Obama’s Major Endorsement
Barack Obama’s campaign just announced that they’ve received the endorsement of Major Owens, a former congressional representative and political force in Brooklyn politics for years. “It is time to shake loose from the past,” Owens said in a statement about endorsing Obama. But why is the Owens’s endorsement coming so late from Obama’s camp if the strategy is to show that Obama has support in key black communities in Brooklyn? The pol who replaced him, Yvette Clarke, endorsed Hillary way back in July. “After careful deliberations and discussions with the diverse base of my constituency, I am convinced that Senator Clinton is best able to win and bring much needed change to the White House,” she said. So, what does Obama really gain? “Nothing,” says one political operative affiliated with the Clinton campaign. Of course that’s not how Obama sees Brooklyn. Already, the campaign points out, five elected in Brooklyn have endorsed him. Says an Obama aide: “The point is that Hillary has to work for it in her own backyard.” — Geoffrey Gray