In a Clarion-Ledger piece profiling some local support of Obama’s recent proposals, they quoted Rep. Bennie Thompson, the lone Democrat Mississippi sends to D.C., who is a supporter of the plan.
I haven’t seen a full statement, but here is what he said as quoted in the article: “If we are to be successful the federal government must act quickly, corporations must start to invest some of their two plus trillion dollars of cash reserves and political posturing by those on the fringe must take a back seat.”
This was actually a pretty mild statement, especially with what we have been hearing from Black Caucus members this summer. The always quotable Rep. Maxine Waters of Los Angeles recently told a town hall audience where members of the Tea Party can spend eternity. Much to the delight of the crowd; many sporting their purple SEIU t-shirts. Not to be outdone, Rep. Andre Carson of Indiana told a crowd that the Tea Party would love to see blacks “hanging on a tree.”
Like with Jimmy Hoffa, there isn’t much Obama or the White House can say or do. He obviously can’t be too critical of the CBC (or labor), because he needs both black voters and the labor movement fired up and ready to support him. There’s not a worry that they’ll really move to the Republican side, just that they may stay home or may not help with grassroots efforts. Perhaps the White House is hoping that comments like this will keep his base excited, but not stick to the president. I would venture to guess that these comments don’t sit well with most voters in all that space between New York and L.A.
For the Waters’ and Carsons’ of the world this works for them, and like I said the crowd loved it. Of course, they don’t have to do two things that the president needs: 1) Stand for competitive re-election 2) Receive a single white vote. About that white support, Obama is at just 33 percent. Hard to imagine someone winning the presidency picking up just 33 percent of the white vote. One day, but the demographics haven’t shifted that much that quickly.