First Black President Will Be a Republican

Is America ready for a black president? Absolutely; it has been for some time. We probably would have had one by now if the black community had ever supported a conservative the way they are now supporting one of the most liberal. More than likely the first black president will be a Republican.

On August 5, the New York Young Republican Club had a fund-raiser in Manhattan for Colonel Allen West, who is running for Congress. The irony is that Colonel West is running for Congress in Florida and therefore has a chance. The black community in New York only supports Democrats.

I followed the link to his campaign site, allenwestforcongress.com, and read his superb bio. Colonel West has a B.S. and M.S. in political science; spent 22 years in the military and won a Bronze Star, three Meritorious Service Medals, three Army Commendation Medals (one with Valor), and, yes, he's black. The best recommendation for his candidacy may be that Keith Olbermann put him on his Worst Person in the World list.

Here in Staten Island, the Democratic Party has never had a black as a local candidate. Republicans had Al Curtis and Terry Player run for local New York offices in 2002, but the black community supported the white Democrats instead of two very fine candidates, so that Staten Island's record for having only elected white candidates still stands.

Mr. Curtis was a superb candidate, but he made the mistake of running a color-blind campaign the first time he ran for state Senate in 2002. A real African-American, born in Liberia, Mr. Curtis was commissioner of the New York City Department of Youth Services under Mayor Giuliani. He has served as the president and chief executive officer of the United Nations Development Corp. and was a president of the Staten Island branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

I met him for coffee sometime after the 2002 loss and asked him why he didn't put his picture on the campaign posters. I live in Stapleton, a predominantly Democratic district with a large minority population, and felt if the community knew he was a black man, he would have received more support. I also thought he lost because he did not have much support from the state Republican Party. He told me he wanted to run on the issues, not the color of his skin.

Another strong candidate, Terry Player, ran for the Assembly in the 61st District, a Democratic North Shore stronghold. He's black and a Republican. Naturally, he lost.

New York is not the only state that dooms black conservatives. In 2006, Michael Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland and a man many Republicans would support for president, ran for the U.S. Senate and almost won. He managed to win the support of prominent blacks such as Russell Simmons and Michael Mfume. He even had a group called Democrats for Steele organize large turnouts at events. Mr. Steele almost won against Benjamin Cardin until Parkinson's sufferer Michael J. Fox came to town and played the sympathy card, falsely alleging that Mr. Steele was against stem cell research. To this day many voters still do not understand the difference between embryonic and adult stem cell research. Had Mr. Steele had the full support of his community this tactic would not have succeeded, but as usual, many blacks still vote straight down the Democratic ticket.

One would think that a Hall of Fame football star such as Lynn Swann would have aced his run for Pennsylvania governor, but once again, he lost because he ran as a Republican.

The blacks who have attained the strongest national leadership roles have been Republicans: the first black secretary of state, Colin Powell, and the first black female secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice.

Republicans have been ready for a black president since Lincoln.

acolon@nysun.com