PrintNovember 17, 2008
Republicans --You Can't Say I Didn't Warn You
John McCain is a class act. A good and decent man who loves his country and that is why he lost. What has been made absolutely clear in this election is that the Republican Party has an abundance of class acts when what it really needs are hard core community organizers.
On Tuesday, my Democrat neighborhood was inundated with canvassers leaving posters of Democrat candidates and offering assistance to get to the poll. I have never seen a Republican do the same but then I've always lived in the poorer part of town.
Back in 1999, I was asked to be the keynote speaker at a local Republican Women's club and I thought I spelled out clearly what the GOP always does wrong. I grew up in Spanish Harlem during the 1950's and recall the several Democrat social clubs in the neighborhoods but nary a Republican came to call. Why should they -- many of my neighbors surmised -- when all they cared about was the rich, right?
"What you need to do," I told the gathering, "is hold town hall meetings year round in the community centers where you can spell out the basics of the party and explain how your policies can benefit the neighborhood. Most families support school vouchers, low taxes, and entrepreneurship. Most blacks have no idea that the Republican Party was established to oppose slavery." I mentioned watching an HBO documentary about a black man who sought help from black leaders to investigate the death of his nephew which had been ruled a suicide. They showed no interest. A final shot of the program showed the uncle visiting the Lincoln Memorial and pointing to the statue and saying, "If it wasn't for that man, I wouldn't be here."
We need to be the party leaders that citizens like this man can approach for help and get it because we care. We have to be there.
While many attendees at the function including State Senator John Marchi came up to me applauding my speech as "enlightening," the powers in charge did not change a thing. Although the Richmond County Republicans ran two excellent African Americans candidates a few years later, neither received the support from the state or national party nor did they campaign in the poorer neighborhoods. To this day, no black has ever been elected to office in Richmond County aka Staten Island and the Democrats have never even bothered to run one as a candidate.
Conservatives poopoohed Obama's record as a community organizer without fully understanding that this is a purely political enterprise. The idea behind it is to get party members into office any way possible. The community may believe that the motive is to benefit the community but judging from my experience that's rarely the case. If you're not willing to play clubhouse politics, your chances of getting into office is slim.
Soon after the Election Day debacle, my mailbox was crammed with "This is the worst day of my life" and other depressing missives. Call me a cockeyed optimist but I refuse to get into that helpless mode when this is a time to gear up one's loins and fight. It's time for conservatives to give Barack Obama a taste of the treatment the liberals gave George Bush but this time we'll do it legally.
We need to remember that people come out in droves to vote for a new president but they tend to ignore the equally important races for the House and the Senate. We need to get those numbers up so that we have sufficient stopping power for the "change" the new president has in store. Does anyone remember how bad Clinton's first year in office was? The 1993 WTC bombing, Black Hawk down in Somalia, Hillary's disastrous health care proposal, the defense cutbacks that led to training accidents and loss of life- all these eventually led to the Contract With America and a Republican Congress that unwittingly saved Clinton's hide.
We need new mouthpieces, new communicators, people who are masters of marketing-street fighters not patricians. We need more of Michael Steele and not just on Fox News. Get him on BET. Check out the Hip Hop Republican site to recruit new blood.
Most importantly we need to get legislation requiring photo ID and proof of citizenship before one can vote. There should be stiff punishments for voter fraud. People from England came to Ohio to vote illegally for Obama. We're fast turning into a banana republic every four years.
I say, screw bipartisanship. What George Bush should have done as soon as he was elected was oust all the Clintonites in the CIA and the intelligence services. He kept them on and they stabbed him in the back. Let's not be afraid to call treason-treason. What West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller did in 2003 was as close as one could get to being traitorous but the media never blinked an eye. In a leaked memo he urged fellow Democrats on his Intelligence Committee to use its probe into Iraq war planning as a staging ground to beat President Bush.
Democrats only care about getting elected. The GOP should only care about this country and what's best for it. Let's get ready to rumble.
Alicia Colon blogs at Alicia Unleashed
Alicia Colon blogs at Alicia Unleashed
