February 28, 2008
Black Ohioans Backing Clinton Feel the Pressure to Switch
By ANDREW JACOBS
CLEVELAND — The way Eugene R. Miller was hemming and hawing about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, you would have thought he was trying to sell igloos in the Sahara.
Mr. Miller, a state legislator who represents a solidly black wedge of this majority-black city, was standing before a roomful of silver-haired constituents and making a semi-heartfelt pitch for Mrs. Clinton. He talked about her political skills, her commitment to urban America and her promise to address the mounting foreclosures that are turning swaths of his East Side district into ghost towns.
But, nervously shifting his feet, Mr. Miller was also moved to explain how he — a young African-American who won office two years ago after finishing first in a primary election by fewer than 200 votes — could have the gumption to make a case against Senator Barack Obama, the man who stands to become the nation’s first black president.
“I believe in sticking to my word,” he said, adding that he had cast his lot with Mrs. Clinton long before Mr. Obama’s candidacy became viable. “And there is something to be said for courage.”
With less than a week before Ohioans go to the polls in the Democratic primary, Mr. Miller and a small group of other black elected officials who are stumping for Mrs. Clinton are nothing if not courageous. Spending eight-hour days talking up his candidate, Mr. Miller finds himself besieged by disbelief, disapproval and at times ridicule from blacks who maintain that he is betraying his race.
“Some people call me an Uncle Tom,” said Mr. Miller, who, up for re-election, faces an opponent next week whose literature includes a picture of Mr. Obama. “There’s a lot of pressure to switch sides. There’s a lot of emotion. All I can say is thank God it’s winter and no one is outside, because there would be more than angry words on the street.”
Although recent polls suggest that Mrs. Clinton still enjoys the support of one in four black voters here, most pollsters and political consultants doubt that she will retain that much of Ohio’s black vote, which makes up at least 20 percent of the state’s Democratic electorate.
In many other primaries, including those in Alabama, Georgia, Maryland and Wisconsin, Mr. Obama won more than 80 percent of black voters. Some experts here say that if he can increase that percentage in Ohio, he has a good chance of taking the state and putting an end to Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy.
Arnold Pinkney, a Cleveland political consultant who ran the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign, said that while his assessment was based largely on his gut, he believed that Mr. Obama, whom he supports, could capture as much as 90 percent of Ohio’s black vote.
“In the street, at church, everywhere I go, Barack is all anyone is talking about,” Mr. Pinkney said. “I think the turnout is going to be huge.”
Despite Mr. Obama’s popularity here, there remain plenty of black voters who say they are standing by Mrs. Clinton. Gale Johnson, 49, a former steelworker who now, as a social worker, earns half her old salary, said Mrs. Clinton was best equipped to turn around the state’s stricken economy.
“To me, it’s not about race,” said Ms. Johnson, her jacket festooned with “Hillary” buttons. “It’s about having a president who knows what she’s doing. Besides, I think it’s time for a woman to be president.”
Then there are those whose loyalty is inseparable from their affection for Mrs. Clinton’s husband. Anita Watkins, 71, a retired nurse, said her devotion to former President Bill Clinton trumped her desire to see a black man in the White House.
“My children are mad at me,” Ms. Watkins said, “but I love Bill Clinton, and that’s who needs my help right now.”
With Mr. Obama enjoying the support of much of the black establishment — including prominent church leaders, the mayor of Cleveland and the City Council speaker — the Clintons are counting heavily on a local congresswoman, Stephanie Tubbs Jones, whose 11th District takes in much of the East Side, to keep black voters from defecting.
More delegates are at stake in Ms. Jones’s district than in any other in Ohio. A national co-chairwoman of the Clinton campaign, she has been visiting black communities throughout the country. In Cleveland, she recruited Mr. Miller, the state representative, and a handful of other African-American officials to be Clinton surrogates.
