September Surprise: Black Folk Well Behaved at Debate

Note: We’re keeping this short this week because we’re both in Washington, DC for Charlton’s wedding. We didn’t forget about our loyal readers, but at the same time, there’s a-celebratin’ to do!

The most amazing part of this week’s Republican candidates’ All-American Presidential Forum, hosted by Tavis Smiley, was the fact that all of the black members of the audience at Morgan State University were polite, relatively quiet, and calm. As for the panel of journalists of color, they, too, were well behaved; not one of them asked a candidate how they’d answer the “muthaf***in’ question.” We were shocked, but pleasantly surprised.

For those whose sensitivity to satire is on the blunt side, we’re poking fun of Bill O’Reilly’s comments this week about how well behaved the black folks were when he dined with Rev. Al Sharpton at Sylvia’s in Harlem. Of course, O’Reilly believes that his comments were complimentary toward African Americans; he can’t understand how the fact that he was surprised – that is, expecting poor behavior at the restaurant – is offensive and driven by racism. There’s been a great deal written about this over the course of the week, and we don’t have much to add.

But as for Thursday night’s Forum, we are at once disappointed that the leading four candidates did not show up (lots has been written on this, too) and glad to see that five of the other Republican candidates did. Additionally, we had a surprise visit from Alan Keyes, who is apparently 1) running for president, and 2) residing in Maryland again even though he ran for an Illinois U.S. Senate seat in 2004. The candidates were relatively direct and candid in their answers. We evaluate the Forum as being relatively free from pandering. That is, the candidates who were respectful enough to show up were also respectful enough not to B.S. the audience. As we noted a few weeks ago, though, there are dangers of being there: giving answers to which the majority of black folks would respond favorably might harm their chances with the conservative base that the candidates need to get elected, but giving answers that are not in line with much of black leaders’ issues positions would make for a quite uncomfortable experience and further alienate a constituency that has not been very responsive to Republican ideas.

The real story, though, was the immense division apparent in the audience to these candid responses that, quite often, cut against that which black leaders and Democrats have put forth. Prominent black Republicans such as Michael Steele were in attendance, but the audience was a mix of minorities and whites, some of whom were positively responsive to the candidates’ responses, and some of whom were not. Bill O’Reilly was probably surprised, but we weren’t.

For many years, black voters have been far less monolithic in their attitudes than pundits have suggested. It’s unlikely that any of these six Republicans will secure their party’s nomination, and we agree with The Washington Times that it’s reprehensible that any of the eventual nominees did not think enough of the event (and, by association, the “every day” people – as Mr. Smiley noted in his introduction – on whose behalf it was organized) to attend. Maybe African Americans should be more open to voting Republican, but it’s unlikely that they’ll be persuaded to vote for someone in 2008 who jilted them so inexcusably. But make no mistake – black voters are conservative and liberal, Democrat and Republican, ready to get out of the war and willing to stick it out a bit longer, pro-life and pro-choice, in favor of gay rights and opposed to them. Don’t expect the Republican presidential nominee to get much of a chunk of the black vote in 2008, but don’t make the mistake that Guiliani, McCain, Romney and Thompson did in assuming that just because folks’ skin is a similar tone that their attitudes and feelings are devoted to a Democratic Party that has taken their votes for granted and not delivered in a way that appreciably improved the quality of life for many racial and ethnic minorities in America.