Tuesday, January 23, 2007

 

Black Caucus: "Get goin', Cohen"

It's looking increasingly likely that U.S. Representative Steve Cohen's stay in Washington, DC, will be a short one. I reckoned the day after last year's congressional election that the Ford Family was already plotting to re-take the seat Harold Ford, Jr., aka Junior, abandoned in order to mount an unsuccessful campaign for U.S. Senate:

"It's no secret that Papa Ford is not happy with the fact that Steve Cohen is replacing Junior in the U.S. House (I'll leave the obvious racial aspect of Papa's "unhappiness" for others to discuss). ... Steve Cohen will face a Ford-backed consensus black candidate in the August 2008 primary."

The Politico is reporting that Steve Cohen recently sought membership in the Congressional Black Caucus and was promptly told that he hasn't the necessary skin tone to join. Cohen was quick to point out that nowhere in the Caucus' bylaws does it state that a person must be black to join, but he was rebuffed with extreme prejudice (no pun intended). Cohen also reminded the members of the Caucus that he represents a majority black district, but, again, he was told that he wouldn't be able to join in any Black Caucus games.

I would imagine that Cohen's quixotic attempt to join the Congressional Black Caucus is causing much gnashing of teeth amongst the Ford Family and the Ford Family's supporters. While Cohen certainly has legitimate reasons to join the Black Caucus, a white guy's attempt to join an all-black legislative group, especially when said white guy is also a Jew, gives the Fords additional "he's not one of us" ammunition when they choose the consensus black candidate who will challenge - and defeat - Cohen in 2008.





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