Terry L. Dean tdean1d@netscape.net
A poll taken prior to his leaving office in 2001 showed 87 percent of African-Americans having a favorable view of Bill Clinton.
The poll was conducted by researchers at Harvard University and the University of Chicago.
From the time he stepped onto the national stage in 1992 while running for president to his last days in the White House, blacks have shown unwavering devotion to Clinton. Much of it, unfortunately - in fact a great deal of it - is not deserved.
In his new book, "Bill Clinton and Black America," author and U.S.A. Today columnist Dewayne Wickham examines why blacks so like Clinton, saying that Clinton has a "special bond" with blacks.
The Clinton love affair is so out of hand, respected black author Toni Morrison, in a 1998 essay she wrote in New Yorker Magazine, went so far as to call Clinton "the first black president."
Is Bill Clinton sensitive to blacks? Yes. Was he a better choice for blacks than a Republican? Probably so. Does any of that make him eligible to be called "the first black president?" No. Never. No way.
"Clinton," Morrison wrote, "displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas."
Don't forget that he cheated on his spouse, shucked-'n'-jived his way out of taking responsibility for his bad behavior, and sold out anyone who was loyal to him just to save his own rear end.
FYI: Such behavior by blacks represents the "ghetto mentality" and its core philosophy: "get over any way you can." In that sense, Clinton's as black as night. But that's a negative aspect of black culture, a side we try not to promote. And should not.
But aside from that, there are plenty of examples of why blacks should not support Clinton so overwhelmingly - and so blindly.
-1992 - During the presidential campaign, then-Gov. Clinton flew home to Arkansas to oversee the execution of Rickey Ray Rector, a 40-year-old black man convicted of killing a black police officer. After shooting the cop, Rector shot himself in the head, surviving but severely damaging his brain. Though shown to be mentally incompetent, Clinton allowed Rector's execution to proceed. In the final days of his presidency, Clinton would indeed commute one death sentence, but the Rector execution was later used in the '92 campaign to show how "tough on crime" Clinton was.
-1993 - Clinton nominates Lani Guinier, a respected Harvard Law School professor, a black woman and supposed F-O-C (Friend of the Clinton's), for the assistant attorney general for Civil Rights post. After a successful and egregious smear campaign by the right wing, she was left dangling in the wind by Clinton, who said he never read her alleged controversial writings. After claiming to finally having read them, Clinton pulled her name rather than fight for her. The two have never spoken since, Guinier has said.
-1996 - Clinton signs 1996 Welfare Reform Act into law, a bill much tougher than his failed modest proposal offered in 1995. Heavily criticized by the Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP and Urban League, Clinton signs the bill anyway, undermining the mobilization efforts of blacks in his own party. Republicans anticipated Clinton vetoing it, thus giving them an issue for the 1996 presidential campaign. Clinton again sacrificed his most loyal supporters - blacks - for his own personal political gain.
Too many burnt bridges for the so-called "black president."
Whether or not Guinier was the right nominee, regardless of the circumstances in the Rector case and aside from welfare reform politics, Clinton, in each case, sold blacks down the river - and without giving us a paddle. And we still love him so much.
But, at the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Clinton expected blacks to line up right behind him. And many did. And what happened to the apology for slavery he wanted so much? He left that issue on the political chopping block after wrangling from the opposition. So, blacks continue to sacrifice themselves for Clinton while he sacrifices us in the process?
Doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Author and social commentator Michael Eric Dyson, a professor of religious studies at DePaul University in Chicago, sums up a more accurate portrait of Clinton and his "bond" with blacks.
"Bill Clinton exploited us like no president before him," he said. "He exploited black sentiment because he knew the rituals of black culture."
Well, shouldn't he? After all, he is "one of us."
The Unusual Suspect appeared periodically. Terry is a senior in journalism. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Egyptian.
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
