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print thisClyburn vows parties will work together
By JAMES ROSEN
jrosen@mcclatchydc.com
WASHINGTON — An elated Jim Clyburn greeted his elevation to House majority whip Thursday as a historic day for his party, his race and his state.
Clyburn, 66, wore a red and blue checkered tie to symbolize the cooperation he said is necessary if Democrats and Republicans are to solve the country’s most pressing problems.
Clyburn, only the second African American to hold the House’s No. 3 leadership post, and Rep. Roy Blunt, the Missouri Republican he replaces, slung their arms around each other at a meeting in the spacious U.S. Capitol suite Clyburn now commands.
“There will be times when we will have our philosophical differences because he is a Republican and I am a Democrat,” Clyburn said. “But at all times, we are going to keep our country’s best interests in mind and at heart.”
Clyburn, D-S.C., was sworn into office after the ceremonial presentation of an actual whip that had been on display in the office of his predecessor.
Blunt, who is white, was to hand Clyburn the whip.
However, as the ceremony unfolded, Clyburn did not receive the whip from Blunt. Instead, Clyburn was given the whip by former Rep. William Gray, D-Pa., who in 1989 became the first black House majority whip.
Clyburn did not return messages seeking an explanation as to why the ceremony was changed.
Blunt’s spokeswoman Jessica Boulanger said she understood Gray wanted to give Clyburn a whip as a gift, “but you’d have to check with Mr. Clyburn’s office.”
University of Maryland political scientist Ronald Walters said he had little doubt that racial sensitivity prompted the decision to have Clyburn receive the whip from a fellow African American instead of from a white man.
“What it tells us is that race is still a very salient and touchy and dangerous issue to politicians,” he said.
Recalling the criticism of former Sen. George Allen, R-Va., for displaying a noose in his law office, Walters said the whip remains a divisive symbol for blacks.
“These symbols are still very raw,” Walters said.
University of South Carolina political scientist Blease Graham said that in changing the ceremony, Clyburn missed an opportunity to highlight positive change in the country, and especially in the South.
“It’s as if the various players are trapped in appearing politically correct but missing the reality of the ceremony,” Graham said. “Here is a person (Clyburn) who within his lifetime would have struggled to even register to vote. The fact that he’s been able to achieve what he has is really one of the positive stories in American politics.”
Walters, though, said it was smart for Clyburn and Blunt to alter the ceremony.
“They were attempting to restore some of the dignity of the moment. To me, it makes a lot of sense. What they tried to do was neutralize the racial component of this issue.”
James Rosen covers Washington for McClatchy Newspapers in South Carolina.
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