Outside view: Stay, and sin no more

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- It is difficult being black, conservative and Republican when nearly 75 percent of the rest of black America are liberal Democrats. Many of my friends and colleagues -- long-time black Republican activists -- expressed outrage over Republican Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott's comments at the birthday party for retiring Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina.

Many black Republicans feared the Senate majority leader's comments made their lives and support for the GOP tougher; that he single-handedly obliterated all their attempts to free the majority of black voters from being a "wholly owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party," set back their often thankless efforts to bring the Republican Party racially into the 21st century and rolled back all the gains of the Nov. 5 midterm congressional elections.

What is really going on here?

Many Democrats, especially black Democrats, were demoralized after the November elections as party leaders blamed black Democrats for the loses.

They said black Democrats failed to match the 2000 black voter turnout levels. These lower turnout levels, especially in Southern states and key urban areas, allowed the GOP to retain control of the House, recapture the Senate, pickup state legislatures, and win key governors' races, especially in the Democrat strongholds of Maryland and Georgia.

Black Democrats countered that their national leadership failed to provide a platform that could "energize the base."

On the other hand, Republicans had done a pretty good job of eroding the usual Democrat political weapons. Plus, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America and the subsequent "war of terrorism" -- real enemies of America, both within and without --trumped any manufactured political demons.

In addition, President George W. Bush and the Republicans had taken away from the Democrats, what David Horowitz in his booklet, "How to Beat the Democrats: A Primer for Republicans," calls "the caring issues" -- Social Security, healthcare, and education. Republicans seriously competed for black votes in key states and races -- advertising heavily on black radio stations, in black newspapers and magazines, with direct mail, campaigning in black neighborhoods, visiting black churches and running credible black Republican candidates.

The result: None of the premiere black Democratic statewide candidates won their races -- Ron Kirk lost his Texas Senate bid and Carl McCall lost his New York governor's challenge.

For the first time it was black Republicans who won key statewide races: Michael Steele as Maryland's lieutenant governor; Jeanette Bradley as lieutenant governor of Ohio; and Kenneth Blackwell" class="tpstyle">J. Kenneth Blackwell as Ohio's secretary of state.

Some members of the Congressional Black Caucus lost their bid for re-election -- in the primary no less. Reps. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia and Earl Hilliard of Alabama were both rejected by their own constituents for their extremism.

Rep. Harold Ford's, D-Tenn., candidacy for a House leadership position sparked an ugly division between left and moderate "New Democrats," especially among black Democrats. There was total disarray.

The only Democrat bright spot was Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu's successful reelection bid, where the increased black voter turnout was a significant factor in her victory.

Then comes Lott. Unwittingly, his offensive remarks and woefully inept damage control and crisis management efforts handed the Democrats an early Christmas present.

This was also a gift to many Republican conservatives who have long viewed Lott as an ineffectual majority leader, a "political compromiser" -- to conservatives a pejorative term. They are more than happy to use the race flap to topple him from his leadership position.

Lott has also given conservatives, at his expense, an opportunity to remove from themselves the stigma of having come late to the right side (no pun intended) of the civil rights fight. They can now express "moral outrage" and be "redeemed" by sacrificing one of their own.

The truth is neither party is pure as Caesar's wife when it comes to matters of race.

It is black America that will, however, bear the brunt of this controversy. We have businesses to build, children to educate, families to strengthen, communities to nourish, a nation to defend, an economy to grow, welfare to reform, healthcare to provide. But, we are expending precious political capital arguing over an America that should have never been, will never be again and one which the vast majority of Americans collectively repudiated long ago.

As for Lott, well, the Republican Party is so much more than him or any one individual senator. He has apologized again and again and again and again. He has asked for our "forbearance and forgiveness."

To him I say, "I can forgive, but I can never forget -- so stay and sin no more."

-- Phyllis Berry Myers is president and chief executive officer of the Center for New Black Leadership, a Washington research and education organization promoting a market-oriented, community-based vision of public leadership for black communities in America and abroad.

-- Outside View commentaries are written for UPI by outside writers who specialize in issues of public interest.