Black Farmers in an Election Year

I've been struggling to find a single Democratic candidate with enough positive attributes and few enough negative attributes that I feel that I can support them above all others, even if, being a graduate student without a trust fund, this means only in conversations with friends, rather than any more substantial form of support. Yes, it is still early, but both inside and outside the Beltway, I'm constantly asked who I like, who I'm supporting.

For a while, I was a big fan of Gov. Bill Richardson, and I still think he has a number of great qualities. Unfortunately, as the days pass, one of them seems less and less likely to be an ability to actually receive the Democratic nomination, whether or not they do include an ability to be elected to an office not based in New Mexico. This is particularly unfortunate, because --as I see it-- he was handicapped from the start by the fact that he hadn't a) previously run for president, b) been First Lady or c) been his party's new young, fresh-faced celebrity. The fact that things got rolling so early, and that the media, and therefore the public, insisted on reporting on funding and polling so early in the game, has handicapped him further, and only created a snowball effect of supporting those already in the lead based on name recognition.

Nevertheless, when I start pairing candidates together in my head, the combinations all seem better than any one alone. I could change my mind tomorrow, but an Edwards/Obama ticket is starting to look great in my head.

Although Edwards already has an advantage in the South, here's another feather in the cap of that ticket. Ken Cook of EWG reports on a Hill story about the potential for Obama to win Southern black votes by campaigning on "his commitment to bring relief to black farmers" via Pigford.

While the Congressional Black Caucus was instrumental in requiring gains for minority farmers and food stamp increases in order for a Farm Bill to pass in the House, the picture does not look as rosy in the Senate, where there is a black caucus of 1. However, if Obama chooses to champion one or more of these issues in the Senate, it may accomplish multiple goals at the same time-- gaining him votes and pushing the issue to the forefront of Senate Farm Bill debate.

Senate Votes to End Global Gag Rule

As skeptical as I became this summer about Congress and our federal legislative process, I can recognize when Congress does something good.

In a reversal of the West Wing episode Privateers (Season 4- #83), the Senate passed its Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill with an amendment that would repeal the "Global Gag Rule,"--a provision which bans all money from going to foreign organizations that also provide women with abortions-- which was reinstated by Bush on his first day in office. Led by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), the Senate accepted the amendment and voted for the bill (81-12), which also included over $5 bill to combat HIV-AIDS in developing countries.

Although the House version of the bill did not include this amendment, it did weaken the GGR, by "exempting contraceptives from the Global Gag Rule and repealing the abstinence-only funding restrictions for HIV prevention programs." Although President Bush has threatened to veto the Bill if these changes are included, we'll have to see a) what happens in conference and b) if he's bluffing or not.

In the West Wing episode, the tables were turned, and President Bartlet had to decide if he would veto a Foreign Ops bill that his Republican Congress had attached the Global Gag Rule to...in the end, I think he didn't do it, much to Abby's dismay. Despite everything I saw this summer, my trust falls with the real-life Democratic congress, and their ability to make some small incremental change successfully.