01-30-2008, 11:40 PM
<b>Hollow Victory</b> -Pat Buchanan<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->January raises a long-term question. If an African-American with as great a cross-racial appeal as Obama had in Iowa can be so easily ghettoized in three weeks to where whites and Hispanics, the fastest growing minority in America, recoil, when if ever can a black American be nominated or elected president?
Is Bill Clinton not only "our first black president," but our last?
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>A race divided </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Democrats prize the black vote in Alabama, where 77% of registered black voters identify as Democrats, according to Gerald Johnson of Capital Survey Research Center. Before Iowa, 40% of Alabama Democrats supported Clinton, compared with 25% for Obama. Since Iowa, the race has become a dead heat, with black support driving Obama's resurgence.
In a Press-Register/University of South Alabama poll, black <b>Democrats in Alabama favored Obama over Clinton 49%-18%</b>.
Even so, Alabama's black power brokers remain divided. The Alabama Democratic Conference, the state's oldest black Democratic coalition, has endorsed Clinton. <b>The younger New South Coalition? Obama</b>.Â
<b>"Black people would be ungrateful not to support Sen. Clinton," says state Rep. Alvin Holmes of the ADC. "She has introduced bills to stop discrimination against blacks. She has introduced bills to stop discrimination against women."</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Is Bill Clinton not only "our first black president," but our last?
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>A race divided </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Democrats prize the black vote in Alabama, where 77% of registered black voters identify as Democrats, according to Gerald Johnson of Capital Survey Research Center. Before Iowa, 40% of Alabama Democrats supported Clinton, compared with 25% for Obama. Since Iowa, the race has become a dead heat, with black support driving Obama's resurgence.
In a Press-Register/University of South Alabama poll, black <b>Democrats in Alabama favored Obama over Clinton 49%-18%</b>.
Even so, Alabama's black power brokers remain divided. The Alabama Democratic Conference, the state's oldest black Democratic coalition, has endorsed Clinton. <b>The younger New South Coalition? Obama</b>.Â
<b>"Black people would be ungrateful not to support Sen. Clinton," says state Rep. Alvin Holmes of the ADC. "She has introduced bills to stop discrimination against blacks. She has introduced bills to stop discrimination against women."</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->