On Race, Betrayal, and My Growing Appreciation of Hillary Clinton (UPDATED SLIGHTLY with a PPS)

Lately there has been some rather over-heated discussion in the papers and on the airwaves about the notion of betrayal.

The unsubtle agitprop "Betray-us or Petraeus" ad (yes, literally untrue, but a useful provocation), became a short-term totem which might re-emerge during the desperate and venal months ahead as an "election issue" to bore the pants off us all. Bush and the remainder of his team, who seem like mid-level Staples floor staffers, must be the actual target for such consideration, not one of his lesser uniformed functionaries.

So the Move-On ad whipped up various bores of the right into a frenzy of priggish obfuscation which in turn fueled a news-cycle or two worth of bush-league outrage in the US Congress and on Fox. The dew-laps on the representatives shook, the speeches were made, scorecards adjusted, Rome continues to burn. Elected Democratic representatives of both genders, in their ever-ugly ill-tailored suits ran for cover, like maladroit and husky kids at a grim game of musical chairs. People turned away from Move-On (and on and on), to watch Kid Nation, Perez Hilton, or Top Chef.

But today, this particular Thursday of 2007, I'll tell you who the real betrayers are, and let's see where the chips fall: The betrayers are every one of those GOP candidates for President who have declined to show up at the African-American voter forum tonight. The betrayers are Romney, Rudy, McCain and the irrelevant and entertaining Thompson.

Race is everything in America today. As much as mismanaged war. As much as fiscal malfeasance. Race is everything. It is at the core of justice and poverty and opportunity and education. Race is everything.

The no-shows, off to their fund-raisers, etc, are betraying a spiritual compact which democracy relies on. Because every white politician in this country running for national office has a huge and terrible compact inherent in the job, an awesome and final responsibility to insist that minority children be thrust into a safe and shining future, an equal one -- a more than equal one.

Because not to attend is a symptom of deep cultural amnesia. Not to attend is to give short-shrift to the civil rights movement itself. It is owed to the memory of Dr. King. Not to answer that call at that forum is to reveal oneself as out of step, out of tune, and out of time. To not go, is to fly over New Orleans and turn around towards Washington, in the manner of the impeachable President we now enjoy. To decline this forum is to reveal a thoughtless pragmatism of the sort that should make one ineligible to even vote let alone run for office.

It is not an act of racism by these men; merely one of shallowness so short-sighted as to be worthy of ideological LASIK surgery.

Whither the romance of a white politico who can excite an unmoved, unimpressed, disenfranchised black electorate? (Oh yeah, they tried to impeach him for lying about his libido.)

And to those who wish to write letters about the stupidity of black Republicans -- don't bother. I don't see why African-Americans shouldn't expect the GOP to offer them an alternative to the anemic soup of the Dems. Every time I write a post, there is a slew of feverish letter writers who reduce the subject at hand to a dullards' game of isolationist and partisan tag.

As I have said before, the mystical and romantic power of this nation is on the wane. The invisible beauty that sometimes runs below the surface of American life is fading away. For years, as a kid, I watched the whites of South Africa become sallow and gummy with indifference and hardness. White politicians in America owe the black electorate their full attention and nothing less. Or else you can hardly blame African Americans for turning to sharpies like Sharpton for leadership and a boost of serotonin, can you?

PS Some months ago I wrote of a run-in I had with Hillary Clinton at an L.A. fundraiser. I watched her on the compulsively entertaining and strangely marvelous Joe Scarborough show last week and found her to be stirring. And then she laughed on FOX like Redford in The Candidate and I liked her even more. The real person was showing up, and she's been running circles around the other would-be nominees. What the hell is happening? Is it that I turned the TV back on, and my brain is no longer whirring away like the dreidel it is?

PPS : Sat, Sept 29. Regarding my after-thought of an observation on Hillary Clinton, which seems to have provoked a number of responses: A slightly closer-reader would note that I did not endorse her in my little PS. That was about mood, tide, an internal, and emotional polling. She was suprising, and it signaled a kind of relaxation in her which was attractive. It could even be construed as an ironic and very back-handed compliment to note that a politician seems more flesh and blood and less mechanical this week than she has in the past. The PS is a minor footnote to my assertion that in order for this country to even approach a condition in which the American dream come near to realizing the mystical glory it craves - as a notion - all of us white people might want to start understanding that we are ALL African-Americans today, or else, we are not Americans at all. Romney, Rudy, the hapless Thomson, and (sadly)
McCain, are, in this bloggers opinion, lesser Americans, and unstatesman-like, because of the choice they made not to bother going to the debate in question.

