EURweb.com - BETWEEN THE LINES: The Week We’ve All Been Waiting For: When Hillary Becomes A Full 'Team Player'

*The Democratic National Convention began this week, amid the hyperbole of the Joe Biden selection as a running mate and one in four Hillary supporters stating that they would not vote for Barack Obama because she was never considered.

It is not a position that Black America is unfamiliar with.

We did the same thing 20 years when Michael Dukakis passed over Jesse Jackson in Atlanta. Dukakis needed an extraordinary turnout to beat Bush I that November.

He didn’t get it, largely because Jesse Jackson didn’t fully engage himself in Dukakis’ campaign. Jackson stated that the Dukakis campaign only wanted him to “pick black votes” (as in pick cotton) rather than to incorporate Jesse’s socio-economic change platform for urban-dwellers (poor blacks) and rural residents (poor white farmers).

It was an election that Democrats wasn’t supposed to lose, after eight stifling years of Reaganomics. Now after eight (more than) stifling years of being “Bush-whacked,” the Democrats face another “must win, can’t lose” moment. The party is split in half and is being headed by the most exciting candidacy the Dems have had in almost fifty years. And they’re running even with a less competitive, less exciting, less imaginative GOP candidate. The only way the Democrats will win, if the Democrats come together.

As big a week as this will be for Barack Obama, it will be a bigger week for Hillary Clinton. Will she bring the party together? Or will she mouth words we want to hear but release her delegates to vote their “feelings.”

Let’s not get too lost in the subplot. This is the moment we’ve all waited for. The expectation that the Obama campaign would somehow implode, or explode, on some events unexplained or unexpected, was great. Even when Barack did it right, the pundits found a way to critique it—but they could never say—he got it. All they could say was, “but, he could’ve, or he should’ve…” Whether it was his fundraising, his foreign policy tour, or his Vice Presidential process, all they could say was, “damn.” Finally, all they could really criticize him for, was being “too good,” “too rational,” and get this one, too popular. Yes, he was even criticized for being “too large.” How can you be too large in a popular election when numbers is the name of the game. Still, Barack didn’t trip over himself, didn’t fade in the polls, didn’t fail to deliver, and most importantly, with Hillary desperately waiting in the wings, didn’t cause the Democrats to re-think their choice for party nominee.

This week, Barack Obama will make history as any major party’s first Black nominee. So, where does that leave Hillary and her supporters? It is now the moment of truth for the Democratic Party. Do they really want to win, and will they do what’s necessary to win? That is what we are all waiting to see.

Tuesday night is the night Hillary has her moment in the sun. It’s doesn’t have to be a final bow, but it darn sure can’t be a patronization of the moment. In her own historical moment, will be the moment in which the Democrats take off, or they limp to the finish line in November.

For a party who has been known to shoot themselves in both foot, this is not something to be ignored. Clinton is supposed to “release” her delegates on this night. It won’t be a matter of if she releases her delegates (even though a roll call vote and floor draft has been in the works since she got out of the race). It will be a matter of how she releases the delegates. Will she ask them to support Barack Obama? Will she tell them to support Barack Obama? Or will she, for the sake of the opportunity to change the direction of the nation, demand that loyalty to the party at this time mandates that her supporters support Barack? Hurt feelings aside, Hillary loss is Hillary’s loss, particularly in a race set-up for her to win. But destiny doesn’t have a time nor a place. We can choose to be a part of destiny or we can (try and) get in the way of destiny. Either way, Hillary can be a part of history. It will be her call, and the whole world will be watching.

This week, we’ll see which side of history Hillary Clinton chooses to stand on. And we’ll see if the Democratic Party is truly a team ready to win an election in November. Either way, Congratulations to Barack Obama on making history this week.

Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D., is a national columnist, managing director of the Urban Issues Forum (www.urbanissuesforum.com) and author of the new book, Saving The Race: Empowerment Through Wisdom. He can be reached at www.AnthonySamad.com

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BETWEEN THE LINES: The Week We’ve All Been Waiting For: When Hillary Becomes A Full 'Team Player'