Hillary or Barack? John Lewis' Struggle To Decide

My former boss and Civil Rights hero, Rep. John Lewis of Atlanta, has announced that he will be casting his Superdelegate vote for Senator Barack Obama. Or did he?

Here's the article in The New York Times from Friday, February 15.

MILWAUKEE — Representative John Lewis, an elder statesman from the civil rights era and one of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s most prominent black supporters, said Thursday night that he planned to cast his vote as a superdelegate for Senator Barack Obama in hopes of preventing a fight at the Democratic convention.

“In recent days, there is a sense of movement and a sense of spirit,” said Mr. Lewis, a Georgia Democrat who endorsed Mrs. Clinton last fall. “Something is happening in America, and people are prepared and ready to make that great leap.”

Mr. Lewis, who carries great influence among other members of Congress, disclosed his decision in an interview in which he said that as a superdelegate he could “never, ever do anything to reverse the action” of the voters of his district, who overwhelmingly supported Mr. Obama.

But on Saturday, Congressman Lewis was keeping quiet. From the AJC:

Rep. John Lewis refused to say Saturday if he plans to vote for Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's national convention in August.

But while Lewis would not address the issue, it was a dominant theme all around him. Lewis (D-Ga.) was in Atlanta for a City Hall news conference about the proposed Ralph David Abernathy Center for Civil Rights History and Wax Museum. Lewis, himself an icon of the civil rights movement, said he was there only to remember his friend, the late Rev. Abernathy.

"I'm not going to make any political statements today," Lewis said in response to questions. The congressman caused an uproar in Democratic presidential politics on Thursday when he apparently told a New York Times reporter that he would cast his ballot at the convention for Obama, rather than Hillary Clinton, whom he previously had endorsed.

On Friday, Lewis' office told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the Times story was "inaccurate" but refused to give any other details and has not responded to requests for clarification. Jeff Zeleny, the Times reporter who wrote the original story, told the AJC on Friday that Lewis was clear in his support for Obama.

Lewis is one of 13 so-called superdelegates from Georgia, party leaders and elected officials who can cast a delegate's ballot at the national convention for any candidate, regardless of the outcome of the vote in his or her state or district. Georgia, and the voters in Lewis' 5th District, overwhelmingly backed Obama in the Feb. 5 Democratic presidential primary.

The Congressman's 5th district is an urban one, centered on Atlanta and encompasses College Park, East Point, Druid Hills and parts of Decatur (Dekalb County). With an African-American majority, the 5th district ranks 6th in the nation for percentage of gay and lesbian couples in the adult population at 10.8%. The Congressman's 5th district voted OVERWHELMINGLY for Barack Obama in the Georgia Primary on February 5.

This paragraph from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution sums up The Congressman's struggle:

U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) is one of Lewis' oldest friends in Congress. Clyburn is the House majority whip. Lewis is his chief deputy. The two first met in 1960 during the civil rights movement in Atlanta. "I had a long talk with John yesterday," Clyburn said Friday in a telephone interview from his district office in Columbia. While Clyburn would not divulge what Lewis said, he shared that "John is wrestling with this." For many African-American leaders like Clyburn and Lewis, Obama's rise is in many ways what the civil rights movement was about: working for the day an African-American had a legitimate chance to be president. For Lewis, the situation is complicated by his close relationship and support for Clinton. "It's got to be tough," said Clyburn, who did not endorse before the Jan. 26 South Carolina primary and would not say for whom he would cast his own superdelegate ballot in Denver in August. "Most of us have grown up looking forward. You look forward to being part of making history. I guess a lot of us have been dealt a tough hand to have to try and make that choice."

I hope Congressman Lewis casts his vote for Barack Obama. But not because Obama is black. And not because of pressure from his constituents to ratify their decision. I believe Congressman Lewis should cast his vote for Obama because Lewis' ethic of nonviolence is more compatible with the positions taken by the Senator from Illinois.

We need a President committed to peacemaking.