Was Cuomo's 'shuck and jive' comment meant for Obama?

During last week’s debate in New Hampshire, Sen. Hillary Clinton took some heat from her political rival, Sen. Barack Obama, by essentially saying words don’t mean much without action.

He responded that words do have meaning.

With that in mind, do the words of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo have a hidden meaning?

According to a discussion with a New York Post reporter, Cuomo offered this assessment of Clinton’s win in New Hampshire as it relates to retail politics: ”It’s not a TV-crazed race. Frankly you can’t buy your way into it,” Cuomo said. “You can’t shuck and jive at a press conference,” he added. “All those moves you can make with the press don’t work when you’re in someone’s living room.”

Yes, shuck and jive.

Now, Cuomo has quickly tried to clean up his statement by suggesting that it wasn’t meant at Obama – so who was he talking about, Bill Richardson? Yea, right. He also said that he meant something akin to bobbing and weaving and ducking the tough questions. Well, why not say bobbing and weaving?

Some of you may be saying that this is stupid and ridiculous.

But understand the racial history of America.

Shucking and jiving has long been used as a negative assessment of African Americans, along the lines of a “foot shufflin’ Negro.” In fact, I don’t recall ever hearing the phrase used in reference to anyone white.

According to a story in Newsday, “The 1994 book ‘Juba to Jive, a Dictionary of African-American Slang,’ says ‘shuck and jive’ dates back to the 1870s and was an ‘originally southern 'Negro' expression for clowning, lying, pretense.’"
There is a such thing as political correctness gone mad with folks being too sensitive. But it’s also about respect. And America’s long racial and sordid history still has ramifications today.

When African Americans hear former President Bill Clinton call Obama a kid, that is seen as an insult. He’s a 46-year-old man who is a United States senator. It is remindful of grown black men being called “boy” during the Jim Crow era. You might say no harm done, but trust me, the context has meaning.

The same with shuck and jive. I just don’t think for a second that if the battle was between John Edwards and Clinton, shuck and jive would have been used.

Comments

[nic]

I'm confused.

”It’s not a TV-crazed race. Frankly you can’t buy your way into it."
What does that mean? It IS a TV-crazed race, and although you can't legally buy your way into it, you CAN get free air time by creating a spectacle during a press conference (think crocodile tears).

I don't know about the "schuck and jive" comment. I'll take your word for it, Roland - as I wouldn't have immediately recognized the significance. But I agree that I've seen/heard a lot of thinly-veiled slurs, like Bill Clinton essentially calling Obama a "boy." I agree 100%. I'm glad you're not ignoring that stuff.

[wide awake in seattle!]

...ahhhh Roland, that's the beauty of america--black folks just never know.

Now personally, I like Mario, so I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. And yes, I realize this isn't about whether or not he's likeable. As I read the comment, I had Hillary in mind because Barak's been all what you see is what you get. She's the one dancing with her husband on camera. She's the one retooling her campaign instead of fighting her own fight--or running her own race. So I assumed his comment was for her. After all, she had the money machine.

I also agree with the earlier post, except that I believe that Hillary showing emotion wasn't a bad thing for anyone involved--it was an honest moment. That the press picked up on it so keenly reminds me of when I'm watching 'chic flics' with my husband and the emotionalism in the film gets to a certain point where I'm all teared up--my husband turns to me (without fail) and says something 'stupid' like: "you're really enjoying this aren't you?"... because men can't handle women's tears or emotionalism and so it became news worthy. Hey, she's human. And that moment made her more relatable--prior to that, she seemed stoney.

But your point is WELL noted... very context relevant. And I believe--all this veiled and covert bigotry needs to be examined in the light of day--it isnt' racism, it's bigotry. So thank you for asking the ?.

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