Brooklyn Ron

In the Battlefield of Brooklyn, the Clinton-Obama War Left No Dead Bodies

For all the heat and noise of the recent Democratic primary, as Hillary called Barack weak and phony, and Barack's folks called Hillary cold and racist, there are no bodies visible on the ground now that the dust has cleared.

The most vulnerable person was supposed to be Congressman Ed (Edolphus) Towns [photo, right], who stood by Clinton through the bitter fight for the Democratic nomination, even as most of his district went for Obama.

It was thought that angry progressive Democrats would flock to the candidacy of young Kevin Powell [photo, left] as Powell seeks to unseat Towns, denouncing Towns as a political hack who has been in office too long.

But there does not really seem to be much steam in Powell's effort. It appears weak, unfocused and burdened by concerns having to do with Powell's allegedly volatile character.

One indication of these concerns is the letter written by the author of the The Real Fort Greene blog, who writes:

". . . Kevin Powell is inexperienced in public service and has a very questionable personal history…  This is going to be a tough decision.  I’m beginning to be of the opinion we may want to wait until there is a better alternative.  Towns is 74 and I can’t imagine he’ll be running again (although he says he’ll run again).  He should recognize it’s time to groom a real heir . . . "

(Read the blog.)

Like Towns, Congresswoman Yvette Clarke stuck by Clinton during the fight against Obama, as her congressional district went for Obama in the Feb. 4 New York primary. There have been notable expressions of disappointment with her for that and other reasons, but no candidate has opened emerged to take her on. (read previous post.)

And after the relatively peaceful closing of the Democratic National Convention, perhaps peace will reign in the valley of the Broken Land (Brooklyn, to you newcomers).

That is, until someone or something emerges. We, the watchers and announcers, await.

Brooklyn, the Most Pro Obama Place in Hillary Clinton's State, Awaits the Healing

Even those who were deeply offended by what they believed were race baiting tactics of Hillary and Bill Clinton during Hillary's campaign against Barack Obama would have to admit it.

Bill Clinton's speech on Wednesday night hit the ball out of the park.

Senator Clinton's speech the night before was powerful in its own right but the former President's address made one aware, once again, of the extraordinary intelligence and (let's admit it) superior education that lifted that man (and his many inner demons) to the heights of American politics.

They, the two Clintons, in their passion and rhetoric, left little room for doubting their commitment to the candidacy of Obama in the race against John McCain.

Don't get us wrong. There is doubt. We have written here, for instance, about Peggy Noonan who has virtually built a career (and a very successful one) at informing the world about the trickiness and narcisistic self-interest of Hillary Clinton.

There are those who believe that Hillary Clinton has her eyes on 2012 and would very much want to see Obama lose this race so that she can have a go at it again in that year. (Maureen Dowd of The New York Times has been in this category and has been expressing herself with wit and wisdom.)

But the New York delegation of Democrats, who must have been painfully stung by the polarization of the heated Hillary versus Barack primary race -- especially in Brooklyn where the districts of Congressmembers Yvette Clarke and Ed Towns went for Obama, even as Clarke and Towns stuck with Hillary -- are happy now that peace reigns on the surface.

That was a stroke of genius Wednesday, the way Hillary Clinton stopped the voting that pitted her against Obama, halting the tally as the country waited breathlessly to see how her New York State was going to vote, and then asking for a consensus backing of Barack.

This is indeed a critical juncture in what has been one of the most interesting, if also bitter, primary races in recent memory.

[The accompanying photo here -- of Sen. Hillary Clinton and [Brooklyn born] Gov. David Paterson -- is from the online New York Observer. See their article on The Morning After.]

Deval Patrick, Gov. of Mass. and DNC Highlighter, Has Proud Brooklyn Roots

Deval Patrick -- first black governor of Massachusetts, third black governor in U.S. history -- was also representing Brooklyn when he gave his impassioned address to the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night.

"If you want the change our country yearns for, if you want leadership that inspires us to bring the best that we have and the best that we are to a renewed American cause . . . then let’s join hands and go to work to elect Barack Obama the next President of the United States!" Patrick exhorted to thunderous applause as he ended his speech.

