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Democrats’ Last Hope Is Hillary
bout a year ago, I wrote
a column entitled,
“President Obama to Face a Dilemma.” Well that time has come. The dilemma comes because Hillary was a sure to be a candidate for the presidency in 2016. I know that he knew all along that his Vice Presi- dent harbored presidential ambitions, too.
Joe Biden has been the Vice President and Presi- dent Obama’s close friend and trusted advisor every since he has been in office. I must say that the choice of Biden as Vice President was a stroke of genius by President Obama.
Hillary Clinton was a staunch opponent of Mr. Obama in the 2008 primary. She later became a friend and an employee as Secretary of State. Hillary was viewed as the walk away winner of the Democratic Primary and eventually the presidency.
As soon as Mrs. Clinton filed to be an official candi- date, the Republicans opened up on her with a fury. In doing so, they used a combination of lies, truth stretchers and any- thing else they could manufac- ture.
In meantime, Mr. Biden
sat on the sideline mulling over his chances. In spite of all his thinking, the Vice Presi- dent knew in his heart that he could not beat Hillary.
Just as it seemed like all hope was lost, both the Re- publicans and Biden got new hope. Hillary Clinton has been dogged by an email scan- dal that occurred on her watch as Secretary of State.
The accusation is that Mrs. Clinton either sent or received classified emails on her personal computer.
The Republicans got busy with their slander machine and have tried to make it seemed like an act of treason.
Joe Biden saw this as an opening, not much, but still an opening. Biden talked with his family and confirmed their support. He met with Presi- dent Obama and was told to go for it. Clinton’s poll num- bers continued to fall.
Then good natured Joe played his trump card. Biden went to get the blessing of the Self Proclaimed High Priest- ess of the Democratic Party, Senator Elizabeth War- ren.
She thinks she will deceive who represents the Demo- cratic Party. I am not sure whether she waved her magic
wand over him or not. It really doesn’t matter.
Look, Joe is a good guy. He is as cuddly as a teddy bear. He is funny and he often puts his foot in his mouth. Everybody loves the man, but not as President. Biden’s strong points are his weakest one for president. Plus he just can’t beat the more presiden- tial Hillary.
I don’t care how many do- nations, or how large his crowds and what he says, he can’t beat Hillary or the Re- publicans. The email scandal doesn’t matter to Hillary vot- ers or supporters. If what the polls say is true, Hillary of- fers the Democrats the best chance of retaining the White House. Because she is, the De- mocrats best hope, they should be ready to fight the underhanded tactics of the op- position.
Hillary has another thing going for her. She’s got the Big Dog in her corner and he hasn’t barked yet. You re- member The Big Dog don’t you? He was President Obama’s Secretary of Ex- plaining Stuff. The Big Dog has been strangely quiet. Hillary’s emails did not get anybody hurt and no damage to this country. So.
The Democrats need to hang on to the White House and Hillary offers them that best chance. We don’t mind having a Democrat with a scandal problem, especially when that candidate is the best in the field.
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C. Blythe Andrews 1901-1977 (1945)
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Citizens Review Board Is The Right Way To Go!
humbs up for both Mayor Bob Buckhorn and Tampa
Police Chief Eric Ward for reviving the City’s Citizen Review Board. With 11 members (9 voting members and 2 alternatives), which should mean not only a diversity of culture, but a diversity of consensus as well, this new ren- dition of a committee begun two decades ago should do wonders in bridging a trust and communication gap be- tween TPD and Tampa’s Black communities:
To insure the success of this highly important venture, we suggest the following considerations.
• Members be given proper access to important cases;
• We strongly suggest board members’ expertise and willingness be used;
• And we suggest combined City-County Police-Com- munity workshops, which were outstanding in introduc- ing the Law enforcement community and City-County communities to each other.
We eagerly underline Mayor Buckhorn’s words, “This Citizens Review Board is a Tampa solution that addresses the concerns of our community, while balancing the de- sire of our neighborhoods for a safe city.”
Well said, Mayor. We look forward to meeting those who will be selected to serve.
It’s All Out Of Our Control
An Interview With An Original Anchor Baby
he American Heritage Dictionary defines “anchor
baby” as a “disparaging term used to describe a child born to a noncitizen mother in a country that grants au- tomatic citizenship to children born on its soil.” But, what if the term “citizenship” was changed to the word “prop- erty?”
Then the definition would describe “a child born to a noncitizen mother in a country that grants automatic sta- tus as ‘property’ to children born on its soil.” Another word to fit such a definition would be slave.
So, let’s interview what probably would have been one of the New World’s original anchor babies. Listen as she recalls,
“In those days of unknown year, because I was too young to keep the number of the year in my mind till this time, so, there were many kinds of African wars. They were very common in every town and village. These slave- wars,” she said, “were causing bad luck to both old and young of those days, because if one is captured, he or she would be sold into slavery for foreigners who would carry him or her to unknown destinations to be killed or to be working for him . . .” The anchor babies story doesn’t end here.
For, she was secreted in ships that crossed a border of water then made to work, co-create, live, and die for noth- ing other than the darkness of her skin. Her name is now forgotten, but perhaps, Donald Trump, Jeb Bush and oth- ers recall her when they speak of anchor babies picking cotton.
Before Mexicans re-crossed an American border that was once already theirs, and before Asians flocked ille-
ife is crazy. One day you
canbeontopofthe world looking forward to a bright future and 24 hours later the rug could be pulled from under you and your life turned upside down by a freak random occurrence.
I was reminded of this after watching two incredibly horrific stories play out last week. The first was the killing of a news reporter and her cameraman during a live tel- evision segment in Roanoke, Virginia. The other was the ambush murder of a sheriff's deputy at a Texas gas station.
Two tragedies, separated by over 1,000 miles that were connected by the devastation left in each of their wakes.
There was a time when I truly believed that the things that happened to us were al- ways, somehow, directly re- lated to the decisions we
made. Recently, though, I've had to re-think my position.
Incidents, like the ones mentioned previously, make me realize that we all may be just unsuspecting recipients of the energy others project. Be it positive or negative.
For instance, regardless of what actions those journalists or that deputy may have en- gaged in or what choices they may have made that could have ultimately led to their own deaths, the collateral damage of their actions had an adverse effect on all of those around them.
Their mothers, fathers, husbands and wives were just innocent bystanders to the chaos. They are unwilling participants in a brutal tragedy they couldn't avoid.
Now, through no fault of their own, they're forced to deal with unimaginable pain
and suffering. The irony being that, regardless of how careful they were at living their own individual lives, they couldn't escape the tur- moil that inevitably came with being connected to someone else's.
And, Of course, therein lies the ugly truth about our existence. No matter how much faith we have in our ability to control the trajec- tory of our lives, the fact is, there are times when we're hopelessly left at the mercy of the unpredictable world around us.
Pain and misery, just like joy and happiness, can be thrust upon us at any given juncture. And since the good times we experience are often extremely fleeting, it seems to make perfect sense for us to enjoy them for as long as pos- sible, by living in the mo- ment, than to constantly worry about what's going to happen next.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. Anyone wishing to contact Clarence Barr can email him at: reality- onice@yahoo.com.
gally to build railroads and roll cigars, another anchor baby was already rocking in the cradle.
Call that anchor baby “Black America,” and your definition would be correct.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2015 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5-A
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