Here's another thing I don't like about this primary: now that there are only two Democratic candidates, it's suddenly horribly absolutely crystal-clear that this is an election about gender and race. This may have always been true, but weeks ago it wasn't so obvious -- once upon a time there were eight candidates, and although six of them withered away, their presence in the campaign managed to obscure things. Even around the time of Ohio, when there were primarily three candidates, the outlines were murky, because Edwards was still in there, picking up votes from all sectors.
But now there are two and we're facing Pennsylvania and whom are we kidding? This is an election about whether the people of Pennsylvania hate blacks more than they hate women. And when I say people, I don't mean people, I mean white men. How ironic is this? After all this time, after all these stupid articles about how powerless white men are and how they can't even get into college because of overachieving women and affirmative action and mean lady teachers who expected them to sit still in the third grade even though they were all suffering from terminal attention deficit disorder -- after all this, they turn out (surprise!) to have all the power. (As they always did, by the way; I hope you didn't believe any of those articles.)
To put it bluntly, the next president will be elected by them: the outcome of Tuesday's primary will depend on whether they go for Hillary or Obama, and the outcome of the general election will depend on whether enough of them vote for McCain. A lot of them will: white men cannot be relied on, as all of us know who have spent a lifetime dating them. And McCain is a compelling candidate, particularly because of the Torture Thing. As for the Democratic hope that McCain's temper will be a problem, don't bet on it. A lot of white men have terrible tempers, and what's more, they think it's normal.
If Hillary pulls it out in Pennsylvania, and she could, and if she follows it up in Indiana, she can make a credible case that she deserves to be the candidate; these last primaries will show which of the two Democratic candidates is better at overcoming the bias of a vast chunk of the population that has never in its history had to vote for anyone but a candidate who could have been their father or their brother or their son, and who has never had to think of the president of the United States as anyone other than someone they might have been had circumstances been just slightly different.
Hillary's case is not an attractive one, because what she'll essentially be saying (and has been saying, although very carefully) is that she can attract more racist white male voters than Obama can. Nonetheless, and as I said, she has a case.
I spent the weekend listening to one commentator after another saying that Obama has it locked up, it's a done deal. I dunno. Hillary is the true whack-a-mole and if she survives on Tuesday, it will be a whole new ballgame. And it will be all because of white men. Plus ca change.
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Thank god for a realist.
Nora - I hate to break this to you but....
White Racist Men who won't vote for Obama - probably are also White Sexist Men who won't vote for Hillary - when there is a White Man to vote FOR.
That "case" that you believe Hillary has is as much hot air as her cases regarding winning the "big "states - as though - California and New York will ONLY vote for Hillary and no other Democrat in the election...
I am happy we are talking about racism because it helps. It also helps to hear all views on this secretive issue that divides our country.
sorry...I thought it was funny and dead on. As I sit in the heartland of Indianapolis Indiana...I gotta say a whole lot of posts I read on Huffington seem to be from people that are either in college or live in very liberal urban neighborhoods. You guys know whats going on around YOU...but you have no idea about the rest of the the country. I personally don't own a gun, go to church, or have a blue collar job...but live around a great many people that do. I gotta let you in on couple of things fellow democrats........ Obamas skin color DOES matter and hillary's gender DOES matter to these voters. I hear it all the time. "Hillary? Ooooooo that B$%#$...I'd never vote for her!!!" (Not a whole lot of logic there) and "Obama? Theres something about him I just don't like..I don't think I can vote for him" (You make the call on all of those hidden messages) .
We gotta figure out how to get over this as a party....if you think this primary is ugly...wait for the RNC to get their fangs out in the general election.
Go Donkeys!
So true. I am 50 year old white guy who lives in Dayton Ohio. I wear a Obama pin on my coat and the reaction I get tells me 1 thing. People voted aginst Barack because he is black. They drink all the Cliton/MacCain koolaid and that helps give them there justifications, but let them keep talking and the black issue creeps out.
ok
While identity politics do play a role in the choices people make when voting, it oversimplifies things to say that white male Democrats must be voting against Clinton or Obama rather than for the candidate they feel will best represent their interests.
A lot of white men are strongly opposed to the Iraq occupation (the vast majority of Americans fighting and dying over there are white men). I somehow doubt these voters will just shrug and vote for a woman who authorized the Iraq war and now wants to "obliterate" Iran just because she's white!
Well, Nora, you got it wrong...
Yes. whits men went for HRC ( they had to go for SOMRbody, right?).
But white women went even more strongly for HRC, and over-50 white women even more so.
So it turns out it wasn't decided by white men ( whom you characterized as either racist or sexist), but rather by sexist, racist, post-meno[pausal white women.
