Artur Davis (left) has what could be called street cred in black Democratic circles. He was the congressman from Alabama’s 7th District for four terms and was a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in 2010. He always gave knee-jerk opposition to any Voter ID law, since that’s what Democrats are supposed to do. But he has decided that was a mistake. In a column printed in the Montgomery Advertiser, he writes (emphasis added):
I’ve changed my mind on voter ID laws — I think Alabama did the right thing in passing one — and I wish I had gotten it right when I was in political office.
When I was a congressman, I took the path of least resistance on this subject for an African American politician. Without any evidence to back it up, I lapsed into the rhetoric of various partisans and activists who contend that requiring photo identification to vote is a suppression tactic aimed at thwarting black voter participation.
He expresses his disappointment in former President Clinton’s irresponsible comparison of Voter ID laws as a return to Jim Crow. That’s a disappointment that should include Gov. Bev Perdue, State Rep. Mickey Michaux of Durham, and almost every Democratic politician in North Carolina:
I was disappointed to see Bill Clinton, a very good president and an even greater ex-president, compare voter ID to Jim Crow, and it is chilling to see the intimidation tactics brought to bear on African American, Democratic legislators in Rhode Island who had the nerve to support a voter ID law in that very liberal state.
The case for voter ID, however, is a good one, and it ought to make politics a little cleaner and the process of conducting elections much fairer. I wish I’d gotten it right the first time.
The countdown to Davis being called an Uncle Tom, a “house negro,” or worse, begins now: 10, 9, 8…