Patrick has been a singular presence in the campaign of Barack Obama from the very beginning. It was even suggested along the way that the Obama campaign engaged in some fraternal borrowing of themes from Patrick's own run for governor two years ago. (read)

But Patrick's special meaning to us in Brooklyn is that he is from this place, and he has shown a son's affection for it. By marriage and otherwise, his roots are very much here.

Gov. Patrick is married to Diane Bemus Patrick, who was born in Brooklyn and is a grandchild of Bertram L. Baker, who in 1948 became the very first black person elected to public office in Brooklyn (he was a State Assemblyman representing Bedford-Stuyvesant and served for twenty two years).

Patrick, throughout his political career, has expressed his tender and grateful feelings for grandfather Bert Baker, who died in 1985 but was present when Deval and Diane were married in 1984, and whose photo has appeared on Diane and Deval's websites over the years.

Diane and Deval lived in Brooklyn through the mid 1980s, and their older daughter Sarah was born here. Younger daughter Katherine was featured in the introduction of Gov. Patrick's Tuesday night address. (find the full text here.)

[Let me say also, in the interest of full disclosure, that Diane is a first cousin of BrooklynRon, who is also a grandchild of the late Bertram L. Baker. Click here to read about a recent honor bestowed posthumously on Bertram Baker by the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, where Bert Baker was born and from which he emigrated almost a century ago.)

Brooklynites don't like to boast, but we also want to point out here that two out of the three black governors is U.S. history have Brooklyn roots. One, of course, is Deval. The other is Gov. David Paterson of New York, who was born in Brooklyn.

Doug Wilder of Virginia, the first black governor, does not have this distinguished background, despite his fine character and talents, but let's not go there.

[Journalists and others, we included, use a shorthand in saying there have been three black governors in U.S. history; but it should be pointed out that for 36 days in 1872-72, P.B.S. Pinchback, an African-American, served as acting governor of Louisiana while the sitting governor was being impeached. That's why the phrase, "in post Reconstruction America," is sometimes used in referring to Deval, Doug Wilder and David Paterson, as it excludes Pinchback. Hey, it's all about keeping it simple.)

You all, especially readers here, may have noted that Brooklyn is doing pretty well during this DNC gathering. It was pointed out in a previous BrooklynRon post that the whole Convention was planned and is being executed by a Brooklynite, Leah Daughtry. (read)

On Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Paterson of Brooklyn gave a brief address. (read it here.)

Brooklynite Leah Daughtry is Running the Whole Show at the Democratic National Convention

She was raised in Brooklyn and is proud to be a daughter of this great place.

She's a Pentecostal minister and graduate of Dartmouth College.

And, oh yes, Leah Daughtry is the chief executive of the Democratic National Convention, the person who's been charged with planning and running the whole show this week.

No serious biography of Rev. Daughtry can be offered without mentioning that she is also the daughter of another Reverend Daughtry, the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, who over the past thirty years has made history in Brooklyn, leading demonstrations and boycotts against police brutality and advocating (militantly, as the mainstream media used to say) for the economic advancement of African-Americans.

The father is pastor of the half-century-old House of the Lord Pentecostal Church, located near the developing and very controversial Atlantic Yards Projects, which many activists oppose but which Rev. Herbert Daughtry supports.

Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean, in naming Leah Daughtry the CEO of the Democratic Party last year, realized that the party had to make inroads with evangelicals. Leah Daughtry, in addition to making visits to her father's church in Brooklyn, preaches at her own House of the Lord church in Washington, D.C.

This week in Colorado, as she navigates through waters that many would consider treacherous, Leah Daughtry shows the calmness of spirit that gives credence to her professions of deep faith. She is trying to make the Democratic Convention a true open tent, one that has room for those of all faiths, one that is a kind of reflection of the place she comes from, Brooklyn, a place where Christians, Jews, Muslims and others worship in large numbers. The interfaith gathering at the opening of the Convention was a reflection of that effort.

