Way back in January, there was a political writer/researcher, let’s call him Carpetbagger, who desperately wanted the Dean for America campaign to focus its attention on the African American community. (Did the campaign care about Carpetbagger’s advice? No. Does Carpetbagger feel a little bitter about it? Maybe.)
Dean’s full name is Howard Brush Dean III. He was governor of a state with the second-smallest African-American population in the country. He has no experience on civil rights issues and pretty much ignored the civil rights struggle as a young man in the 1960s. Carpetbagger felt like Dean could work his way to the top tier of Dem presidential candidates, but to really break through the pack, Dean would have to create some meaningful ties to African Americans.
The campaign didn’t share Carpetbagger’s concerns, and for a long while, it showed. In February, for example, Dean was being followed by C-SPAN’s “Road to the White House” crew. The cameras went with Dean to Parris Island, S.C., to visit with some troops. At the military base mess hall, Dean stopped to say hi to an African-American soldier and said, “You’re not from Vermont, are you?”
It was a profoundly dumb thing to say. Of course, at the time, the national media was ignoring Dean, so he could say and do all manner of bizarre things without worrying about the consequences. If Kerry, Edwards, or Lieberman had done something similar, many would be writing their political obituaries. Dean does it and nobody cares.
A few weeks later, Dean was being interviewed by Salon’s Jake Tapper. When the questions turned to race relations in America, Tapper inquired as to how Dean would connect with African-American voters, in South Carolina for example, where about 40 percent of the primary voters are black.
“I have in some ways a special relationship with the African-American community because of my college career,” he says. When Tapper asked why, Dean explained.
“I had two African-American roommates in college.”
Talk about your foolish comments. He roomed with two black men at Yale and he thinks he has “a special relationship” with the African-American community?
“I don’t think people today understand what that means,” Dean said, trying to elaborate, “but when I walked into my freshman dorm I was rooming with two people who didn’t know anything about white people and I didn’t know anything about black people. It was a very important year for me.”
So, to summarize, Joe Lieberman was in Mississippi in 1963 helping register African Americans to vote, John Kerry has a strong record in the Senate in fighting for civil rights, John Edwards has fought against Bush judicial nominees with awful civil rights records, Al Sharpton and Carol Mosley Braun are actually black, and Dean thinks he should be in with African-Americans because he had two black roommates at Yale.
Well, that was earlier this year. Last week, it looks as though the campaign started realizing that maybe Carpetbagger was right.
Dean sent a two-page letter last week to every member of the Congressional Black Caucus to explain his commitment to their issues and begin the process of forging relationships.
One CBC member told The Hill, “It shows that we got his attention, or at least his campaign’s. But there’s still not a whole lot of comfort with Dean. I mean, he’s from Vermont.”
Dean said in his letter, “As your nominee and as your president, I will never take the African American vote for granted.” He concluded, “I hope I can earn your support and I will continue to reach out to the Congressional Black Caucus and address those issues most important to you and your constituents.”
It’s a good start, but one letter does not a relationship make. I have every reason to believe that there isn’t a racist bone in Dean’s body. If elected, I am confident he’d be sensitive and responsive to the needs of the African-American community. That being said, I also believe any of the nine Democrats running for president would be equally vigilant on the race issue.
Dean’s supporters, right now, tend to be white, educated, middle-class men who are active on the Internet. If he’s really going to go all the way, he’ll need to follow up on his CBC letter with additional, meaningful, outreach efforts beyond his initial demographic base.
And doc, if you’re listening, please stop using the line about your roommates at Yale. It sounds like you’re saying, “Some of my best friends are African-Americans.”