For some Clinton supporters, the heat has been too much to bear. In recent weeks, two black city councilmen, Robert J. White III and Kevin Conwell, have jumped ship to the Obama campaign, saying they could not take the heckling and the scolding stares. At his weekly community meeting at a local library, Mr. Conwell said, a few people wept when he tried to persuade those present to back Mrs. Clinton.
“They said I was on the wrong side of history,” he recalled. “They said I was getting in the way of an African-American becoming president.”
He was harangued at the barbershop and at the dry cleaner, and calls from the discontented poured into his office.
“I felt like the stepchild of the community,” he said.
Two weeks ago Mr. Conwell gave way.
“Now everyone is patting me on the back,” he said. “It feels good to be loved again.”
Mr. Miller spent Sunday stumping across the East Side with Laura Richardson, a black freshman congresswoman from California who was unapologetic about her support for Mrs. Clinton. Ms. Richardson said she found that many voters had doubts about Mr. Obama’s job readiness but were embarrassed to say so.
“People need to hear that it’s O.K. to choose the best-qualified person,” she said, “and that they don’t have to feel ashamed or be guilty about that.”
With that in mind, she breezed into Sanctuary Baptist Church here on Sunday, Bible in hand, and stood in front of 100 parishioners. She spoke of Mrs. Clinton’s credentials, the importance of ending the war in Iraq and the urgency of electing a president who “doesn’t need a couple of years getting up to speed.”
The crowd appeared unmoved.
Then, as the tease of an organ signified that it was time to wrap up, Ms. Richardson made a final appeal.
“I’m going to challenge you to go home and pray about it, and ask God who would be best for us at this time,” she said. “Let’s trust God to lead us to who that person should be.”
from the new york times
Black Ohioans Backing Clinton Feel the Pressure to Switch
By ANDREW JACOBS
CLEVELAND — The way Eugene R. Miller was hemming and hawing about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, you would have thought he was trying to sell igloos in the Sahara.
Mr. Miller, a state legislator who represents a solidly black wedge of this majority-black city, was standing before a roomful of silver-haired constituents and making a semi-heartfelt pitch for Mrs. Clinton. He talked about her political skills, her commitment to urban America and her promise to address the mounting foreclosures that are turning swaths of his East Side district into ghost towns.
But, nervously shifting his feet, Mr. Miller was also moved to explain how he — a young African-American who won office two years ago after finishing first in a primary election by fewer than 200 votes — could have the gumption to make a case against Senator Barack Obama, the man who stands to become the nation’s first black president.
“I believe in sticking to my word,” he said, adding that he had cast his lot with Mrs. Clinton long before Mr. Obama’s candidacy became viable. “And there is something to be said for courage.”
With less than a week before Ohioans go to the polls in the Democratic primary, Mr. Miller and a small group of other black elected officials who are stumping for Mrs. Clinton are nothing if not courageous. Spending eight-hour days talking up his candidate, Mr. Miller finds himself besieged by disbelief, disapproval and at times ridicule from blacks who maintain that he is betraying his race.
“Some people call me an Uncle Tom,” said Mr. Miller, who, up for re-election, faces an opponent next week whose literature includes a picture of Mr. Obama. “There’s a lot of pressure to switch sides. There’s a lot of emotion. All I can say is thank God it’s winter and no one is outside, because there would be more than angry words on the street.”
Although recent polls suggest that Mrs. Clinton still enjoys the support of one in four black voters here, most pollsters and political consultants doubt that she will retain that much of Ohio’s black vote, which makes up at least 20 percent of the state’s Democratic electorate.
In many other primaries, including those in Alabama, Georgia, Maryland and Wisconsin, Mr. Obama won more than 80 percent of black voters. Some experts here say that if he can increase that percentage in Ohio, he has a good chance of taking the state and putting an end to Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy.
Arnold Pinkney, a Cleveland political consultant who ran the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign, said that while his assessment was based largely on his gut, he believed that Mr. Obama, whom he supports, could capture as much as 90 percent of Ohio’s black vote.
“In the street, at church, everywhere I go, Barack is all anyone is talking about,” Mr. Pinkney said. “I think the turnout is going to be huge.”
