Politically Drunk On Power!: Emil Jones To Clinton Supporter & Delegate: You're 'Uncle Tom'

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Emil Jones To Clinton Supporter & Delegate: You're 'Uncle Tom'

There has been little discussion during this campaign of Obama surrogate and his admitted mentor Emil Jones. Jones is currently the Illinois Senate Majority Leader and responsible for first pushing Obama to run for office and then the US Senate. As Senate Majority Leader, Jones has proven to be one of the most divisive figures in Illinois Politics as a right-hand man of the unpopular Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. In recent weeks, while facing a backlash from his own party, Jones announced that he was retiring from politics; a move that well-received by the public who overwhelmingly did not approve of his tactics or job performance.

Late Saturday night in a hotel lobby at the Democratic National Convention, Jones allegedly turned on a Black Hillary Clinton Supporter when he verbally attacked her, referring to her as an 'Uncle Tom'. The move by Jones drew immediate condemnation from the National Organization for Women who called upon Jones to immediately resign.

Jones' comments underscore two problems that exists within the Democratic Party. First, despite Party leaderships attempts to call for Unity, a long-standing contempt still exists between factions of the Obama and Clinton camps. Secondly, the comment and subsequent condemnations of Jones highlights the blatant injection of race that has stemmed from the Obama campaign and his surrogates throughout this race.

Hillary Clinton supporters have long complained, a rightfully so, of the constant bombardment of statements and accusations by Obama supporters who charge them as being racists for their criticism of Obama. The occurrence of Jones once again using racially-based rhetoric in attacking an AA woman, Delmarie Cobb, for her support of Clinton only stands to remind Clinton supporters of the questionable and hate-filled attacks upon them during the primaries.

According to an interview with fox news:

"I walked away and said good night and walked over across the hall to the elevators,” she recalled. “And he shouted across the lobby, ‘Uncle Tom!’
“And I came back over and said, ‘Excuse me, what did you just say?’ And he grabbed me by my arms and started laughing. And I said, ‘No, no. What did you just say?’ And he didn’t repeat it. And I said, ‘Did you call me an Uncle Tom?’ And then I came back with a barrage of things that I won’t repeat publicly.”
Jones denied calling Cobb an “Uncle Tom” and refused to elaborate. However, he is now telling reporters that he called her a “doubting Thomas” and that Cobb must have misheard the remark.
“She was spouting things about Barack,” Jones said. “What I said was, ‘Come on board, he’s a nice, clean cut guy and everything.’ I said, ‘We’ve got to stop all this. We’ve got too many doubting Thomases and we’ve got to get together.’

For Obama supporters who still believe that Obama is the great unifier who will bring our nation together, just look at what he has done within your own political party. I would hardly call the alienation of 1/2 of Hillary Clinton supporters a profound move towards unity.

J Brown
August 26th, 2008