Vincent Gray Running for Reelection
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Anonymous
Yes, Jeff is wrong on this. If Machen were going to make that quiet cautionary call, he would have done so by now -- before he announced. Which may have been part of the reason why Gray waited as long as he did. That window has now passed. Gray is out there. He's running. There's no quiet phone call to be made. Gray is not going to be indicted. |
Anonymous
You have got to be fucking kidding me. Bill sounds like Bill no matter where he goes. Watch his speech at the convention. |
Anonymous
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For everyone saying that I said Fenty lost because he was mixed race and therefore, not Black enough per se, this is what I actually wrote: It may have had something to do with Fenty losing. He's half-white, remember? A lot of Blacks thought he wasn't Black enough. That alone wouldn't have caused him to lose, but combined with everything else, it helped.
MAY have had SOMETHING to do with Fenty losing. COMBINED WITH EVERYTHING ELSE: The perception that he catered to white interests, his white appointments, his seemingly upper class priorities (dog parks, Olympic pools, condos, shiny new parks in W3, etc), his arrogance, and on and on.... When I said THAT ALONE WOULDN'T HAVE CAUSED HIM TO LOSE -- I meant his being mixed-race, running against a Black candidate -- and then said that IT HELPED. A contributing factor is not a motivating factor. Nowhere have I stated, implied, or even thought to myself that Fenty lost the race because he identified as mixed-race, had a White mother, and a foreign wife. What I said was that it HELPED. IN THE END. Nowhere have I tried to make this all about race, and anyone who says that I did is either stupid, lying, or hypervigilant, or looking for a fight. |
Anonymous
Again, I would like to know what your source is of the "many black people" that felt he was not black enough. In Fenty's first term, he was very grass roots, door-to-door and in touch with his constituents very well liked by Black folks appearing to address the needs of the citizens in low and middle class areas. That didn't happen, and hiring Rhee was the icing on the cake, teachers, the union parents in under served areas wanted his head on a silver platter. If anything, Fenty's was looked upon of supporting an upper class agenda leaving the city lopsided. |
Anonymous
Pp, I responded to the first post and then read later posts and saw that the discussion had turned toward race being a contributing factor and not the primary factor. This first post suggests that race was the primary factor. Only suggests it and doesn't say it out right but it does suggest it. But if I had read more posts before I responded -- well, I wouldn't have responded that way because it became apparent by the end of the thread that people were talking about race being a contributing factor and not the main factor. Maybe I should have read more before responding. I didn't mean to make you feel defensive. Sorry! |
Anonymous
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Not Black Enough: http://www.unz.org/Pub/ISteve-2010sep-00037
http://55secretstreet.typepad.com/anovelista/adrian_fenty/ http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2010/09/how_adrian_fenty_lost_the_black_vote_how_cory_booker_may_lose_the_black_vote.html http://carlosqc.blogspot.com/2010/09/why-adrian-fenty-lost-his-reelection.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/09/adrian-fenty_n_2653722.html http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/09/a-quick-thought-on-fenty-and-rhee/63073/ http://thegrio.com/2010/09/13/dcs-mayor-fenty-falls-from-public-favor/ (fourth paragraph from the bottom) It's even mentioned in recent news: http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Vincent-Gray-to-seek-2nd-term-as-DC-mayor-5028583.php#page-2 The perception was that he wasn't Black enough. Mainly on the issues. Blacks did not perceive him as representing their interests on the issues. This is called "issue politics". Then there was the fact that he was biracial. Half White. Not Black, like his challenger. Blacks identified more with Gray than with Gray. This is called "identity politics". I would say that the perception of Fenty not being Black enough was mainly on the issues. About 85-90% issues. The perception of him being half White, and therefore not Black enough would account for the remaining 10-15%. As I said before, the identity politics only came into play once the wide perception that he had failed Blacks on the issues came into play. But I just do not understand how anyone can imply that I am some maverick for stating that Fenty lost due to the perception that he wasn't Black enough. Whether you use issues or identity as your guide, the idea has been widely discussed and, for the most part, accepted. |
jsteele
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If you are saying that Fenty was not "black enough" because he failed to adequately address issues of importance to many in the black community, few would disagree with you. Even one of the sources you cite, The Root, says: "Fenty's appointment of non-blacks to major cabinet positions, terminations of longtime black government workers and teachers, and a failure to meet with civil rights icon Dorothy Height and poet Maya Angelou are among the slights that have turned off a majority of African-American voters." But, if you are using "black enough" to refer to the fact that he is half white -- and then suggesting that significant numbers of voters didn't vote for him becaus of that fact, then I don't think you will find many that agree with you. You need to clarify whether you are using "black enough" literally or figuratively. |
Anonymous
I suppose I could have said it more artfully in my first post, which I just reposted. But even as I stated it, I don't think anyone could rationally read that to mean that his racial identity was the deciding or motivating factor. I said that combined with everything else [that plagued him] his identifying as mixed race, fact that he did not speak with a Black dialect, and fact that he was equally comfortable with Whites as he was with Blacks helped [i.e., fueled the perception of him not being Black enough]. I probably should have realized that since I was talking about race, I should be extremely precise and detailed or all hell would break lose. My bad. I still think that it is quite sad that a person cannot talk about the fact that some Blacks speak with a Black dialect without people getting offended. It is not a derisive thing to say. I find it very sad that, even though my first post was not as precise as it could have or maybe should have been, people would react to it the way they did. The idea that Fenty was not Black enough is hardly a radical notion. |
Anonymous
I did clarify. I think it applies in both contexts. About 90% what you call figuratively (which most of us call issue politics), and about 10% what you call literally (and most of us call identity politics). And the identity politics never would have come into play but for the overwhelming disappointment amongst Blacks with respect to issue politics. This was all in response to your question as to when race has ever interfered with anyone becoming Mayor. My answer: In Fenty's case, his mixed race contributed about 10% to his failure to be re-elected. As to whether others agree with me: I don't care. As to whether people want to call me a racist: I cared a bit earlier, before I fully explained myself. But I no longer care. Frankly, I'm bored. I'm logging off now to either work out or masturbate furiously. I need a break. |
Anonymous
| Michelle Rhee- that's why Fenty lost. |
jsteele
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That's not the reaction to Vince Gray running for reelection that I would have expected, but to each his own, I guess. |
Anonymous
| The idea of Wells being banished from government is enough to give me several intense, long orgasms. And it should. |
Anonymous
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The poster who keeps posting about how Blacks felt Fenty was not Black enough because he is biracial is very offensive. In our community we are very much used to biracial people. As a matter of fact, we don't call them biracial. We just say they are Black with a white mom, Japanese mom, Italian dad, etc. It is white people who lise that label of biracial.
Understand that no one cared about Fenty's racial makeup. If Black people considered whether Fenty was Black enough based on his parents, Fenty would not have received the Black vote agains Cropp, who to my knowledge, has two Black parents. When this poster keeps posting her racist views that Blacks did not vote for Fenty because of his mom's skin color, she is implying that we Black folks are dumb, racist and as shallow as she. I personally know of many white people who voted for Gray over Fenty. If I use that poster's logic, the reason they voted for Gray is because the color of Gray's skin was much closer to white skin than Fenty's. Fenty was not white enough for them. Ugh. |
Anonymous
+1. Either he's a criminal or he's incompetent. I seriously can't believe he's running and people are considering overlooking the criminal activities of his prior campaign. It's not rocket science. We deserve better. |
Anonymous
NP - I also find your term derisive and really don't know what you mean - as it pertains to Gray's speech patterns. |
