How Harold Ford's Impulsive Love For White Women Cost Him - And Black America - A U.S. Senate Seat

Yes, I called out the pink elephant in the room. I tell it like it is about how Bob Corker's campaign was able to turn back the bid of Rep. Harold Ford Jr. to become the first black person elected to the U.S. Senate from the South since Reconstruction. Now before folks start accusing me of haterade, note that I (1) supported Rep. Harold Ford Jr.'s candidacy almost a year before he even officially announced it in Summer 2005. I would have voted for the moderate-liberal Democrat if I lived in Tennessee. Yet someone must call out the political ramifications of Rep. Ford Jr.'s very-ill-fated and impulsive choice in allowing his love for white women to override his common and political sense by attending the Playboy Super Bowl Party, and thus giving the Republican National Committee the political ammunition in the first place to undermine his political goals via that controversial "Call Me" ad.

Bob Corker, the former mayor or Chattanooga, got 51% of the vote to Rep. Ford Jr.'s 48% of the vote. Mr. Corker led by about 48,495 votes. That is probably much closer than many folks believed Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. could do in Tennessee. Overall, he ran a fantastic campaign. Yet the botttom line is that had Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. been dating or (politically even better) married to a Black Pearl, like Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois has done, instead of chasing after white bimbos (vs. even dating a quality white woman), he would probably be U.S. Senator-Elect Harold Ford Jr. preparing to join Sen. Obama in the legislative chamber and not Harold Ford trying to decide what to do in a post-political career.

Some of my readers disagree that the ad race baited Rep. Harold Ford Jr. I strongly disagree. The controversial and later-pulled ad peaked with the white blonde claiming she met Junior at the Playboy party. Her image appeared again, as the last one to close the ad. All the other issues mentioned in the ad - guns, terrorism, North Korea, porn donors, etc. - were mere supporting characters to the ad's true intent, which was to code Rep. Harold Ford Jr. as a lover of white women.

I was surprised how most critics only focused on how this ad played to Tennessee white male fears of black male-white female unions. Booker Rising was one of the very, very few observers to note how the controversial ad also played to the anxieties of another group on this issue: black women, who comprise the majority of Tennessee's black voters. 81% of likely Tennessee voters, of all races, saw the ad, and undecided folks who saw the ad broke 2-1 in favor of Mr. Corker.

Let this be a lesson for other black men who seek higher political office: when you believe that you are too good for black women, don't be surprised if chasing after white women hurts your career with voters. Particularly in a tight political race. How many black women - who could have perhaps reversed that slim lead of 48,495 votes that Mr. Corker possessed at the end of this political race - did not turn out to vote (or left the ballot for this particular race blank) because they were turned off by what they saw in the ad? First of all, a guy running for statewide office in a state like Tennessee should have had more political sense to go to any event associated with Playboy, and a black man - regardless of his actual dating preferences - should not make it so easy for his opponents to use such a controversial issue as a wedge issue against him by attending said party either.

Now we don't have another black U.S. Senator, at least in part because of Rep. Ford Jr.'s impulsiveness....which the foul RNC ad later exploited against him. Rep. Ford Jr. must take some responsibility for giving the political ammunition to the GOP in the first place, and allowing the debate to symbolically shift from policy positions to his penchant for white women.