Who do you think could run for the presidency from one of the two major parties and have a good chance at receiving the parties nomination?
I think the Republican Congressman J.C. Watts would make an excellent candidate. I hope that he plans on furthering his career past the House of Representatives.
Oh, you mean besides the perrenial Alan Keyes, running for president on the Republican ticket since, well, forever.
JC Watts; that may very well depend on how far right he is on the issues. All I know about Watts is that he played football and represents Oklahoma. He will be viewed with suspicion by the black community if, say he calls of the immediate abolition of AA.
I still believe Colin Powell (save for a major FUBAR while as Sec. of State) can run for any position he wants in the US. government.
I’m trying to think of blacks in the Democratic party who aren’t too liberal to frighten suburbia (forget Oklahoma). I’m having a hard time of thinking on many. Maybe Jesse Jackson Jr. (No, not who you’re thinking. That’s his father. I mean the Rep from Illinois, I believe) Maybe there’s a mayor or Governor I don’t know of.
Which makes me think of an interesting question…
As of right now, with everything else being equal, which black candidate will be more electible, one who is moderately conservative or moderately progressive?
We know it’s not going to be Alan Keyes!
SterlingNorth, you think Jesse Jackson, Jr. isn’t going to frighten suburbia? I don’t know about that. He’s really not that much more laid back than his father. In fact, I wouldn’t have said he is more laid back than his father if you hadn’t mentioned his name.
I would assume that Jackson, Jr. is the exact type of person that the Dems. would try to avoid. I think they’d have better luck with someone outside the main political arena right now.
The first electable black Presidential candidate will have to be conservative, but not reactionary, no matter which party puts him up (and yes, it’ll likely have to be a ‘him’).
My reasoning on this is:
He’s gonna have to appeal strongly to the conservatives and reactionaries if he wishes to overcome their traditional distrust of blacks.
He’s going to pick-up a significant number of black vote solely based on color, but a lot of far-left types will try to paint a conservative black as an ‘Uncle Tom’: He’ll need to be able to attack or marginalize that position with a broad-base appeal and impecable credentials.
Hi Opal!
Colin Powell is the best current choice. The Military knows and (mostly) likes him, he’ll get a large chunk of the Veteran’s votes, the votes of the defense contractors, and the votes of many of those whom admire a ‘do-it-yourself’ success. He speaks Hebrew well, and is friendly with the Jewish comunity. He’s light-skinned enough to blend well the rest of the crowd (yeah, I know that shouldn’t matter, but we’re dealing with real people here). I don’t think that anyone else has his credentials, but I also think he’s too smart to run for the office.
I don’t think that Colin Powell will run for office.
I think that if Dick Cheney has any more health problems that would cause him to not run as vp in four years, republicans may choose a black running mate.
The more news I watch, the more it seems that all black liberals that get tv appearances only talk about black issues. On the contrary, black conservatives seem to be given many more well rounded interviews.
I am a big fan of J.C. Watts based on what I have seen of him so far. Here is a link to a biography of him in case anyone is interested.
I still favor Shirley Chisholm.
I don’t know what I’ve heard of Watts has been generally unfavorable, but that’s going on memory. I agree that Powell is the most visibly electable guy.
I know here in California we have Willie Brown who you can best describe as a business friendly conservative democrat. He’s definately to the right of the SF Board of Supervisors, but that’s not saying much as the only elected body further left would be the Republic of Berkeley.
I don’t think the first black president will be an 80 year old who has not held public office in 22 years.
I know. <shrug> I’m just nostalgic for those long-gone days of my youth. Well, at least somebody around here recognizes who Shirley is! The nation’s first black candidate for president ever!
JC Watts has too much personal baggage to overcome.
Powell would do well,but I understand his wife is adamently against his running for President.
If Harvey Gantt hadn’t been robbed in his last run against Jesse Helms,I believe he could have developed into a viable candidate.Also Conressman ? Ford from Tennessee is really sharp and is someone to watch in the future.
NYS Comptroller Carl McCall. But he’s a New York Democrat. And he’s dark.
Forget I mentioned him.
Remember when the Congressional Black Caucus tried to challenge the validity of Florida’s electors? The challenge failed because not one of the 50 Democratic Senators would join it. Suppose we’d had a black Senator?
Yeah, where’s Edward Brooke when you need him?
I think Brooke had to have been the inspiration for Irving Wallace’s novel The Man, in which the President and Speaker are wiped out in a freak accident (the VP is too sick to take over). Who does that leave? The President Pro Tem of the Senate. He happens to be Black. In the 1973 film, he was played by James Earl Jones. It included an awful crack about the “White” House.