GOP hopes that Biden will be a liability in the South

Earl Ofari Hutchinson | Posted August 25, 2008 3:52 PM for Thedailyvoice.com


The Georgia GOP committee wasted no time when it got word that Obama picked Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate. It bluntly said that by picking him Obama had effectively killed any chances that he had to win the South. The issue for the committee is Biden's liberal record. He was ranked as the third most liberal Senator in 2007 by the National Journal. The most liberal Senators were Obama and Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehorse. The single biggest thing that earned Biden his high liberal rating is his civil rights record.

On the issues of busing, affirmative action, expanded hate crimes legislation, government set asides for minority business, a Rosa Parks commemorative stamp, and fair housing legislation, Biden has been a dream for civil rights leaders. The NAACP gave him a perfect 100 rating in his stance backing affirmative action.

On his Senate campaign website last year, Biden boldly touted what he called "The Biden Plan": Ending 21st Century Discrimination." This is a sweeping plan to end discrimination in education, the workplace, and the criminal justice system. Biden's civil rights record is so solid that even his unthinking loose lipped crack earlier this year that Obama was "clean" didn't hurt his civil rights standing. Jesse Jackson quickly stepped in and praised Biden as a strong supporter of civil rights.

If elected, Biden and Obama would be the best presidential tandem on civil rights since Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey in 1964. That's a scary possibility for Southern conservatives. So scary that it made the Georgia GOP declare that their civil rights passion virtually amounts to a political kiss of death for them in the South.
This is not inflated political hyperbole. For the past four decades, liberalism and civil rights have been tightly interlocked in the South. This election is no different. Obama and Biden know the mortal political danger that a too strong emphasis on civil rights and race pose to their White House chances. Their ginger step around the issue though won't make the issue disappear.

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