Leah Daughtry is a person of extraordinary character, one that evidences a faithfulness to her family, to the place she has come from and to a political philosophy of doing that which feels right and which advances the common good.

She once was on the staff of Brooklyn Congressman Ed (Edolphus Towns), but she has traveled a long distance in recent years, and she has moved along with a full consciousness and with a proud profession of her religious, genealogical and, yes, geographical roots.

Clintons' First Volley at Obama. Stephanopoulos is the Cannon

Well, it's as good as poetry, as true to life as the instincts of war.

The first blast coming from the campaign of John McCain, reacting to the announcement of Joe Biden as the Dems' VP candidate, is taken from the arsenal of the Clintons.

The McCain ad reruns a supposedly journalistic query put to Joe Biden, once Barack Obama's opponent for the presidential nomination, now Obama's choice for running mate.

[The questioner was ABC journalist George Stephanopoulos, who -- it must be noted -- once served as spokesman for Bill Clinton and owes his fame to the Clintons.]

Stephanopoulos [see photo] asked Biden, during a debate among candidates for the Democratic nomination, whether Biden stood by something he had said previously about Obama:

"You were asked, 'Is he ready?' You said, 'I think he can be ready but right now, I don't believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.'"

Biden, at the time, stood by the comment.

But these are different times, of course, and Biden has been showing in recent weeks that he will be a viscious attack dog on Obama's behalf.

The fact worthy of fiction is this: that the first cannon shot at Obama-Biden is via Stephanopoulos, linked forever to the Clintons.

This is occurring as we wonder whether the Clintons will try to sabotage Obama and Biden's very good chances for victory.

There is reason to be concerned.

[For an earlier post on George Stephanopoulos as journalist during the campaign, see "Was ABC Debate the Death Knell of American Journalism?"]

Baruch Welcomed Hillary, But Brooklyn Remains Insulted by Her Race-Baiting

On a night when many in her position would have graciously bowed out of the race and offered a hand of unity, Hillary Clinton did no such thing.

She went to Baruch College and essentially asked her backers to continue to stand with her as she ponders her next move.

It was a scene with the predictable smattering of dark-complexioned young people (okay two of them) visible in the crowd behind her, a welcoming scene.

But there was no sign on Clinton's part of willingness to offer peace, a hand of apology and forgiveness to the half of the Democratic Party that clearly has won the contest for the presidential nomination.

Nor was there any indication of regret for the offenses over the past weeks and months, committed by her husband, herself and many die-hard backers like Harriet Christian, who this past weekend indulged herself in an anti-black rant as she said that she will back John McCain if she cannot have Hillary Clinton.

Indeed, the Clintons sometimes conducted themselves like old-time Mississippi race card players, minus (as far as we know) liberal uses of the n-word.

Still, the connotations have been strong enough to have caused bitter reactions in the capital of black America, which is to say the mighty borough of Brooklyn, where Obama won two Congressional districts in the Feb. 5th primary (those of Reps. Yvette Clarke and Ed Towns, who have remained failthly in lock step with Clinton and presumably will remain so until told they are free to bolt for Barack).

Some months back, City Councilman Al Vann of Brooklyn told a gathering of lawyers and judges that blacks who stood with Hillary Clinton were like "educated fools."

And that was before Clinton and her crowd, notably Geraldine Ferraro, began saying obnoxious things about Obama and his supposed inability to win white voters.

Who knows what Vann has been saying and thinking of late. But there are tens of thousands of Brooklynites who show signs of clear disgust at the mention of Hillary Clinton's name or the flashing of her photo.

The race-baiting by the Clintons and their allies was a cynical attempt (except in the case of Ferraro, who is an Archie Bunker in drag) to win struggling, white (and frequently anti-black) voters in West Virginia and elsewhere. The strategy was carried out coldly and with what seemed to be a sneering contempt for any who expressed disappointment with their behavior, which sank beneath the gutter frequently.

Brooklynites have been clearly more hurt and angered by this Clinton race-baiting than others in New York or beyond.

