"I'm qualified, probably more qualified than any other person who is expected to be on the Democratic ticket for 2004, because I actually have a following and I speak for the people."
So boasts Rev. Al Sharpton as he prepares his campaign to secure the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, a campaign that has all of the markings of a Jesse Jackson redux. The reverend's entrance into the race is evidence of a decaying black political culture where ego trumps politics. His presence in the race is the last gasp of a dying black political culture that has transformed over a generation from bold, effective and results-oriented politics to rhetoric and symbolism.
The prize for Sharpton, of course, is to become the third Head Negro In Charge, a symbolic political mobilization that replaces effective politics.
The HNIC syndrome has witnessed the rise of symbolic leaders-Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan and now Sharpton-who may be charismatic, but are politically unaccountable to the very people they claim to represent. Namely African Americans. This transformation has been underway since the 1970s, but most African Americans have yet to confront it. Because black America has not faced up to the moribund nature of black politics, it has witnessed the rise of these symbolic leaders.
Sharpton's run mirrors Jackson's attempts to move the Democratic Party back toward its progressive roots. Jackson ran twice for the Democratic nomination-in 1984 and 1988-and while he did increase black participation in politics, the party soon moved rightward with the ascendance of the Democratic Leadership Council and the subsequent election of Bill Clinton. Even Sharpton's formal announcement of speaking for the "disaffected" mirrors his former mentor's Rainbow Coalition, Jackson's insurgent vehicle that was always more shadow than substance in his quest for being a protest power broker. And yet Sharpton's candidacy, in the eyes of some, does have its virtues.
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