Comments

[jcough107]

Joe Scarborough entertaining? Yeah,like Tucky Carlson.If it is a choice between him & a wacko like Imus I'm gonna have a tough choice. It has gotten better in the morning only because he has Mica & better guests and Imus is gone. Strangely marvelous? You have got me there. The whole MSNBC lineup except for Keith
Olbermann leaves a whole lot to be desired. Abrams may run the business efficiently but his show just plain sucks. Tweety Matthews and his trusted right hand Pat Buchanan predictably go through their routine on Hillary every night, then Chris calls on Ron Christie who outshouts everybody, anybody, trying to say something other than Bush's latest talking points.

[dcazal01]

15 millions black were imported we have a population of more than 200 M... the glorious survivors the buffalo soldiers.

Gypsies were enslaved in Romania for more than 600 hundred years, half of the population of Russia were slave 100 years after slavery was abolished in England in 1807 injustice all over our sad history

[Giordano Bruno]

Gee whiz, I guess you are kind of one of those Establishment types Jon. No accounting for taste. I've believed that inappropriate laughter, such as she demonstrated when Mike Gravel called her out for her despicable support for Lieberman's Iran sanctions bill, was the sign of insincerity, and dishonesty.

No accounting for taste, pal, but she leaves me as cold as a December morning in Saskatoon. It is looking more and more like the media has annointed her. Hope the voters aren't as easily manipulated by you guys as they have been in the past. Giordano is for fundamental change, which is very difficult to accomplish while maintaing the status quo.

Giordano

[THP]

dcazal01...I just read you before I replied...you are soo spot on!

[dcazal01]

Thanks

[THP]

Stop cannibalizing. Hillary should and needs to win. To win she should and must reach out to the center and even those right of center, and she must govern everyone. She straddled the fence appropriately by voting No on the on Patreus vote but said it was unfair ad. Now, we all suspect she agreed completely with the ad. But I want a president who is going to govern me as well as the military, the Dems and the Reps.
Stop being such purists. What our country needs more than anything right now is pragmatism, having been governed by neo-con idealists and fantasyists (should be a word if it is not).
Hillary is not a purist. She is a realist and her heart is in the right places.

[jbgnyc]

Absolutely agree about Hillary. I supported her husband for the same reasons: America is totally split and whomever wins has to appeal both to their loyalists and then the undecided indie. Only Clinton seems to be doing that right now. I really like Obama but I don't think he can expand as far as he needs to. As for Hillary on Fox (i.e. Greta Garbo laughs!!), Hillary behind the scenes is known as fall down funny. She MUST let us see this side more often. Cowboy Bush showed only his aw-shucks side (which nobody I knew bought but lots did). Too few of us got to see his killer blockhead arrogant side until it was too late. Hillary already scares the Republicans who'll never support her. But if enough indies see both her realist and fun side, Hillary will win.

[Independent voter]

You might as well elect Bush again if you think that hillary deserves to win. Why bother changing out all of the top Republican appointees if you're just going to annoint another lying, deceitful, war mongering, Washington insider as president.

Hillary is Bush the third. Hillary just voted for war in Iran.

[situationcritical]

Independent_voter, I think your comment is really over the top. Hillary and Bush (whichever one) are night and day...Hillary being day.

[repearwo]

If her heart is in the right place it would not being "pragmatic" about War. There are places to bend and Bill knew those places. Most of the time when he went against his own party I agreed. Iran is not pragmatism, it is suicide. It is asking people to die for what? Oil?

Pragmatism is getting Nato and the UN involved in Kosovo and peacefully defusing the issue. Iran and the Middle East is a more complex situation but Violence in that region has begat nothing but violence. IF Hillary was all you say, and she is not, she might offer some ideas about economic deplomacy. The Iraq people do not need democracy, they need water and electricity. They need to have their basic needs met. Have Blackwater guard the oil pipe lines and the power stations. How many time can they shoot a transformer?

Bill is a thinker. Hillary is a functionary. Bush lite seems like a good description. No candidate that supports continued US military action in the middle east will get my vote or support.

Go to your history sources and read the history of Iraq from WWI on.

There is no place her heart can be right it is wrong on War.

[dcazal01]

Slavery in Africa dates for at least 5000 years and was considered an improvement over previous practices. A horse was worth 12 slaves according to muslin text unearthed in Timbuktu were was situated the greatest university of Africa and half of the market was destined to the human trade

The king of mali use to sacrifice more than 500 persons a year sitting on its throne made out of skulls wearing his top hat under umbrellas protected by modern artillery (we have pictures). The terrible amazons women warriors will charge with machetes over the tied prisoners every night and then the population will recover and eat the corpses, this went on for 5 days every year.

Even the American ex-slaves relocated in Monrovia quit their occupations to participate in the trade selling their pairs to the same fate they were just freed.

Even the guys from the famous amistad ship were recapture in africa and sold back.

Powerful kingdoms that were only dominated by Europe in the late 19 century in order to abolish slavery. Men is the wolf of men in all races and all times.

In order to learn the real history you need to go to the original sources and look at it without preconceptions.

[nyawker]

Your second post and i'm still not sure what your point is. Is it that everything is just fine for African Americans because they have it better than blacks in Mali and Timbuktu 5000 years ago?

