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Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Why those seeking an apology for slavery may not be whistling Dixie
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just got back from a late afternoon press conference at the state Capitol, in which the president of the Georgia NAACP and several state lawmakers asked Gov. Sonny Perdue — on behalf of his state — to sponsor a resolution apologizing for slavery and segregation.
Similar resolutions have passed legislatures in Virginia and Tennessee.
In the past, we would have dismissed something like this as wishful thinking. Something that might happen — someday, in the sweet by and by.
But this may be a peculiarly auspicious time to deal with an official condemnation of the South’s peculiar institution.
We’ve already experienced unofficial apologies.
“It was wrong to rebel against the United States. It was wrong to defend the horrible institution of slavery,” Roy Barnes said in 2003, shortly after leaving the governor’s office.
At the time, we thought the statement — made in Boston, by the way — was Barnes’ way of telling the world that he would run for high office no more, forever.
But that was a calculation based on Democratic politics. When it comes to an apology for slavery, the Republican calculus may be far, far different.
There is, for instance, the case of Sonny Perdue, who would very much like to be somebody’s candidate for vice president in 2008. Last year, he impressed Republicans in Washington with the share of the black vote he gathered up for his re-election as governor.
But there’s still the matter of how Perdue first came to office in 2002. He beat Barnes largely by quietly encouraging white voters who were upset that the Democrat had brought down the 1956 state flag and its Confederate battle emblem.
Perdue’s signature on a resolution condemning slavery might cause some people to forget that.
“Let your legacy reflect that on your watch, you took a stand to unite Georgia by becoming the first governor to acknowledge these wrongs,” wrote Edward DuBose, the NAACP president.
Imagine how those words might look on a brass plaque in a Republican governor’s office. Or in a 30-second TV spot, in which the object is to quickly reassure Ohio voters that the governor of Georgia is not George Wallace reborn.
Then there are the host of Republicans in the Legislature who want to be governor in 2010.
Until they figure out another path, the key to victory for Democrats means securing 90 percent or more of Georgia’s black vote, and 35 percent of the white vote.
As Perdue demonstrated, GOP landslides are built by weaning enough of the African-American vote to wreck that formula.
That thought alone may be enough for the likes of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle or House Majority Leader Jerry Keen to think that, just maybe, Abraham Lincoln and his Republican party were right after all.
Besides, who can you blame for slavery and segregation except Democrats?
Hola, Georgia voters. This isn’t Mitt Romney.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ain’t life just one irony piled on top of another?
On the same day that Republicans at the state Capitol revived an English-only push, the ’08 presidential candidate backed by many of Georgia’s GOP elite cut loose with his first radio ad targeting Spanish-speaking voters in Florida.
“It is a difficult time in the world, in the Americas, and in our Cuba in transition,” says Al Cardenas, former chairman of the Florida GOP and a Jeb Bush ally, in his native Spanish. “Mitt Romney understands the dynamic of Cuba.”
Contrast that with the effort by state Rep. Tim Bearden (R-Villa Rica) to give the state’s current English-only statute a place in the state Constitution.
H.R. 413 escaped a House subcommittee on Tuesday. If it gets a two-thirds nod from the General Assembly, it would still require a crowd-pleasing vote in the November general election next year.
Yes, like the gay marriage prohibition, English’s place as the official language of Georgia is already in the state code. There’s a good reason to put it in the state Constitution as well, but it’s something only lawyers can put into words.
At the risk of losing some of you, we’ll attempt the technical explanation passed on to us by a high-ranking member of the state bar:
Currently, using Spanish in official state documents is merely illegal. Whereas, if the prohibition is part of the state Constitution, it is really, really illegal. Which is another thing entirely.
Members of Cagle’s ‘06 team get behind Whitehead
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Not surprisingly, state Sen. Jim Whitehead (R-Evans) announced last night that his campaign for the 10th District congressional race will include two guys who played strong roles in Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle’s victory last year.
Joel McElhannon will act as Whitehead’s general consultant and campaign manager. Jay Williams of the Stoneridge Group will handle direct mail and Internet ventures.
The pair weren’t likely to go elsewhere. The other Republican state senator in the race is Ralph Hudgins of Comer. He was a big backer of Ralph Reed in the ’06 primary for lieutenant governor.
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Blogwatch: Where’s the Democratic road-rail plan?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Decaturguy goes after his own partisans this week with sharp posting on transportation at Atlanta Public Affairs:
Where is the voice of the Democratic Party of Georgia on this issue? Where is our “leadership” in the General Assembly. I just did a search of “Dubose” and “Porter” on Georgia Daily Digest and I did not see anything of any substance in the results.
And he’s supposedly the minority leader in the House. Are you telling me that the minority leader of the House, a newspaper man himself, can’t get a story written in any major Georgia newspaper all session that mentions his name? What in the hell is he doing down there?
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