In what could have been an interesting contest between two black candidates, Rep. Ben Cardin beat out Kweisi Mfume for the Democratic nomination to in Maryland's senatorial race yesterday. Cardin is white, Republican Lt. Gov. Michael Steele is the first black to be elected to statewide office, and wants to be the first black senator.
Previous stories in the Post have highlighted the gains Steele has made among blacks, by simply going out and asking for their votes. There is a powerful appeal to his first-black-senator bid that is hard to ignore. Hopefully, America will have a moderate conservative black Senator in January instead of yet another liberal white guy. If Steele does win, of course, we'll have to endure the immediate buzz for him to become a presidential candidate, a form of 'soft racism' that we currently see with Barack Obama.
5 comments:
Kwesi's been sort of a hero of mine for a long time. sorry to see him go.
I have to say that I have serious doubts about someone like Mfume being able to represent his state equanimiously. He spent his last several years representing Black America (or at least a large part of it). Could he really turn that off and represent Marylanders, black, white, and other?
The same could be said about anyone else who has been a high-profile rep for another group; say, an NRA or Sierra Club president. But at least those are organizations based on causes, not on people. Anyway, apparently a good number of Marylanders agree with me on this point.
if a good number of Marylanders jumped off a bridge...?
i've long thought Maryland has the best state flag. your thoughts?
Oh, by far.
Kweisi Mfume is black? Really?
I thought Mfume was a Jewish name.
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