Despite Mr. Obama’s popularity here, there remain plenty of black voters who say they are standing by Mrs. Clinton. Gale Johnson, 49, a former steelworker who now, as a social worker, earns half her old salary, said Mrs. Clinton was best equipped to turn around the state’s stricken economy.
“To me, it’s not about race,” said Ms. Johnson, her jacket festooned with “Hillary” buttons. “It’s about having a president who knows what she’s doing. Besides, I think it’s time for a woman to be president.”
Then there are those whose loyalty is inseparable from their affection for Mrs. Clinton’s husband. Anita Watkins, 71, a retired nurse, said her devotion to former President Bill Clinton trumped her desire to see a black man in the White House.
“My children are mad at me,” Ms. Watkins said, “but I love Bill Clinton, and that’s who needs my help right now.”
With Mr. Obama enjoying the support of much of the black establishment — including prominent church leaders, the mayor of Cleveland and the City Council speaker — the Clintons are counting heavily on a local congresswoman, Stephanie Tubbs Jones, whose 11th District takes in much of the East Side, to keep black voters from defecting.
More delegates are at stake in Ms. Jones’s district than in any other in Ohio. A national co-chairwoman of the Clinton campaign, she has been visiting black communities throughout the country. In Cleveland, she recruited Mr. Miller, the state representative, and a handful of other African-American officials to be Clinton surrogates.
For some Clinton supporters, the heat has been too much to bear. In recent weeks, two black city councilmen, Robert J. White III and Kevin Conwell, have jumped ship to the Obama campaign, saying they could not take the heckling and the scolding stares. At his weekly community meeting at a local library, Mr. Conwell said, a few people wept when he tried to persuade those present to back Mrs. Clinton.
“They said I was on the wrong side of history,” he recalled. “They said I was getting in the way of an African-American becoming president.”
He was harangued at the barbershop and at the dry cleaner, and calls from the discontented poured into his office.
“I felt like the stepchild of the community,” he said.
Two weeks ago Mr. Conwell gave way.
“Now everyone is patting me on the back,” he said. “It feels good to be loved again.”
Mr. Miller spent Sunday stumping across the East Side with Laura Richardson, a black freshman congresswoman from California who was unapologetic about her support for Mrs. Clinton. Ms. Richardson said she found that many voters had doubts about Mr. Obama’s job readiness but were embarrassed to say so.
“People need to hear that it’s O.K. to choose the best-qualified person,” she said, “and that they don’t have to feel ashamed or be guilty about that.”
With that in mind, she breezed into Sanctuary Baptist Church here on Sunday, Bible in hand, and stood in front of 100 parishioners. She spoke of Mrs. Clinton’s credentials, the importance of ending the war in Iraq and the urgency of electing a president who “doesn’t need a couple of years getting up to speed.”
The crowd appeared unmoved.
Then, as the tease of an organ signified that it was time to wrap up, Ms. Richardson made a final appeal.
“I’m going to challenge you to go home and pray about it, and ask God who would be best for us at this time,” she said. “Let’s trust God to lead us to who that person should be.”
from the new york times
@ disgusting thing!
(my mom is a 67 year old retired lawyer) and immediately produced pictures of the march in 63 and said "so, youre gonna act like all this never happened, the dream is here, beyond all imagination, and youre supporting clinton?" keep in mind this woman was the FIRST PERSON MY MOM MET IN COLLEGE IN 1958, one of my moms oldest friends. The relationship is strained, to say the least. She's SO EXITED TO SEE A BLACK MAN WITH A REAL CHANCE IN HER LIFETIME. She thought it would NEVER happen....people involved with civil rights who arent "in politics" are not hearing that hillary shit. Thats how I'm keepin it. If youre black, and not supporting barack right now, this minute...yourea sellout. dont wait and get behind him when you have no choice.......cause you know all the niggas will be saying they supported him from day one. its all good though...them superdelagates that roll with them, wont be in office next election. Niggas will remember you supported clinton. 