Brooklyn, with perhaps 800,000 residents of African descent, has been a hotbed of Obama support, though it has not achieved much in the way of media attention or acknowledgment from local elected officials, who have stayed for the most part in the Hillary camp.

Surely, some of the Hillary backers, perhaps including Bill de Blasio, who wants to be Borough President, have been embarrassed by the way the Clintons conducted themselves. De Blasio was a campaign manager for Hillary Clinton in an earlier incarnation of hers, and his silence of late seems to speak volumes, saying that he does not care whether blacks in the borough were offended by the Clintons or that he is simply too wussy to say anything about it.

And as for the talk today, coming via Hillary's Harlem surrogate Charles Rangel, that Hillary Clinton would not mind being Barack Obama's running mate, we have to ask:

Would Rangel offer himself to be Obama's food taster?

[photo: New York Times. See the paper's slide show.]

Muslim Americans are Left out of Discourse in Presidential Election Year

[photo: Islamic Society of Bay Ridge]

There are hundreds of thousands of Muslims in New York City alone. Some readers of this site may recall that we once characterized Brooklyn as the "Mecca of Arab America".

Granted that these are two distinct identities -- being Muslim and Arab -- but the truth is that they often overlap, here in New York and the United States, as well as in the Middle East.

[The photo we have selected to accompany this post is of the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, a very interesting neighborhood in Brooklyn, and it was pulled from the Society's web site. Worshipers at the Society are largely immigrants from Arab countries. They are, of course, Muslims.]

The point of the above headline is that both of these groups, Muslims and Arabs living in the States, are conspicuously missing from discussions taking place in this otherwise exciting presidential election year.

Given the way the Bush administration has lied and blundered in its handling of Middle East policy, one would think Democrats would have reached out to Muslim Americans, for advice and support.

But no. Hillary Clinton has almost completely turned her back on that community, ever since her first run for the Senate. She apparently feared being linked with Muslims who have no significant voting base in New York State and feared also the possibility of alienating Jewish voters.

Barack Obama has also kept a certain distance, and while he's likely driven by the same concerns as Clinton, he's dealing with other worries as well.

One is that many Americans think he was once a Muslim and, very much related to that, some of his enemies are linking his middle name (Hussein) with a certain fellow (now dead, hanged amid taunts) named Saddam.

Despite Obama's failure to assertively embrace them, there are indications that tens of thousands of Muslim-Americans (and we're talking voting citizens here) prefer Obama over the others still in the presidential race.

The following quote taken from a Grand Rapids Press article is pertinent:

"Jim Zogby, founder and president of the Arab American Institute, said many Arab Americans are drawn to Obama because of his cultural background.

"'It is clear he wants to have a broader relationship with the Muslim world,' Zogby said."

Muslim Americans -- many of whom, perhaps a third or more, are African Americans -- have much to say about the state of affairs in the States.

But their voices have been silenced.

Ed Towns is 'Bothered' by Hillary Clinton's Race-Baiting, But Sticks With Her Anyway

Congressman Ed (Edolphus) Towns is quoted in The Brooklyn Paper saying he's "bothered" by Hillary Clinton's race-baiting remarks that have drawn condemnations across the Democratic spectrum.

Even Clinton's staunch backer up there in Harlem, Congressman Charles Rangel, has said the New York Senator's comments were "dumb."

“It bothered me because that’s not what I’m about,” Towns said.

Then, almost remarkably, Towns seemed to use that very disappointment as a justification for endorsing Clinton in the first place.

“This nation is about ability and performance. That’s why I’m backing Hillary Clinton — and I’m still backing her, even though that comment bothered me.”

What?

Triggering the controversy, Clinton effectively said (with evident approval) that struggling whites will not vote for Obama but that they love her.

Anyway, in addition to Ed Towns, the other Brooklyn Congressmember who's still with Hil, despite representing a district that went for Barack Obama in the Feb. 5th primary, is Yvette Clarke, who like Towns is African-American.

Last week Clarke greeted Obama with whooshing enthusiasm on the floor of Congress, where Obama was taking a kind of pre-victory tour.

