The Debate Link

Blackprof contributor and GW Law Professor Spencer Overton has a fantastic post on how the controversial CBC/Fox News debate has really awakened the Black Netroots community (Blackroots). Overton notes that for many years the Black community has been stuck in a MLK/Malcolm X model of leadership, headed up by a few charismatic but unelected leaders, relatively unaccountable, and very top-down. The rise of the Blackroots offers an alternative mechanism for the liberal Black community to assert power and influence, outside the traditional channels. This is how there could be such a groundswell in the Black community against the debate, despite its endorsement by the epicenter of Black political power, the Congressional Black Caucus.

Joining John Edwards, Barack Obama has announced he will not participate in the Democratic candidates debate co-hosted by Fox and the Congressional Black Caucus. While Obama had also withdrawn from Fox's planned debate in Nevada, the CBC's sponsorship made Obama's decision far riskier. Obama has been fighting persistent rumors that he is being rejected by the Black community due to his unconventional background and African (as opposed to African-American) father. To my mind, that's BS, and the reason that Black voters aren't automatically flocking to Obama is because they are intelligent people who will vote for who they think is the best candidate, not whoever can wave the right color swatch.

That notwithstanding, it definitely has been hurting Obama that he hasn't been able to solidify his support in the Black community, and the CBC debate must have been an awfully tempting venue to try and get his message out to them. He will still participate in another CBC debate co-hosted by CNN.

The Netroots, unsurprisingly, is quite pleased. Praises sing from DKos, Steve Benen, MyDD, and FireDogLake. In fact, I haven't seen a single liberal blog condemning him. But I'll admit that these are mostly White (or non-African-American) sources--I'm curious if Black Democrats feel differently--their opinion is the crucial one here, I feel. BlackProf--one stop shopping for Black political/legal commentary--hasn't written anything on it yet. Pam Spaulding, however, is quite pleased with Obama as well, lending credance to the notion that the CBC is out of line with mainline Black Democrats.