An 'expert' is someone who comes from more than 50 miles away. - A double murder & more on the two 800-pound gorillas.

In a Friday post I wrote:

"Being a moderate Democrat myself, it sometimes truly amazes me when I hear and read other Democrats lash out at Bill Shipp with regard to what I consider more of his usual invaluable advice and insight. Aren't we sometimes just killing the messenger?"

In a 12-27-04 post entitled "When the Dean speaks, the Democratic Party better listen, Part I. - Same-sex marriage & abortion. Part II is Sid's response to the Dean," I posted one of Bill Shipp's recent columns that discussed two 800-pound gorillas "[n]amed Gay Marriage and Abortion Rights" that Mr. Shipp says we Democrats try to ignore as issues that "are killing our party."

In his column Mr. Shipp wrote:

"Republicans laugh at us and call us the party of the blacks because we count so heavily on the African-American vote. And we do. But, as usual, the Republicans are wrong. The Democratic Party is in danger of losing black votes by the thousands for one simple reason. We have become the party not of African Americans - but of gays and abortionists. That is how we are most identified. Those issues do not resonate in the black community any better than they work in white communities. We saw the beginning of serious slippage among black votes in last month's election. Part of the reason: Blacks object to gays and abortions."

We know what hearsay is. How about double hearsay?

Well, in noting at the beginning of this post that

(1) I am sometimes truly amazed "when I hear and read other Democrats lash out at Bill Shipp with regard to what I consider more of his usual invaluable advice and insight," and

(2) that "Aren't we sometimes just killing the messenger?",

I could have added that sometimes the messenger of the message of the messenger (I think this is right; maybe its the messenger of the messenger of the message; heck, I don't know) also sometimes gets killed (although if what follows is getting "killed," I say bring it on baby).

In a comment to that 12-27-04 post, someone tried to kill me as the messenger of the message that messenger Shipp courageously and wisely delivered. The comment to me:

"What I don't understand is why, considering your hostility towards gay rights and non-Christian rights or, it seems, most anything that is not part of the Southern Christian 'majority,' you remain with the Democratic party?

"The Republicans have cornered the market on bigotry -- you can't expect the Dems to be the 'we are bigots too' party and convince the voters you're sincere."

My response that is posted in the comments section to the 12-27-04 post only brought further rebuke from the person commenting. My posted response to the comment was:

"For the record [name of commenter], your comment is the first time I have ever had anyone say that I have 'hostility towards gay rights.' Page two

"If you really believe that I have hostility 'towards non-Christian rights' as you put it, I think it is you and not me that needs to consider whether you fit in and want to 'remain with the Democratic party.'

"I have a number of very close gay friends and acquaintances. And having been born colorblind, raised in a Christian family, brought up to respect the rights and feelings of others, I do my best to try to live by the Golden Rule and follow the words of the Master and Greatest Teacher of all times who tells us in Matthew 7:1 'Judge not, that ye not be judged.'

"Our Party is the only major political force that respects the rights of others to have different lifestyles and religious beliefs or the lack thereof. Such respect, however, does not mean we are forbidden in expressing our beliefs. And get ready. While you may not approve, we are proud of our Judeo-Christian heritage, and do not believe it is something on which the GOP has a monopoly."
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The previous post began with the "limited purpose" of introducing the readers of this blog "to someone I enjoy reading, Joan Vennochi, a Boston Globe columnist. In that post I noted that "I want to introduce you to her so that you will appreciate a column that she wrote this past Friday about an entirely different matter . . . ."

Regardless of my distance from the metro area, I know I am not an expert, nor do I claim to be (although I do admit to feeling a bit proud of being part of a double funeral with such a distinguished co-killee).

But Bill Shipp, he is not only an expert; he is not only the Dean of Georgia politics and journalism; Bill Shipp is "the" expert.

But for some similar views from someone who comes from more than 50 miles away, I again turn to the person I introduced you to earlier today, Joan Vennochi, the Boston Globe columnist, and her column from this past Friday.