Are you really still that mad at Carl?
African Americans voted overwhelmingly for Obama (90%), so what does that tell you? More Democratic whites are willing to vote for an African American, than Democratic African Americans are for a white candidate, and gender doesn't seem to matter. So the question is, who is really racist?
It's posts like these that make it painfully clear why racist, gun-clinging, church-going white males don't trust the liberals to understand them let alone embrace them. But you do manage to prove that you're capable of hating them at least as much as they do you.
thanks for thinking just what you're told to think!
Nora, it's sad to see you so consumed with race and gender. I strongly suspect you'll be one of those crying "racist" for anyone who does not vote for Obama in the general.
It's also sad to see you assume that an entire group of people hates another entire group of people. Looks to me like you're just projecting. Perhaps you should get professional help. The hatred inside of you must be very toxic.
News Flash: Not everyone hates like you. Not everyone divides people by race and gender like you.
Good luck, and best wishes.
Let it all come out white males, experience fear.
The sentiment of the Obama campaign, and what it inpsires in its adherents, is on full display in this comment. I would put this comment in big red letters, as a headline. Let the voice of Obama, his true voice, speak!
actually that comment sounds more like the HRC camp
I'm an old, white male.
There are women I'd vote for for president. Hillary is not one of them.
There are black people I would not vote for...Mike Tison is one of those.
I'd vote for Whoopie Goldberg or Oprah Winfrey before I'd vote for Hillary.
Your premise about sexism and racism is bullshit. It is your own hang-up and
you are writing about it to soothe your own guilt and to search for kindered souls.
You've done some nice work in the past, but this is crap and I don't buy it.
P.S. I'd not vote for you for county dog catcher.
just vote for another 100 years of war with iraq you woman , black hating self hateing white male
did we forget to take our medication today?
Great post FZ.
Push back hurts doesn't Republican men? What you want to fire people now?
I think that she's only supporting Hillary because she's a woman. As a white man, I'm going to write in Edwards.
At the beginning of this primary season, I truly hoped that race and gender would not be issues because it seemed inevitable that the top Democratic candidates would be Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama. Turned out to be true. A dark cloud appeared over the campaign when Obama's camp (in the form of Jesse Jackson ,Jr.) started accusing Bill Clinton of "playing the race card". Bill Clinton? Please, has there ever been a politician who has done more for minorities than Bill Clinton?
Apparently the Obama camp felt they had to play the race card to keep the momentum of Iowa going. Well, it has backfired on them. They now get over 90% of the black vote but are losing the white vote. Racism? I think not. It is just a case of over playing one's hand and making accusations which are patently false. The American voter has heard "wolf" cried too many times.
Im not voting for HRC simply because I DO NOT LIKE HER. Her sense of entitlement and her hunger for power is a complete turn off. She is destroying the DNC, with the help of Bil Clinton.
As far as Obama playing the race card, I believe it was Bill Clinton who downplayed his win in SC and said he only won because of black votes.
White people have dealt the race card numerous times, so why cant blacks play it.
As an AA, I have to agree, white men and women (not all) are a bunch of bigots. I went to a college with the majority being white and have worked in a company with significantly more whites, and sorry to say, many of them are ill informed, ignorant and simple.
And because I'm not a stereotypical black male, its hard for them to classify me, so it kinda confuses the hell out of them.
I do my job and leave. I'm there simply for a paycheck and not to make friends.
I would vote for Edwards over HRC because I like him more. HRC is a power hungry out of touch elitist.
I'm not voting for HRC simply because I DO NOT LIKE HER. Her sense of entitlement and her hunger for power is a complete turn off. She is destroying the DNC, with the help of Bill Clinton.
As far as Obama playing the race card, I believe it was Bill Clinton who downplayed his win in SC and said he only won because of black votes.
White people have dealt the race card numerous times, so why cant blacks play it.
As an AA, I have to agree, white men and women (not all) are a bunch of bigots. I went to a college with the majority being white and have worked in a company with significantly more whites, and sorry to say, many of them are ill informed, ignorant and simple.
And because I'm not a stereotypical black male, its hard for them to classify me, so it kinda confuses the hell out of them.
I do my job and leave. I'm there simply for a paycheck and not to make friends.
I would vote for Edwards over HRC because I like him more. HRC is a power hungry out of touch elitist.
apresdeluge--No, I beg to differ...a dark cloud appeared over the campaign when Bill Clinton, foolishly or purposefully, compared Barack Obama's campaign to Jesse Jackson's...Hmmm, haven't there been ANY other campaigns run since Jesse Jackson's campaign?!? No, there haven't been ANY black candidates since then...and Mr. Bill brought it up himself. Again, whether it was purposeful, or was just a downright stupid thing to say, he brought it out and the Obama campaign had NOTHING to do with it. Any number of times, Bill has made gross, misguided statements that bring into question to what degree he's lost his edge.
