Harolds Broad Base Appeal Inspired Obamas Campaign

admin |

Remembering Harold April 15, 1922-November 25, 1987
Remembering Harold April 15, 1922-November 25, 1987

by Lesley R. Chinn

Before U.S. Senator BarackObama emerged as the first Blackpresident of the United States onNovember 4, 2008, 25 years earlier,Congressman HaroldWashington was electedChicagos first Black mayor. OnNovember 25, 2008, the cityobserved the 21st anniversary ofthe late Mayors death.

Chicagos image of corrupt politicshas been helped by both ofthese figures, changing the waypeople view the city, both nationallyand abroad. At a party heldshortly after his re-election onApril 7, 1987, the late Mayorsaid to a group of supporters, Inthe old days, when you told peoplein other countries that youwere from Chicago, they wouldsay, Boom-boom! Rat-a-tat-tat!Nowadays, they say, HowsHarold?!

With Obamas election, theCitizen talked to renownedWVON radio host and magazinereporter for In These Times,Salim Muwakkil. Muwakkil, theauthor of Harold: Photographsfrom the Harold WashingtonYears, featuring photographs byAntonio Dickey, and MarcPoKempner, first became fascinatedwith Harold in 1976 whenMayor Richard J. Daley died andthe Chicago Democratic Machinerefused to allow then 34th WardAld. Wilson Frost, who is Blackand who was the citys PresidentPro Temp, to become the nextmayor.

Muwakkil, who interviewedWashington as a Congressmanfor the Chicago Reader, recalledthat the failure to elect Frostsparked protests among Blackleaders. The controversy led theBlack community to set up aseries of meetings in search of aqualified African-American mayoralcandidate to run in the 1983election. Those actions resultedin Harold Washington becomingChicagos first Black Mayor.

Citizen: What propelled thesetwo Black leaders to socialpower? Was it social politics orwas it their charisma and charmwith the people that carried themthrough?

Muwakkil: What propelledthem is a mixture of their owninternal motivation and the timesthat opportunities provided by theenvironment of the times. HaroldWashington took advantage ofthe fact that Richard M. Daleywas running against JaneByrneand that split the Whitevote and allowed Harold anopportunity to get in betweenthose two warring Irish factionsand assert the Black vote in astrong way. Senator Obama had acompletely different dynamic.Most Black people didnt reallysupport him because they reallysupported Hillary Clinton until hewon in Iowa. Once we realizedthat White people would vote for(Obama), we said that he had agood chance of making it and solets get behind him. It was Blackpeople that propelled Harold andWhite people said that hes gotall this solid Black support andlets get onboard.

Citizen: Do you think that bothHarold and Obama helped unitethe Black community into supportingone candidate?Muwakkil: Harold united BlackChicago like nobody has andnobody has done it since. Obamahad a lot of Black support almost unanimous Black supportbecause Black people sawthat White people would vote forhim and we had to do everythingwe could to help him win. Haroldhad this Black support becausehe simply inspired Black loyalty.Harold and Obama were workingin different stadiums. Barack hada much wider stadium and manymore considerations to make andpotential pitfalls than Harold andhe had to be more careful.Anything that hinted that hewould be an angry Black manthat would have done (Obama)in. Now Harold was often picturedand relished as the angryBlack man to let you know thatwere not going to take it anymorein Chicago and that reallyinspired Black people. They haddifferent playing fields. HaroldWashington performed well onhis playing field and BarackObama performed exceedinglywell on his to get through it all.Citizen: How would you comparethe campaign styles ofObama and Washington?

Muwakkil: There are some similarities.I did a book on HaroldWashington called Harold:Photographs from the HaroldWashington Years, with AntonioDickey and Marc PoKempner. Inone of the pictures, we have aphotograph of HaroldWashington where he was at theHilton. It was during the vote primary(sic) and he was watchingthe vote count process in a suitewhere a group of White progressivesand many of those sameones who were in that photographwere essential in theBarack Obama campaign. Inmany ways, Obama appealed tothose same kinds of White progressiveconstituencies thatHarold Washington appealedto...We have [an] excerpt whereObama talked about his firstexposure to people talking aboutHarold Washington in his barbershop and how he saw in theirfaces and gestures and voiceshe understood just how HaroldWashington inspired the Blackcommunity.