But Clarke, though she must privately be desiring to go with Obama, is apparently staying with her New York leader. Her precise feelings are hard to gauge because she hasn't said much publicly.

Knowing How Clinton Dissed Her Black District, Yvette Clarke Must Be Dying to Bolt for Barrack

Okay, this is based on circumstantial evidence, but that's the only way to know what a politician is really thinking in Central Brooklyn.

I recently came across  a clipping about Yvette Clarke's race for the historic black Congressional seat that she won two years ago.

The seat, you may recalled was first won by the late Shirley Chisholm exactly 40 years ago, and it was created to give Brooklyn's substantial and then still-growing black population a voice in the halls of Congress.

Well, in 2006 the seat, vacated by Major Owens, was up for grabs and Yvette Clarke was running against a field that included white City Councilman David Yassky, who was widely perceived by black pols as a reverse carpetbagger.

Yassky, who moved into the district in order to legitimately compete in the race, would have, had he won, gone down in history as the one who broke the sting of black representatives in Shirley Chisholm's Congressional District.

And who was apparently backing him in that effort, at least according to strong circumstantial evidence?

Hillary Clinton!

You see, it seems Clinton's very close aide Howard Wolfson, through his company, the Glover Park Group, worked for Yassky during the heated and racially charged campaign. And there are those who say there's no way he would have done it without Clinton's support.

Now, given what Hillary Clinton has been saying of late about her appeal with struggling white voters -- comments that even her strongest black backers like Charlie Rangel have called "dumb" -- one has to wonder about Clinton's instincts when it comes to matters of race.

It's said that irritation over Clinton's suspected involvement in the Yasssky campaign is why Yvette Clarke took so long to endorse the New York Senator. Clarke was the last New York Democratic Congressmember from the state to do so.

And so now we understand the joy that we saw on Clarke's face when she greeted Barack Obama in Congress last week, in his pre-victory lap. That's when she asked him to sign her copy of The New York Daily News that had Obama on the front page, declaring, "It's His Party."

Perhaps what we were seeing was relief that maybe her day of deliverance is finally at hand. (see previous BrooklynRon post.)

That is to say, maybe -- if and when Clinton ever concedes she can't win the nomination -- she'll be free to dump the Hill and opt for Barack, as the voters of Clarke's district did in the Feb. 5th primary.

By the way, this photo we discovered from last year, with Clarke standing next to Clinton, doesn't show Yvette looking very happy, does it?

Yvette Clarke Takes Strongest Stand Yet on Obama; She Asks for His Autograph!

Well, after months of declining to say anything much about the heated Democratic race (and at times even suggesting she would stay with Hillary Clinton all the way through the summer Convention), Congresswoman Yvette Clarke finally told a bold step.

She asked Barack Obama for his autograph!

Yup, as Obama strutted around Congress on Thursday, doing a great PR job of portraying himself as the inevitable nominee (some critics might say presumptuous nominee, but let's not give them any ammo), Clarke approached him with a copy of The New York Daily News, the one bearing the headline saying, "It's His Party."

Of course, everybody was smiling.

Now this is a watershed moment, because up to now Brooklyn's Conressmembers have been doing all they can to assure the Democratic race, exciting and enlivening to the rest of the country, remains here passionless and virtually silent. (see previous BrooklynRon post.)

On Clarke's end (and Congressman Ed -- Edolphus -- Towns' end), the reasons for being so low-key have been obvious: Their districts went decidedly for Obama in the Feb. 5th New York State primary, despite some indications that Democratic Party bosses were teaming up with local election officials to tilt votes toward Clinton, in old-fashioned sleezy Brooklyn ways. (see earlier BrooklynRon post.)

But the evident motion now in the grueling and nasty Dem race seems decidedly toward Obama, and it was an act of bravery perhaps for Clarke to do what she did in asking him to sign her Daily News.

[The past reluctance of Clarke to say or do anything that smelled of support for Obama was captured by the New York Observer, which also showed how Yvette's mother and political rabbi, Una Clarke, seemed even more steadfastly in Clinton's camp.]