Race in this race…

May 30, 2008

The race rhetoric in this campaign continues to amuse me. In the podcast - episode 3, Matt makes a similar argument to what Pfleger argues (in a recent ’sermon’):

In the course of tracking down this reference, I came across Jessie Jackson, Jr.’s comments, made after Sen. Obama won Iowa: ‘The natural reminder here is O.J. [Simpson]—how does an African-American candidate attack a white woman?’

Bill Clinton’s supposedly racists comments in South Carolina are trivial in comparison to the way in which some Obama supporters have characterized this race. I think racism is far too important a topic to use as a strategy to dismiss those with whom one disagrees. It is simply not true that many white Clinton supporters are upset because a white woman is being murdered (to follow the Jackson, Jr. logic) by a black man - because we do not see the race in these terms.

In goes without saying: those of us who support Clinton (who we believe is not inherently evil - though she is flawed - just as we believe Sen Obama is of this world) are upset she is losing because we believe she is the best candidate - and she is not the best candidate because she is white (Lord knows that is true) but because of her particular political narrative. Furthermore, it’s perfectly acceptable that Senator Clinton believes she is the best candidate (due to her particular narrative - not due to any sense of so-called ‘white entitlement.’ I doubt she felt or feels entitled. She may have been too confident [a confidence rooted in her political history] re: her chances to win, however) and is, if she is, terribly saddened by the way events have stacked-up against her.

It is, however, true that race (or identity politics, in general) plays a role in this race. But what kind of role?

I understand that some voters are voting for Obama because they can identify with him - he is, so to speak, ‘family.’ And that’s ok. I am supporting Sen. Clinton, in part, because I identify with her as a fag. And that’s ok. No doubt - there are those who are voting for Clinton because they don’t believe black people are human beings, and there are those who are voting for Obama because they believe white people are inherently demonic. I deem this block of voters unimportant.

I am ready to talk - in a reasonable, vulnerable, and meaningful way - about race. I, however, will not allow my advocacy for Sen. Clinton to be dismissed as a form of ‘white rage’ or ‘white sympathy’. Nor would I be comfortable with dismissing the white vote for Obama as an expression of ‘white guilt.’

What is interesting is the way in which Obama supporters, and not Bill Clinton alone, have inserted, quite deviously, race into this race.

PS: I have often mentioned the ‘Empire Strikes Barack,’ and I just ran across a response. Both make me laugh uncomfortable.

Posted by Tony Posted in Bi/Partisan Politics, Current Events, Posts by Tony