8:24 PM - 'Malcolms' And Dealmakers
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air jordan 11,It's simple now to mark the date when the Black
Caucus found its voice-and Bill Clinton started worrying about it.
It was June three, when he abruptly decided not to nominate a black
professor named Lani Guinier to a Justice Department post. Dissed
by a new president the caucus thought it could trust, it reacted
with an angry solidarity-even if many of its members privately
disagreed with Guinier's race-obsessed views. We're not combative,
stated caucus chairman Kweisi Mfume of Maryland, but we're not
going to roll over. ããSoon
Mfume, with the caucus's blessing, was attacking Clinton's efforts
to mollify conservative Democrats within the Senate and complaining
about the lack of minority staffers in his inner circle. The caucus
even rebuffed an invitation from Clinton to break bread at the
White House. Instead this last bastion of liberalism sent him,'60s
style, a list of nonnegotiable demands for more money for your poor
and the cities.The caucus's high profile comes at a precarious time
for the president. The budget package barely slipped through the
Senate last week, thanks to a tie-breaking vote by Vice President
Al Gore; a much more liberal version squeaked via the Home by only
six votes in May. The vote around the last package, most likely in
late July, will be very close, and the caucus's 37 Democratic
members in the House could make the distinction. We can't afford to
have the caucus against us, says a leading White House aide. We
won't have votes to spare.In reality, the caucus isn't fairly the
monolith it seemed to be in the aftermath of the Guinier debacle. 1
well-connected member describes the factions to colleagues with a
series of tongue-in-cheek names. You will find, he says, a half
dozen Malcolms who reject all compromise in the manner of Malcolm
X. Mfume plays this role when he needs to. And you will find an
equal quantity of Angelas, sisters to the Malcolms, around the
model of onetime radical Angela Davis. Rep. Maxine Waters of
California, well-known for her heated rhetoric, is the caucus
members' nominee in this category. But there are also a couple of
Jeff Davises, a mocking reference to the president with the
Confederacy, mainly from newly produced and often rural districts
in the South. They are fairly sensitive to their rural
constituents, many of whom are white, and looking for deals to make
with conservative Democrats. Probably the biggest group is composed
of Gone with the Winds, dealmakers like Rep. John Lewis of Georgia
who think the caucus's single-minded concentrate on race is
counterproductive. I do not major in caucus, Lewis tartly declares.
His primary objective: helping the first Democratic president in a
dozen years pass his economic program.The amateur sociologist might
have additional a fifth group: Adam Clayton Powells, senior members
from large cities who are poised to turn out to be the brand new
committee barons with the Home. They are not just within the
leadership; more and more, they're the leadership. Lewis, for
example, is a deputy whip. Ron Dellums of Oakland, Calif. is
currently chairman of the Armed Solutions Committee. They're, by
now, old hands at wheeling and dealing.Clinton's aim will probably
be to divide and conquer: to beat racial politics using the lure of
power and money. He doesn't have to give the caucus every thing it
wants; he just needs to give certain members the tax breaks and
nearby projects that will permit them to claim victory back
house.The caucus is demanding an excellent deal: about $35 billion
really worth of extra spending and tax breaks the Senate refused to
support. The caucus may be the only location on Capitol Hill
exactly where entitlements are still spoken of with reverence: I'd
like to see a great Society, says Mfume, and if there is correct
oversight, it'll succeed. The caucus's nonnegotiable requests
include: $7 billion in extra food-stamp investing; hold Medicare
cuts to $50 billion (the Senate approved $60 billion) and restore
cash to get a number of training, healthcare, coaching and
summer-jobs programs._B_'You get what you need':_b_ At the exact
same time, some members of the Black Caucus may be willing to
declare victory in the type of programs which have a brand new
Democrat ring: tax cuts designed to market individual initiative
and responsibility. Mfume, amongst others, is focusing on restoring
the full scope with the earned-income tax credit for the operating
poor, cut over a third from the Senate. The caucus also desires
some $5 billion worth of tax credits for new empowerment zones that
will market company investment in cities-a provision that was
dropped completely by the Senate. President Clinton has signaled
his interest in fighting for both. It is like that rock song, says
Rep. Craig Washing-ton of Houston, recalling a Rolling Stones
anthem. 'You cannot always get what you want, but if you attempt
sometime, you just might discover, you receive what you
need'.Washington is emblematic with the split character with the
caucus: the Malcolms and the dealmakers. With his spectacles and
bow tie, he talks with an edge of populist anger and looks like a
country lawyer. The individuals with cash had a party in the '80s,
he says. Now they are telling us to sacrifice for the subsequent
generation. But I'm speaking about meals and footwear for this
generation. Washington, however, is no stranger to the nation club.
As he walked down the hallway outside his workplace, he was
approached by a lobbyist who invited him to get a round of golf.
Smiling affably, Washington swung an imaginary golf club, with
practiced ease.Cool of dazzle
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