I thought this was an interesting piece, considering the latest Dean/CF uproar. I don't really think I'm qualified to join the flag debate; I think the confederate flag is a racist symbol, but I've never been to the south and I'm not a dean supporter. So I don't know that it's my place to jump in on that one. When I read this piece, though, I was connecting dots and asking questions. Where are the southern white male democrats in the political spectrum, really? I don't have answers. I'm not southern and not male. And this is a piece from The Black Commentator, written by rep Erik R. Fleming (D-MS), an African American. But it's food for thought.
http://www.blackcommentator.com/63/63_white_dems.html<snip>
Gore, from Tennessee, refused to allow his former running mate, President Bill Clinton, from Arkansas, to campaign for him in the South, because, supposedly Clinton alienated other Southern white males, despite his apparent popularity with base Democratic voters. Gore went on to lose the South, including Arkansas and Tennessee. If Gore had won those states, Florida would never have been a factor.
Gore’s need for acceptance by his white males counterparts cost him the most powerful position in the free world. How many more defeats will it take for Southern white male Democrats to realize that to win the war of ideology, they cannot act like the enemy?
That is why the candidacy of North Carolina U.S. Senator John Edwards has not energized the African-American community. That is why Southern Democratic governors are becoming an endangered species, election after election. More importantly, that is why Blacks are becoming more disenchanted with the half-hearted efforts of the Democratic National Committee to address their issues.
When a team needs to change their losing ways, they make adjustments in their personnel and their play calling. If the Democrats want to start winning elections again in the South, changes have to be made. Southern white male Democrats need to re-discover their political backbone and challenge the misinformation campaign of the GOP head-on. If they can be found, that is.
(Democratic Governor Ronnie Musgrove was defeated by Republican Haley Barbour, Tuesday.)