Citizen: Do you think Obamasoaked in some of what Harolddid in regards to his own campaign?Muwakkil: Yeah. I think thatswhy he came to Chicago essentiallyis because the city is reallythe Black political capital ofAmerica. He understood thatHarold Washington was theembodiment of that and heabsorbed that very carefully.Citizen: Do you think thatObama would have commandedthe support he would have gottenif he were running for presidentin 1983 or 1987 whenWashington ran for Mayor? Whyor why not?

Muwakkil: No, no, it wouldnthave worked. This country wasntmature enough racially toaccept that kind of candidacyfrom a Black man. The field hadntbeen plowed yet. (Rev). Jesse(L. Jackson) and others helpedplow that field. Jesses campaignin 1984 and 1988 was the beginningof a serious quest for WhiteHouse power for Black politicians.Weve often forget howpopular Jesse Jackson was especiallyin his 88 campaign. Heattracted a lot of White votes andwon the Michigan primary. Hewas formidable. I think thatplowed the field for someone likeBarack Obama to run.

Citizen: According to reportsfiled with the Federal ElectionCommission, Obamas campaignraised more money in the firstquarter of 2008 at over $133 millionthan in 2007 at $103 million.By the General Election, heraised a total of more than $650million. Obama attributed this tothe use of collecting donationsfrom private donors rather thanthe use of public campaign funds.Obama has broken all fundraisingrecords of previous presidentialcampaigns. How do you thinkthis will change the face of futurepresidential campaigns, or betteryet any political campaign?

Muwakkil: Im a little wary ofthe precedent this may setbecause one of the longstandingdemands of the progressive politicalmovement in this country isto take money out of politics.When you have a politician whois disproportionately wealthy,they have an advantage and somoney becomes an advantageand it perpetuates privileges. Theprogressive movement hasalways been urging the governmentto become less dependenton political fundraising. On theother hand, a whole new paradigmhas been created throughthe Internet (because) it can reachdeeper into political constituenciesthan we ever had been ableto reach before. Small donors cancontribute and have as much ofan impact as large donors. Thismay in fact be fulfilling the argumentof conservatives who haveargued that political donationsare like freedom of speech. Theconservatives say if you limit theamount of money you candonate, youre actually limitingthe freedom of speech of someonespolitical allegiance.Technology has equalized thingsin ways we havent expected.

Citizen: How would youdescribe Obama andWashingtons campaign styles asfar technology is concerned?

Muwakkil: The fundraisingexpertise that was demonstratedby the Obama campaign wasastounding. That notion of goingto the Internet and cultivatingsmall donors who can continue toprovide increments of fundinghere and there whenever necessary,that was an amazing insight.The idea of [the] communityorganizing model from the bottomup, which is how the campaignused its campaign office,was also an innovation that canbe attributed to the Obama campaignand perhaps his communityorganizing experience

Citizen: How do you seeHarolds legacy in Obama?

Muwakkil: Obama realized thathe had to broaden his campaignbeyond the parochial concerns ofthe Black community, but Harolddid the same thing. A lot of peoplewere angry at Harold becausehe wanted to be fair. I think thatis one of the lessons that SenatorObama learned. He had to craft aprogressive platform that couldattract Blacks and Whites, notnecessarily on issues of race, buton issues on political fairness andsocial justice.

Citizen: What if anything, willthis mean for a new generation ofleaders?

Muwakkil: It eliminates themental barrier that many of ourpeople [have] concerning thenotion of accomplishment. Itopened the road on their aspirationsand (Obama) proved tomany folks that you could succeed,if you simply had the rightformula. Thats always been ourproblem (with Black people)because we act as though wedont have that abilityand whatBarack Obama does is that hedemonstrates to us that we canapply ourselves and succeed.

Latest Stories

Latest Podcast

STARR Community Services International, Inc.