THE VALUE OF THE BLACK VOTE

APPARENTLY, THE ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE MADE A DETOUR THROUGH SELMA

The Value of the Black Vote is such that Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama went to Selma, Alabama this past Sunday to have a good, old-fashioned showdown. From Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:

Road to the White House Goes Through Selma

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) "came to an emotionally evocative touchstone of the civil rights movement Sunday seeking to strengthen their bonds with African American voters and tie their campaigns to the cause's unfinished work," the Chicago Tribune reports.

Sunday also "marked the first entrance into the presidential campaign by former President Bill Clinton, a popular figure with African-Americans whom writer Toni Morrison once called 'our first black president.' He avoided upstaging his wife at her speech by staying away from the church. But people cheered and rushed to be near him when he joined his wife and Obama for a re-enactment of the 1965 march."

The visit -- which we called the Showdown in Selma -- "became a proxy battle for black support between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama, whose candidacy represents a threat to Mrs. Clinton's traditional base," according to New York Times.

Verdict from the New York Daily News: "Barack Wins Battle of the Bridge"

The Montgomery Advertiser has video of the event and the Huntsville Times features a photo gallery.

African-Americans have a unique opportunity to make our vote work for us. Barack and Hillary are already demonstrating that our vote counts. But we should not leave it there.

We should also let them know that if we support them and they screw us over, that we have long memories of being screwed over by people we trusted (400+ years, to be exact). We should let them know that if they screw us over, we won't be as forgiving as usual - that schmoozing and a few kind words will put things right. That used to work for Rastus and Rufus, not Raheem, Charles, Jack and Jill or Skeptical Brotha.

They need to know that if they get the White House, we will be on them like a fly on stink. One wrong move, and we call in our chits (and we will have chits to call in, boys and girls). They need to know it will not be Business as Usual.

Especially Barack. Now that your "blackness" quotient has been settled, while we know you won't be the "President of Black America, but all of America", we are also demanding that you go in the House and do your job, because the POTUS is not a Carnegie Institute training class for you to "win friends and influence people". In short, don't be another "snake oil pimp"with a Harvard Law Degree, cause we're watching.