Saturday, March 22

OBAMA, NOT HILLARY, IS SPLITTING THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY


The greatest irony of Obama's political strategy, for me, is that people like me, who fought for civil rights (I was the only white teenager in my southern town who marched with my black friends and boycotted the local soda shop because they wouldn't seat blacks); who actually have AA friends; who've HIRED AAs when others whispered that it was risky because you can never fire them if they don't work out; and never allow a racial slur or prejudice in their hearing to go unchallenged; who have been excited and rejoiced that a black could be a viable presidential candidate; are now being challenged as racists because we select our candidates on issues rather than being swept away by a soaring rhetoric that seems unaccompanied by a record or concrete ideas that would give meaning to the words.

I define myself as a populist and progressive. I supported John Edwards and now support Hillary because I'm a dyed-in-the-wool "do something for the working man" Democrat. I believe in government as a force for the common good.

We know Hillary, we know her commitment, her heart and her history, so we feel safe that under her leadership, life for the majority of Americans will improve. It has nothing to do with race, but we are being bombarded with suggestions that yes, it does. And just as we rebelled against institutional racism, we are rebelling against the notion that because we prefer another Democratic presidential nominee, we are somehow tainted with a kind of internal racism ourselves. Nothing could be more divisive than to label lifelong Democrats in such a manner.

Today's must-read. And I mean, read it in its entirety!

His speech the other day had a peculiar theme: America's racist past can only be laid to rest by voting for Obama, which would prove that his accusations aren't true. What Obama does with his rhetorical strategy is turn something salutary - a proud vote by the African American population for a competitive AA candidate - into something corrupting - that a failure to vote for him is nothing less than an expression of (white) racism. The fundamental reason you typical white folks aren't voting for me is because you are driven by racism. He presented a peculiarly bastardized version of John Edwards' Two Americas; the enlightened one who will vote for him and the retrograde one which will not. And, by virtue of this speech being made in a primary campaign, the division is one that runs through the Democratic Party, not a marker of distinction between Democrats and Republicans.
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This corrosive narrative is a cold and brutal campaign calculation in accord with Obama's continually demonstrated contempt for anything or anyone who denies him what he wants. He has accomplished what the Republicans alone could not do, split the party itself on race.


UPDATE: Who's negative and enabling the Republicans in the GE?

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6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you for calling attention to this post at Anglachel's Journal. I read it this morning and was blown away by the way it identifies the Obama Problem.

This primary - and an Obama nomination - will do serious damage to out country. So sad.

12:15 PM  
Blogger Motherlode said...

Yes, Anglachel has proven to be an important and articulate voice. She blows me away.

1:16 PM  
Blogger Motherlode said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

1:16 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great post (as was Anglachel's). I, too, feel outraged at the idea that if I don't support one particular candidate, that automatically makes me a racist. Like you, I remember the days of segregation and Martin Luther King and have participated in the Civil Rights Movement. I've watched the sea change that has happened in race relations in my lifetime. I've voted for many blacks in both state and federal government.

I feel enraged and betrayed to be depicted as an Archie Bunker who is incapable of choosing a candidate on any basis other than race. Or to be told that all white people are the enemy, as that racist Wright has proclaimed.

The simple fact of the matter is that our country is in the worse mess of my lifetime. Besides 2 very divisive and ill-conceived wars, our Constitution has been torn up and spit out by George Bush, we have foreclosures all over the country and it's getting worse by the day, prices are soaring, our dollar is tanking, and our whole financial system is on the brink of collapse. Quite frankly, Obama does not have a clue about how to fix it. We are poised on the brink of another Great Depression, and he just wants what he wants, America be damned. He is an empty suit. I'm sorry, but I can't vote for this man. If he is nominated by a party determined to put a knife in Hillary's back, I'll have to hold my nose and vote for John McCain. That's not easy for a life-long democrat. But my country comes first, and I have no doubt that Obama would make things far worse if by some miracle he were elected.

2:07 PM  
Blogger Motherlode said...

Well said. Though I have yet to come to the point where I could vote for McSaint. I won't vote for Obama, but neither could I vote for so clueless a man and party as McCain and the Rethuglicans.

2:16 PM  
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2:16 PM  

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