In Appalachia, Obama needs to get uniform dirty, as Jackson did; he'd be like poke, humorist says

Some of the commentary about the presidential primary elections in Kentucky and West Virginia has painted with too broad a brush, leaving the impression that racism is a common trait among Appalachians. A couple of pieces by people who actually know something about the region make clear that plenty of Appalachians are ready to embrace candidates of color.

In the Daily Yonder, Bill Bishop, right, recalls Jesse Jackson's trip to Eastern Kentucky during his 1988 presidential campaign, in which Jackson "drew respect and a following. A reported 4,000 people crammed the high school gym in Hazard to listen to Rev. Jackson speak. Sen. Barack Obama might have been able to pull 4,000 people to the Hazard high school gym in 2008, but he never came to Eastern Kentucky. He held rallies in Louisville, Ky., and Charleston, W.Va,, the two largest cities in the states. But he never ventured into the coalfields." (Kentucky has two coalfields, one shared with West Virginia.)

"In effect, he rejected the people of Kentucky and West Virginia," Tammy Horn, is senior researcher at Eastern Kentucky University's Environmental Research Institute, writes in the Lexington Herald-Leader. "When two states such as West Virginia and Kentucky contribute to half of the energy needs of the nation, a candidate should at least care to create a perception that he acknowledges the people of those states. Not to do so may make some people, dare we say it, bitter." (Read more)

Bishop says Jackson's 1988 trip changed the reverend's life, making him an advocate for poor whites, often in Appalachia. In late 1998, "Jackson brought President Bill Clinton to a gathering of CEOs from Bell Atlantic, Frito Lay, TCI, Citigroup and the New York Stock Exchange to talk about poverty in the mountains. Jackson told the business elite that this was the time to make a commitment to Appalachia. ... He turned to Clinton and reminded him that those who wore 'clean uniforms' never got in the game. 'Those who play have stains on their uniforms,' Jackson said. If you eat an early breakfast in the mountains, there’s a good chance you’ll sit next to some miners fresh off the hoot-owl shift. Their uniforms and their faces will be smudged from their jobs underground. They showed up for work and they expect their politicians to show up, too."

So, Obama still has a clean uniform, and the betting is that he won't get it dirty in West Virginia or Kentucky, where Hillary Clinton beat him badly. But a longtime Eastern Kentucky political and humor columnist (who is also a Republican) writes in the Herald-Leader that Obama would be a tonic to the political system much like pokeweed, above, can be. (Southeastern Outdoors photo)

Pikeville lawyer Larry Webster, left, puts his observations in the mind of Slemp, one of his regular characters: "The country people have always used poke to clean them out in the spring. You have to be fairly close to plumbing to eat poke, but with some fried, salt-cured shoulder and a boiled egg or two, Slemp would be willing to take the risk. ... Slemp thinks Obama will act on the government like poke acts on people, which would be a real good thing. Slemp has nothing against the sons of admirals or the sons of the 41st president or the wife of the 42nd, but he thinks them unlikely to have the desired poke effect. It appears that all of those kinds of people will only further impact the national bowel."

As for the rumor that Obama is a Muslim, stated as fact by the Republican judge-executive of neighboring Leslie County, Webster writes: "He wishes Obama actually was a Muslim, saying it would be a good time to have one for president. Slemp says that if Republican county judges can turn Christians into Muslims, the safest thing would be to lock the county judges up in Guantanamo before somebody hires them to turn all Christians into Muslims. Most of the women Slemp knows could use a good veiling." (Read more)