Dr. Earl D. Trent Jr.

The Super Bowl will be viewed by millions, but American electoral politics is watched by billions. The money, hype, arrogance and outrageous behavior makes the Super Bowl look like a high school homecoming game.

Black America is one of the players in this political process, but the question is whether we are playing to win and take home a trophy.

This may seem to be a simplistic question but in the fog of questions that have been unleashed on Black America, the simplest and most important questions are being overlooked.

A simple axiom of critical analysis states: "If you do not ask the right questions, you cannot get the right answers." Is America ready for an African American president? Is America ready for a woman president? Who is most electable? Who is ready to lead from day one or two? Does the candidate have enough experience? Who is the most likeable? Who is the real agent of change? Is Barack Obama black enough?
None of these are the right questions for Black America. None of them if answered gets us to the core issues of the political process. And none of them gets us to the prize.

Politics is not about individual votes, it is about groups leveraging their votes. That is the core process.

Politics is about deciding who gets a slice of the pie, who gets the crumbs and who gets nothing. That is the prize. The question for Black America is, "How we can leverage our votes so that we can get our slice of that trillion dollar economic pie to benefit our communities and families?" Nothing else matters.
Let's focus on the political realities.

The state primaries and caucuses are held to determine who will be the Democratic nominee. No one, I repeat, no one can become the Democratic nominee without a very significant portion of the Black vote.

Volunteers are pouring into South Carolina from all over the country and even the Caribbean to help get out the Black vote for Obama. In response to their urging to “become a part of history,” one Black student declared, “It’s time for a Black man to become president. It will give me such pride.” Photo: Valencia Mohammed, AFRO

This is not new. The Democratic Party has known this for years and counted on the Black vote. Unashamedly, the Democratic Party continues to take the Black vote for granted with little concern for the economic needs of Black America.
Why? Because we have never coalesced around our own agenda and traded our votes for a slice of the pie. A few of us have received a few crumbs, but we, Black America, have never received a slice.

It is time for a change.

Sen. Clinton and Sen. Edwards represent the Democratic establishment. It does not matter what they have done in the past. Today they represent the established Democratic Party, a party that needs to receive a message that it is no longer business as usual.

How do we send that message? By voting in large numbers for Sen. Obama in the primaries. He is the only candidate who does not represent the established norm of the Democratic Party.

If we vote in a large bloc for Obama, we will then have leverage to achieve real change in our economic wellbeing. Not because we have voted for Obama, but because we have voted in a bloc.

Secondly, and most important, we must then craft our own agenda centered on our economic wellbeing. This agenda we present to the Democratic nominee. Again, If Obama becomes the nominee, he cannot win the presidency without our votes. If Clinton becomes the nominee, she cannot win without our votes. If Edwards becomes the nominee, he cannot win without our votes. Our votes come with our agenda. This is one of the basic rules of the political game.

Those politicians and civil rights leaders who have endorsed Hillary Clinton have an agenda of personal loyalty and benefit, but it does not include Black America. This explains why we have heard some of the ridiculous statements about the blackness of the Clintons and the questioning of the blackness of Obama.

Put all the candidates under a street light at night in any major city and see who has to struggle to get a cab to stop. That is the candidate who is black enough to get our temporary support. Why temporary? Because in this game there are no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, only permanent interests. Improving the economy of Black America has to be our permanent interest.

It is imperative that Black people in large numbers vote for Sen. Obama in the primaries. It will send a message to the Democratic establishment that the days of business as usual are over and it will give us the leverage to achieve real change in our economic wellbeing. That is winning America's pastime. That is a trophy worth bringing back to our communities and families.

Dr. Earl D. Trent Jr. is chairman of the board of The Harvest Institute, a think tank for the economic and social empowerment of Black America, author of "A Challenge to the Black Church" and senior pastor of Florida Avenue Baptist Church, 623 Florida Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20001, www.flavbc.org. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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