To lay the "race card" issue at the door step of the Obama campaign is a thinly veiled accusation attempting to refocus voters' attention and it has gotten tiresome. If you have any video links that prove that "race" statements were made BEFORE Mr. Bill's comment about Jesse Jackson, have at it.
The Hollywood elite: out of touch. Obama: out of touch: Obama supporters: out of their minds.
This article is an example of the dismissive attitude that didn't help Obama in Pennsylvania. By the way, I am a male who voted for Clinton, so I guess you will have to call me a racist since you can't call me a sexist. Early on in the campaign I was perfectly willing to vote for Obama, but then came his use of the race card in S. Carolina over the bogus flap about Hillary's MLK comments. Actually, her comment was about Lyndon Johnson, and it happened to be factual. And then came Jeremiah Wright and all the questions that raises. So go ahead. Call me a racist. But be aware that this kind of divisiveness works against Obama's carefully crafted message that he is now trying to defend.
I'm a white male, and if I vote for Obama it does NOT mean I'm sexist, and if I vote for HRC it does NOT mean I'm racist.
Honestly, Nora, such nonsense!
You've become just a Dowd-y clone, cleverness through empty, nasty carping.
I thought you were better than that. Dowd's still mad at Michael Douglas and writes "Are Men Necessary", you're still mad at Carl Bernstein and write this sexist, hate-filled crap.
tempus: FYI: one man can't divide an entire country, what is wrong with you? i hope u don't have children, please no. You have division ALREADY in your heat, you are blaming Obama for it. It's already there buddy and you know it, when no one is looking, you know what you say and how u act. Stop blaming Obama Republican Men, Obama cannot make you divided, you already are and using him as a scape goat.
It is not about skin color it is about power.
The race of those of us at the bottom does not matter.
The president is not going to make our lives better only we can do that .
When did it become ok to slander white men like this? This sort of screed was fashionable and all the rage about 30-40 years ago. Not now.
Obama is dividing us: along lines of race, gender, age, etc. HE is doing it; not his skin tone. HE Is the one doing it--with his arrogance, and with his holier-than-thou attitude, and by way of his example (surrounding himself with haters and bigots.)
Here, we have feminist woman slamming another feminist woman because the she thinks the other feminist has garnered support from white males (white males are all racists, according to her.)
Wow... this sort ot thing passes as intelligent analysis these days.
Thanks Barack. You really are unifying us.
No, it's the Clintons, they think they OWN tha Democratic party and are willing to destroy it in order to keep complete, absolute control.
messy: Yes! The Clinton's think the presidency is OWED to them because they are corrupt Washington elitists. The American public is DONE with Bush/Clinton monarchies being decided for them by those who have been imposing it upon them.
Where in the Constitution does it say you need experience as President to be President? Where? This is nothing more than conservative white-men speak. They don't use this same logic when hiring folk either, especially if it's family or a fishing buddy. So don't go all "by the book" now Doogie, we can see through to your heart.
I wish Obama hacks would stop playing the race card. Could it be that the majority of PA voters (including white men) preferred Senator Clinton based on her record? To hear Obama supporters (and most of the MSM) tell it, if you don't fall in love with a half term Senator from Illinois with no experience to be President, then you are a bigoted uneducated racist. This is sheer madness.
You've got your wish. He's never actually done it, it was Bill Clinton and his evil wife Hillary.
Jakealoper: What PC? Who is making u NOT SAY something? Say it, please say it, say it LOUD? What? You afraid of repercussions, personal responsibility and other problems? Don't be a coward, say what you REALLY mean and stop hiding behind the paper shield of political correctness which is nothing be a code-word among racists.
I am no more racist than Reverend Wright and the millions of blacks who are voting for Obama based on race. Trouble is, blacks are great at proving racists correct, so I call myself a realist. Like the taxi driver who passes up some piece of hip hop trash, he is acting out of common sense. Because if he doesn;t get robbed or assaulted he will probably have to fight for just the fare, forget the tip. Check the stats on the vermin who attack taxi drivers, about 96% black.
Yukon Jack shut up, please stop your blathering. Tell me why should Blacks "take it" in form or barbs and name calling and obvious racist behavior by racist republicans their wives and their kids? Jews, Asians and Hispanics don't "take" why should Blacks? This is a new day, you may need to go to the cemetery and take a nap because PUSH BACK will happen and it has nothing to do with thick skin, it has to do with human behavior and making sure to exhibited equally or risk being called out like you are now.
Posted April 20, 2008 | 10:50 PM (EST)