Now this is really nice.
The protracted and increasingly acrimonious fight for the Democratic presidential nomination is unnerving core constituencies -- African Americans and wealthy liberals -- who are becoming convinced that the party could suffer irreversible harm if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton maintains her sharp line of attack against Sen. Barack Obama.
Clinton's solid win in the Pennsylvania primary exposed a quandary for the party. Her backers may be convinced that only she can win the white, working-class voters that the Democratic nominee will need in the general election, but many African American leaders say a Clinton nomination -- handed to her by superdelegates -- would result in a disastrous breach with black voters.
Who would have thought my Democratic party would be in the throes of a race war, while the party that developed and perfected the Southern strategy gets to look on the sidelines with glee and sharpen it's knives at the thought of presenting John McCain as the great white male hope to swing states like Pennsylvania and Ohio?
We're evidently not as progressive as we thought in the Democratic party. Still, it's absolutely clear that it's not white men having the vapors over this-they know who their candidate is. It's the African-American voters angered over what they see as Hillary Clinton's insidious obstruction of the opportunity to elect the first African-American president, and white women fuming that the only reason Hillary doesn't have her "she deserves it" nomination sewn up is because a man-white or black-has swooped in and usurped it (almost has an "uppity" quality to the sentiment, doesn't it?) Never mind that we were all excited in January to have two such attractive candidates. All of a sudden, it's Selma and suffragettes all over again.
Except this time, the oppressors are ourselves.
To black voters: Hillary Clinton has as much right to fight for this nomination as Barack Obama does-even if you don't agree with her tactics (and God knows I don't). The Clintons have long shown themselves to be supporters of civil rights and allies of the African-American community. She deserves more respect from you than what she is getting.
To white women voters: Hillary Clinton has not yet earned anything. Barack Obama is not "standing in the way" of what is rightfully hers or rightfully womanhood's as embodied by her. His candidacy, and the fact that people are voting for him, is not inherently misogynistic. Don't forget that a good percentage of the American voting populace despises her even if you adore her, and what she is doing has not helped that one iota.
To both: Stop being so fucking stupid and petty. Don't also forget that your only other substantive choice is a man who is anti-choice, opposes a Senate bill that seeks equal pay for women, doesn't object when his supporters call female candidates "bitch," has called his own wife a "cunt," opposed MLK Day, and continues to surround himself with racists and bigots of all stripes.
Both campaigns would do well to remind us of that on occasion.
Obama '08. But if it's not to be, then Hillary '08.
