John Lewis is wavering in his support as a super-delegate to Team Clinton. His congressional district voted over 90% for Barack Obama in the recent Georgia primaries.
John Lewis is on an island. Should he honor his earlier commitment to Hilla
ry or should he honor the will of his congressional district? What would you do if you were in his place?Before you answer, there is another factoid that all Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) members have in the back of their mind. One of their cronies, Congressman Al Wynn, lost in the Democratic primary last week to Donna Edwards. The vast majority of the Democratic voters in that Maryland primary supported Barack Obama. They took out their wrath on a CBC member that didn't flow with the movement that is being led by Barack Obama. Support for Clinton is partially responsible for Al Wynn losing his job as a congressman. Methinks that John Lewis has this factoid in the back of his mind as he mulls his decision to switch sides from Team Clinton to Barack Obama.
John Lewis is a pragmatic person. I figure he will formally announce his switch to Barack Obama in the next few days. It will be another sign that Team Clinton is fading fast. What say u?
H. Clinton's campaign has been on a ascending slop for quite some time. This may end up being one of the nails on the coffin that will do her in.
ReplyDeleteShould this dude change his support? Perhaps, if he wants to be re-elected. If he is true to the person he is, setting aside his elected office, then he will stand by his word. If he is one for the pressure of the people then he will switch sides.
I say switch sides. It isn't selling out but at the same time you have to go with the people that support you.
Urban Thought - Bottomline is that politicians have to worry about getting re-elected. I think that those politicians that don't follow the will of the people on a matter such as this one will be targeted as Rep. Al Wynn was targeted in his Maryland district...
ReplyDeleteIf I was a politician I would switch sides just to keep my job. But I'm not. If I was a faithful follower, I should stay loyal to whoever I supported in the first place no matter what anybody else tell me. That's what you're supposed to do in real life. But I guess Politics and Real Life are two different things.
ReplyDeleteBut how we know that when he switch - people won't see him as a flip flopper? Whoopi switched back and forth a couple times I believe and people saw her as a flip flopper. Will he be seen as such even though he listened to the people?
Aren't we all flip-floppers? It is a change of opinion, choice. When we gain new knowledge, more information is given out, or perhaps we are being pressured by someone we tend to change our minds, decisions, votes.
ReplyDeleteFlip-flopping = Change
If you stay stagnant and never allow yourself to obtain new information or see someone else’s view then what will we become?
He'd switch his support, because otherwise his consituents would be upset that he inadequately represented them, and they probably wouldn't vote for him again come 2008.
ReplyDeletePride is the first casualty of politics.
ReplyDeleteJohn Lewis, with all due respect to his civil rights activist history, needs to be shown the door. I understand loyalty but when does that cross over into blind allegiance? There is a clip on Yobachi's blog that shows him arguing with the head of the SNLC about who played the race card, and the falsehoods that he was spewing out sounded like he was reading a script handed to him from the Clinton camp...does he even know what is happening around him or is he just getting it from word of mouth?
ReplyDeleteIn one of the most important elections of our time, I would think that these politicians would want to stay on top of what is being done and said between these two candidates instead of relying on the media...
Ms. Marvalus - I think that there are many Black politicians and Black preachers that thought this was simply politics as usual this year. Barack Obama is flipping the script. The leaders are just now figuring out that their constituents and parishioners have gone with the movement for change that Obama is inspiring. Now those so-called leaders are struggling to catch up to their peeps. Time will tell if they waited too long.
ReplyDeleteI feel for any member of the Congressional Black Caucus that votes for Hillary Clinton...
If John Lewis wants to win his seat again whenever he comes up for reelection, it would behoove him to vote as the voters in Georgia did, by a 3-1 margin for Obama. I believe that will be a big factor in how these superdelegates will vote. Switching sides in my opinion, is not selling out but it is the right thing to do because your constituents, for whom he works, has spoken. He and his colleagues should have waited until the process began before averring that they would support Hillary Clinton. That move has backfired as her support has started to erode. To put it bluntly, he doesn't work for the Clinton machine, he works for the people in his constituency.
ReplyDeleteVillager:
ReplyDeleteI just Googled "John Lewis supports Clinton or Obama" and a NY Times article came up saying he had announced the switch this past Thursday night. That is as it should be, I think, given the huge margin his constituency gave Obama. Iya
Iya - John Lewis is currently trying to straddle the fence. He endorsed Hillary last summer. Last week he claimed that he might vote for Obama. He still needs to make a definitive statement as everything that we've heard so far as been from his staff...
ReplyDeletepeace, Villager
I was watching the news yesterday morning (CNN or MSNBC) and this story was featured. They said he didn't admit to switching it was "inaccurate". Here's a link to an article written in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that writes about the 'confusion'.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ajc.com/master/content/news/stories/2008/02/15/lewis_0215.html
Urban Scientist - You're right. Congressman Lewis hasn't formally switched his endorsement or made public statement that he will do so. Everything is from highly-placed staff members at this point...
ReplyDelete