Breaking with tradition: Jesse Jackson, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama

Jesse Jackson has endorsed Barack Obama (there are many articles but here is one from the International Herald Tribune), for the nomination of the Democratic Party for President (sub-text: not Hillary Clinton) and the Democratic nomination is now up for grabs. Why? Because the black vote is very important to the Democratic Party, and the Take-Them-For-Granted era is -- apparently -- over.

Cudos to Rev. Jackson for his "split" from the Dem Party Line: and we all know that the Democratic Line is vote for Hillary--it's Her time, not Obama's time...

Well, good point: Who's time is it?

I say it's the time for American independents. The time for ordinary people in this country to speak up about what it is that the American people need and desire. Our history of identity politics (how drab is the dialogue about black vs. women vs. gay vs. conservative vs. liberal vs. whoever?) is changing.

I'm not endorsing Obama, but I have to admit, the emerging alliance between black voters, independent voters, the "topsy-turvy" climate, lead me to paying a LOT of attention to the Obama campaign.

What will Barack Obama's outreach to independent voters look like? That's a question I'm eager to see play out. -NH