If I asked you to name the candidates for U.S. President, you would probably list John McCain and Barack Obama – and give me a funny look.
If you were a political junkie you might add Ralph Nader and Bob Barr.
I am almost certain you haven’t heard about Cynthia McKinney’s candidacy. McKinney (photo below) was nominated Friday as the Green Party’s presidential candidate. Her running mate is hip hop artist and political activist Rosa Clemente.
McKinney admits she doesn’t expect to win the presidency. Her platform (titled “Power to the People”) includes single-payer universal health care, the immediate surrender of American forces on all fronts, the creation of a Department of Peace and reparations for American Blacks.
The former Democrat joined the Green Party after losing her seat in Congress, where she served six terms. You may recall an episode in which she assaulted a security guard at the Capitol a couple years back. Right. That Cynthia McKinney.
McKinney, who was married to Jamaican politician Coy Grandison (PNP) and lived in Jamaica, has deep roots in the American civil rights movement. Her father was Atlanta’s first black cop and a perennial protester. She was Georgia’s first black female member of Congress. She has made a career of protesting againt the American establishment, sometimes in outlandish ways.
Why am I writing about her? Well, I think all the candidates deserve to be mentioned, and I was wondering if she might have been the person the New Yorker editors had in mind when they decided to run that wild and woolly cartoon on their cover. But, who on earth is the guy in the funny hat and the bathrobe?