"He is One of Us!"

When does 36 = 1.5? Hold that thought; I’ll get back to you.

For the past two weeks, I have discussed various aspects of the two major political party’s National Conventions. The pomp and pageantry of the conventions has subsided, and the daily hand-to-hand trench battles have resumed, with the full four-party contingent now in tow.

Senators Obama and Biden have been criss crossing the Country, attempting to shore up support in several critical swing states. Meanwhile, Senator McCain and Governor Palin have spent time traveling together, but their focus has been the same; swing states.

Throughout the primary season, up to and including the Conventions, Senator McCain’s Republican supporters stressed the mantra, “John McCain is one of us.” In its purest and most innocuous sense, this oft repeated affirmation was pitched as intending to reassure the GOP faithful, swing voters, and disaffected Democrats by conveying that Senator McCain shared their values, respected their points of view, and would likely most often shape policy with their interests in mind. Not surprisingly, a prevalent less generous assessment was that the advisory was an insidious reminder to certain groups that McCain was “white, like them,” and moreover that Obama was not only black, but possibly, if not probably, Muslim as well.

Two weeks ago the Democrats convened in Denver, Colorado for their 2008 National Convention. The event drew 4,418 official delegates, 1,082, of them black. That number translates to 24.5%. The number and resulting percentage represent a proportional derivation used by the Democratic Party since 1976 to seat delegates based on their approximate voting strength in Democratic primaries and caucuses.

Minority Representation, along with several other voting segments and subsets are tracked. According to published records, the delegate participation rate at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver included 81% college graduates, 58.9% whites, 50.1% women, 49.9% men, 25% Union Members, 24.5% blacks, 12% Hispanics, 12% GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender), and 4.6% were Asian-Pacific Islanders. The Democratic Party has hitched its star to inclusiveness, and in 2008 produced the most diverse political convention in American History.

Back to that initial thought! Last week, the Republicans convened in St. Paul, Minnesota for their 2008 National Convention. Based on the number of delegates, respectively, the Republicans ran a significantly more compact, and I am sure some would say efficient, convention. While it took 4,418 delegates to comprise the Democrat’s Big Tent, the Republicans required 2,038 fewer delegates, for a total of 2,380.

For those who took time to watch both forums, it was apparent the two conventions were clearly products of starkly different operational philosophies. While the Democrats preached and modeled the tenets of diversity and inclusion, the Republicans, if their National Convention was any indication, were guided by the principle of homogeneity. In contrast to the numbers above, that characterize the make-up of delegates at the Democratic National Convention, the assembly in St. Paul was 93% white, 5% Hispanic, 68% male, and 32% female.

In 2004, the Republican National Convention was 85% white, and 57% male. Four years later, the Grand Old Party has regressed, at least that is, if you consider diversity and inclusion good things. At least one UPI story cited a New York Times report that says “Republican Leaders this year, mindful of the black backlash over the government response to Hurricane Katrina, and the pull of Democrat Barack Obama’s candidacy, have largely de-emphasized their outreach to minorities.”

I can see the Republican Brain Trust being flummoxed by Senator Obama’s popularity and success, somewhat, but the Katrina imbroglio seems to be the perfect catalyst for demonstrating that Republicans could...and, in fact, would generate a more focused and effective effort. Apparently, suspending much of the Convention’s Day 1 activities, as Hurricane Gustav threatened the New Orleans area was just the ticket.

So as 2,380 delegates descended upon the tundra of the great Upper Midwest, 36 blacks, equaling 1.5%, were invited. Michael Steel, former lieutenant governor of the State of Maryland, and the Chair of GOPAC, the Republican political action committee that thrived during the Newt Gingrich era, was the only black to reach the podium during prime time, giving a roughly 10-minute speech. He later admonished his Party, saying, "We have to get our act together sufficiently to be competitive and effectively engage the black vote, the Hispanic vote, the white vote, every vote in this country with a values message - an empowerment message, an ownership message that resonates with communities."

After watching GOP partisans sanguinely articulate their vision for America, amidst a rowdy and rousing sea of homogeneous faces, one thing is crystal clear; I now know to whom “us” refers, when John McCain's supporters describe their affinity with him, extolling, “he’s one of us!” I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com. A new post is published each Wednesday.


For more detailed insight into this topic, click on the links below:

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080903/NEWS0106/809030791

http://www.jointcenter.org/index.php/news_room/press_releases/joint_center_points_to_large_drop_in_number_of_black_delegates_to_gop_convention

http://www.kansascity.com/444/story/782276.html

http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/mccain/articles/2008/09/01/20080901repcon0901diversity.html

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/republican_convention_njs_gop.html

http://www.oliverwillis.com/2008/09/02/less-black-republican-delegates/

http://www.nationaljournal.com/conventions/co_20080901_3469.php

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/04/uselections2008.republicans20088

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/03/AR2008090303962.html?hpid=artslot

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-blacks4-2008sep04,0,4212739.story

http://allotherpersons.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/blacked-out-african-americans-near-invisible-at-the-republican-convention/

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=1730a1cf-0de9-4d03-9a48-10fd926424d6

http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur46696.cfm

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/2008/09/05/number_of_black_gop_delegates_at_a_marked_low_survey_finds/?page=full

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-09-01-diversity_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/02/blacks-represent-just-2-percent-of-gop-convention-delegates/

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080901/POLITICS/809010367/1022/POLITICS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPLg65HDA6E

http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080902/NEWS19/809020353/1321/NEWS

http://bookerrising.blogspot.com/2008/09/black-delegates-are-rare-at-gop.html

http://www.stereohyped.com/black-republican-delegates-at-an-all-time-low-20080902/

http://www.politicalbase.com/profile/Chris%20Brown/blog/&blogId=3567

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stories/090408dnpolblacks.3fcf93b.html