BROADENING THE DISCOURSE
BY JULIANNE MALVEAUX
Rev. Al Sharpton is a man on a mission. He says he wants to make sure
that Democrats don’t drift so far to center that they become Demublicans. So
he’s running for President – or at least he’s running toward a run. He spoke
to a group of about a thousand activists at the State of the black World
conference in Atlanta last weekend. And in his rousing talk, he made a
passionate case that there is room for him in a Presidential race.
Sharpton’s exploratory committee posts such African American luminaries
as Harvard Professor Cornel West. It is bolstered by Sharpton’s 90 day
incarceration because of he protested US bombings in Puerto Rico’s Vieques.
And, some of his supporters say, it has legs because Sharpton has run
credible campaigns for Senator, and for New York City’s Mayor. In both
cases, Sharpton got more votes than anyone expected him to, and showed that
he could “stomp with the big dogs” of majority politics, holding his own in
some debates, and bringing much-needed gravitas to others.
His quest to run is made more urgent by the hegemony that September 11
has engendered. There’s not much debate out there, whether the issue is
civil liberties or racial profiling. People feel prepared to embrace
President Bush and his minions around a range of issues, and that stifles
conversation. We are prepared to allow the FBI to detain people without
explanation, to allow them to eavesdrop on conversations between attorneys
and their clients. We are prepared to bomb rubble on top of rubble in
Afghanistan without having conversation about our foreign policy. Democrats
have entertained some of the most conservative economic proposals in the name
of supporting the President. If Sharpton can expand the debate, some say,
that’s a good thing.
Still, how much expanding will Sharpton really do? I sat next to him and
was apart of a panel that questioned him at the State of the Black World
Conference, and found him to bubble over with energy, while falling short on
platform. What would he do about economic stimulus? He says he wouldn’t cut
corporate taxes. Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) says the same thing. He says
he’d rebuild our nation’s infrastructure. A score of progressive Democrats,
including Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill) have made the same point. How would he
deal with Social Security? He says it shouldn’t be privatized. So does Al
Gore. In street parlance, Sharpton is pushing Democratic Kool-Aid with a
little bit of flavor. I’m not sure how that expands the discourse and debate.
To be sure, Sharpton is far more pointed on race matters and foreign
policy. He is pointed on issues of racial profiling, especially around
September 11. He chided African Americans not to believe the hype and
support the profiling of Arab Americans, and he was stinging in his criticism
of our nation’s Israel policy. And, to his credit, he dismissed notions that
his potential Presidential run is a Jesse Jackson rip-off, and was clear at
the opportunities, including victories at the state and local level, that a
Sharpton race might produce. If you don’t run, you can’t win, he said, and
people cheered. Still, there will be no winners if Mr. Sharpton doesn’t
develop a compelling and unique platform.
In other words, Sharpton can run a marquee campaign that will never be as
successful as the 1984 and 1988 “Run, Jesse, Run” campaigns. Or, he can do
as Nader, Bradley, and even Perot have done with independent (or long-shot)
races and develop a platform that clearly distinguishes him from the
mainstream. He can galvanize people simply because he’s Sharpton, or he can
fine-tune the debate by reminding Democrats of what they need to stand for.
Whatever he does, the majority will see him as a flawed vessel in which we
can carry progressive water. But if he makes it all about Al, not all about
the people, he runs the risk of advancing nothing more than his own ambitions.
It’s early yet for Sharpton – at least 18 months before the big boys (and
girls) come out flexing their muscles and talking about their goals. It’s
early enough for his exploratory committee to run him through a hundred or so
cities, to hold regional meetings, and to assess the way people respond to
him. Sharpton shouldn’t allow himself to be fooled by the cheers he will get
from crowds like those at the State of the Black World Conference. They
appreciate him, as much as anything, for the “in your face” quality he uses
to confront the establishment. But appreciation won’t translate into
motivation unless Sharpton brings something new to the table. He can’t just
broaden the discourse. He also has to bring substance to it.