Black voters' untapped power

By Joan Vennochi
The Boston Globe
January 6, 2005

Barack Obama, the new junior senator from Illinois, made the cover of Newsweek even before he was sworn into office. Why?

[The Newsweek story on Barack Obama was the subject of my 12-22-04 post entitled "Barack Obama: Son of black economist from Kenya & white teacher from Kansas might be uniquely qualified to nudge the country toward the color purple."]

The man gave a great speech during last summer's Democratic National Convention. He is smart, accomplished, talented, and a politician to watch for future greatness. He is also the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas. And the fact that he is the first African-American male Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate makes him extra-special, especially to desperate Democrats still reeling from Election Day results and worried about retaining traditionally safe voting blocs.

In short, African-Americans gained political leverage after Nov. 2. How will they use it?

"We have unused and untapped political power that can be utilized in a close presidential election. Had blacks not turned up in record numbers for John Kerry, Bush would have won in a landslide," says Donna Brazile, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee's Voting Rights Institute.

On Election Day, African-Americans remained loyal to the Democratic Party. National exit poll surveys indicated that John Kerry won the black vote by an overwhelming 88-11 percent (2 percentage points lower than Al Gore in 2000).

The future is not a lock. On Nov. 17, Brazile and colleague Cornell Belcher issued a public memo based on post-Election Day number-crunching that warned of trouble when the opponent is not George W. Bush: "Democrats should be concerned that under strong Republican messaging efforts, African-American voters might indeed prove to be as persuadable as some other 'base' Democratic groups turned out to be in 2004."

There is local anecdotal evidence to support the thesis, via the Rev. Eugene Rivers, who once had enough sizzle to command his own Newsweek cover (June 1998). A cofounder of the Ten Point Coalition, a group of ministers credited with addressing Boston's gang problem in the 1990s, Rivers is now working with the Bush administration on faith-based initiatives aimed at ending urban street violence. He also says he got a call from the White House on New Year's Eve, seeking his input for the speech George W. Bush will give at his second inaugural.

Rivers is also behind an invitation to Senator Hillary Clinton to speak in Boston on the eve of the presidential inauguration. She is scheduled to appear at the Fairmont Copley Plaza on Jan. 19 to address the importance of faith in addressing social problems in an event that will benefit the Ella J. Baker House and the National TenPoint Leadership Foundation.

Always quotable, Rivers calls Bill and Hillary Clinton, "the only Democrats with the IQ to compete with Karl," referring to Bush strategist Karl Rove. He describes Rove as "another Bubba, one of those trailer park white boys with high IQs."

Politically speaking, Rivers is up for grabs, and so, he contends, is the black religious community.

The Brazile-Belcher memo pointed out that 60 percent of African-Americans in key battleground states consider themselves "born again Christians." It did not make them Bush voters in 2004. But as Democrats sort out the actual importance of the "values vote" for future elections, how voters define their faith and its connection to politics are matters of concern.

Rivers argues that the black church community, 23 million strong across the country, is "culturally conservative," particularly on issues like gay marriage. "We are out of synch with the party leadership," he says. Brazile disputes that conclusion, saying she did not believe that gay marriage was the reason for blacks to go for Bush. "Part of it was Kerry's lack of name ID in the black community and his inability to catch fire," she said.

Catching fire is not a problem for Obama. He is already on fire. On the day he was sworn in as a US senator, he was asked about running for higher office and declared that he is not a candidate for president in 2008. It takes a Rivers to pour some cold water on the red-hot Obama: "Barack Obama is obviously a remarkably attractive and notoriously qualified politician," says Rivers. "The challenge before him is to recognize that the black community on issues like abortion and marriage is very conservative. . . . How this plays out in the nitty-gritty of politics remains to be seen."

So far Obama is wisely humble. Asked about his "place in history," Obama told a reporter, "I don't think I have a place in history yet. I got elected to the U.S. Senate. I haven't done anything yet."

Right now, for the Democrats, that is enough.