords — with
Appeaidix B stipulating that NATO troops would
have nearly unlimited lam of the entire Federal
RepxiblLc of Ytxgoslavia. Recent decades of American
history are filled with such faux statesmanship:
greasing the media wheels and pohtical machinery
for military interventions in Southeast Asia, the
Caribbean, Central America and the Mddle East.
But the cmrent administration’s eagerness to use
“diplomacy” as a prop for going to war has been
unusually brazen.On Jan. 31, 2003 — five days
before the balljhooed speech by then-Secretary of
State Colin Powell to the U.N. Security Council — the
president held a private Oval Office meeting with
Ibny Blair. Summing up the discussion, which
occurred nearly two months before the invasion of
Iraq, the British prime minister’s chief foreign policy
adviser David Manning noted in a memo: “Our diplo
matic strategy had to be airar^ed aixirmd the mili
tary planning.” Meanwhile, President Bush and hi^
top aides were stUl telling the public that they were
pursuing all diplomatic channels in hopes of prevent
ing war. Pimdits have often advised presidents to use
diplomatic maneuvers as virtual shams in order to
legitimize the coming warfare.
Charles Krauthammer blew his stack in mid-
November 1998 when U.N. Secretarj'- General Kofi
Annan seemed to make progress in averting a U.S.
missile strike against Iraq. “It is perfectly fine for an
American president to mouth the usual pieties about
international consensus and some such,”
Krauthammer wrote in Time magazine. “But when
he starts believing them, he turns Ihe Oval Office
over to Kofi Annan and fiiends.”
In late summer 2002, with momentum quickening
toward an Iraq invasion, Newsweek foreign affairs
columnist Fareed Zakaria uiged the Bush adminis
tration to recognize the public-relations value of
allowing U.N. weapons inspectors to spend some time
in Iraq. “Even if the inspections do not produce the
perfect crisis,” he wrote optimistically ‘Washington
will still be better off for having tried because it would
be seen to have made every effort to avoid war.”
When reality can’t hold a candle to peroeption, then
reality is apt to become imperceptible. And in matters
of war and peace, when powerful policy wonks in
Washington effectively strive for appearances to be
deceiving, the result is a pantomime of diplomacy
that’s scarcely like the real thing. When the actual
goal is war, the PR task is to make a show of leavir^
no diplomatic stone unturned.
NORMAiN SOLOMON is executive director of the Institute
for Public Accuracy (ww\v.accuracy.org) and author of "War
Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us
to Death" (w’ww.warmadeeasy.com).
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