DAVID AXELROD (69), the Svengali behind BARACK OBAMA (62), was born and raised on Manhattan's Lower East Side in a "turbulent" Jewish household. His mother was a leftist advertising executive and his father was a psychologist, who committed suicide when Axelrod was twenty.
Axelrod, who's been described by former West Wing colleagues "as a kind of in-house political carbon monoxide detector, [like] a highly sensitive alarm that protects Obama" , is probably the third blackest member of the former president's inner circle -- after former first lady MICHELLE OBAMA (60) and Iranian advisor VALERIE JARRETT (67), who is the chief executive officer of Obama's foundation and a ruthless steward of his legacy.
Editor's Note: In case you were wondering, Barack Obama and his former national security advisor, SUSAN RICE (59), are tied at 4th place in the "blacker than thou" competition.
Shorty after his father's suicide, The Chicago Tribune hired Axelrod following his graduation from college. He left the newspaper and formed the political consultancy firm, Axelrod & Associates, in 1985 and worked on the unsuccessful campaigns of"insurgent" white liberal candidates, like Illinois senators PAUL SIMON (75) and ADLAI STEVENSON III (90); as well as, longtime mayor of Chicago RICHARD M. DALY (82).
His failed white client list would eventually include deabeat baby daddy/presidential candidate JOHN EDWARDS (71) and former Illinois governor/Elvis impersonator ROD BLAGOJEVICH (67), who was sentenced to 14 years in prison for fraud. Blago even tried auctioning off Obama's state senate seat to the highest bidder.
JESSE JACKSON JR. (59), a vocal Obama supporter and son of the first black man to run for president, reportedly offered to raise $6 million for the job and ended up serving a couple years in prison himself.
But let's get back to Axelrod. David's job is to research the vulnerabilities of his candidate's opponent, isolate which issues (talking points) his candidate should stress, choreograph press conferences with spineless reporters, write and produce flashy commercials, then book his client on MSNBC, The Breakfast Club or The View.
In 1987, Axelrod worked on the reelection campaign of Chicago mayor HAROLD WASHINGTON (65) and got his first taste of success "packaging black candidates for white voters".
After working his magic on a string of successful campaigns for black candidates in other major cities with large African-American communities, like Detroit, Cleveland, Houston and Philadelphia, it wasn't long before Axelrod began promoting himself as a "specialist in urban politics."
Axelrod's record with white candidates, however, has been less than stellar, and his black alternatives tend to underperform against opponents with solid credentials in the African-American community.
In 1992, Axelrod was media advisor for the campaign of white multimillionaire AL HOFELD, who was defeated by CAROL MOSELEY-BRAUN (76).
In addition to making history as the first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Senate, Braun was also the first African-American U.S. Senator from the Democratic Party, the first woman to defeat an incumbent U.S. Senator in the primaries for the nomination by a major party, and the first female U.S. Senator from Illinois.
Braun's mentor, Harold Washington, was backed by powerful businessmen in the city's African-American establishment, like Negro Digest/EBONY/JET publisher JOHN H. JOHNSON (87) and Soft Sheen founder EDWARD GARDNER (98), when he became Chicago's first black mayor.
The grassroots community support that elected Washington, who died unexpectedly a year into his second term, lined up for the homegirl Moseley-Braun in '92. That same year, Axelrod was introduced to 30-year-old Barack Obama by a wealthy Jewish woman, named BETTYLU SALTZMAN (92), who was Obama's political godmother.
Saltzman supported Obama during his campaign for the state Senate, which he won easily against arch black Republican, and honorary white man, ALAN KEYES (73) in 1996, and in his failed 2000 bid for Congress against Illinois Black Panther Party co-founder BOBBY RUSH (77), who clobbered Obama with over 60% of the black vote.
Like many of Axelrod's other black candidates, Obama polled well against old white men, but was weak against any African-American (not named Alan Keyes) he was matched against -- regardless of their age or gender.
Obama was even reluctant to run for the U.S. Senate back in 2003 because he was concerned that hometown favorite, Carol Moseley-Braun, would enter the race and he wouldn't be the only black candidate in the hunt.
Axelrod's candidate in Detroit's 1993 mayoral race, DENNIS ARCHER (82), was also criticized for not being "black enough" to be mayor of a city that was about 80% African American. When six-term mayor COLEMAN YOUNG (79), the city's first black mayor, dropped out of the race due to illness, he gave his endorsement to SHARON MCPHAIL (76), a black woman. Archer took 57% of the popular vote, and the election, by winning 90% of the white vote -- but he only garnered 47% of the black vote.
Dennis Archer and Sharon McPhail
There are obvious similarities between Sharon McPhail, an attractive light-skinned African-American woman elevated to her position by a powerful black male politician, and vice president KAMALA HARRIS (59).
Harris, who is the Democrats' presumptive nominee for president since JOE BIDEN (81) pulled out of the race against DONALD TRUMP (78), may suffer the same fate as McPhail at the polls this November.
In his address at the annual convention for the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) in Chicago, former president Trump claimed he "didn’t know [Kamala] was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
The answer is both, but the real question is: What kind of leader will Kamala Harris be? What are her policies?
David Axelrod and Team Harris will avoid having to answer those questions at all costs. So far, their message to African-American voters is the same (and as tired) as Joe Biden's: "If you don't vote for Kamala, you ain't black."
They're already circulating photos of Harris at Howard University wearing doorknocker earrings like the female rap group Salt 'N Pepa, back in the 1980's, when TUPAC SHAKUR (25) and SNOOP DOGG (52) were in middlle school, but Kamala was somehow listening to them???
Harris jumped off her campaign down in Atlanta with a fake southern accent and a twerking performance by MEG THEE STALLION (29). Who knows? She may have a bottle of Sylvia's hot sauce in her Hermès Birkin bag.
Get your hot sauce ready
That didn't work for HILLARY CLINTON (76) against Trump eight years ago.
It may not be enough this time around.
URBAN WARHOL is an African-American scholar, author and social historian who has analyzed pop culture and race relations in the United States for two decades. He has written for various publications and is currently the editorial director for NEGRO DIGEST ™ magazine.
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