The change of majority power in the House normally involves ceremonial handovers of objects of power from an outgoing official to his successor — but in Jim Clyburn's case, his racial sensitivities overwhelmed his desire to observe protocol. McClatchy News reports that GOP Whip Roy Blunt was supposed to publicly hand a whip to Dem Whip Clyburn to commemorate the transfer of power. But Clyburn, who's black, reportedly felt uncomfortable receiving a whip from a white man. So rather than take the whip from Blunt, Clyburn instead held a whip ceremony with former Rep. William Gray, D-PA, who preceded Clyburn in the late 1980's as the first black House Majority Whip. Clyburn's office had previously issued a press release saying the transfer would take place the usual way. A Blunt spokeswoman declined to go into detail on the matter, saying only, "you'd have to check with Mr. Clyburn's office," to find out why it ultimately didn't happen.