No disrespect intended, I'm just asking.

[dcazal01]

I have been studying slavery for some time and it was not a white on black thing Blacks capture other blacks in Africa, white just bought them when the whites did not buy a slave because it was weak the black sellers will kill them immediately. The whole operation was very well planned under the supervision of the local authority, we had even the so called pawns who volunteer to be kept as ransom so other blacks will take the merchandise, mainly guns, to get slaves in the interior.

Very powerful black kingdoms like mali were build by the slave trade and slave were sold both to east and west.

Long before the discovery of America the east imported millions of slaves many of the eunuchs were total castration skin flat was practiced.

[dcazal01]

Slavery in Africa dates for at least 5000 years and was considered an improvement over previous practices. A horse was worth 12 slaves according to muslin text unearthed in Timbuktu were was situated the greatest university of Africa and half of the market was destined to the human trade

The king of mali use to sacrifice more than 500 persons a year sitting on its throne made out of skulls wearing his top hat under umbrellas protected by modern artillery (we have pictures). The terrible amazons women warriors will charge with machetes over the tied prisoners every night and then the population will recover and eat the corpses, this went on for 5 days every year.

Even the American ex-slaves relocated in Monrovia quit their occupations to participate in the trade selling their pairs to the same fate they were just freed.

Even the guys from the famous amistad ship were recapture in africa and sold back.

Powerful kingdoms that were only dominated by Europe in the late 19 century in order to abolish slavery. Men is the wolf of men in all races and all times.

In order to learn the real history you need to go to the original sources and look at it without preconceptions.

[Susanholmes]

"The terrible amazons women warriors will charge with machetes over the tied prisoners every night and then the population will recover and eat the corpses, this went on for 5 days every year. "

you're Mad. for one thing, the amazon's weren't african, they hailed from north of greece. for another thing, they haven't inhabited that part of the world for at least a milennia and a half. Modern science believes they settled in what's now western mongolia, where evidence of their genetic material is still extant in remote villages.

for another thing, it's immaterial how slavery began. chattel slavery in the United States was a form of slavery that the world had never seen before. our society is still reeling from it, and will continue to do so for the forseeable future.

i can't find a shred of evidence for the photograph you mention. i believe that you're making most of this stuff up, or that your sources have about as much credibility as the weekly world news.

[dcazal01]

I have been studying slavery for some time and it was not a white on black thing Blacks capture other blacks in Africa, white just bought them when the whites did not buy a slave because it was weak the black sellers will kill them immediately. The whole operation was very well planned under the supervision of the local authority, we had even the so called pawns who volunteer to be kept as ransom so other blacks will take the merchandise, mainly guns, to get slaves in the interior.

Very powerful black kingdoms like mali were build by the slave trade and slave were sold both to east and west.

Long before the discovery of America the east imported millions of slaves many of the eunuchs were total castration skin flat was practiced.

[CoolHandLuc]

Okay let's say I agree with your argument. I think you're trying to argue that blacks sold blacks into slavery and thus are culpable for the injustices that those of the African diaspora have suffered.

If this is your argument it has nothing to do with the issue at hand. IF blacks sold other blacks to white to bring to America they were still enslaved by white Americans and were subjected to racist domination through Jim Crow . The cause of their arrival does not make the unspeakable treatment they received while in America acceptable.

Arguments such as these are red herrings. Meant to distract from the reality that has unfolded from slavery and the colonization of the African content. When you say it's not a "white on black" thing, that's irrelevant. It is a "some whites who claim they want to represent this country disregarding and disrespecting the views of people of color" thing.

Focused discussions make for fun discussions :)

[JumpinJ]

Jon,

it's impossible to respect a senator who constantly claims if she knew then what she knows now, she never would have voted for the war when she easily could've known. All the files from the CIA about Saddam's alleged weapons program were available for all of congress prior to the vote to go to war. By making these claims, like the president, she's either ignorant or a liar. Either way, she still refuses to apologize for her actions. At least Edwards has the guts to admit he was wrong on the vote. That, Jon, is called leadership.

[Independent voter]

It just so happens that the harpy didn't bother to read the NIE which would have given her the necessary data to make an informed decision. She had slick willie and his pals read it for her. WTF is that about. Too lazy to do the people's work?

No signs of leadership that I can see.

[thetone1]

"watched the whites of South Africa become sallow and gummy with indifference and hardness" --- nice observation. look at a photo of one of bush's state of the union addresses a few years ago. look at his haggard, uninspired, plainly dimwitted countenance, and the blubbery, pallid, rumpled, and supremely arrogant and indifferent cheney and hastert sitting behind him on their thrones. reminds me of the soviet politburo in the waning days of that empire. i don't think it is a passing coincidence. i think it is a portrait of decline in the quality of civic leadership right there on display. these fat hacks sho only care about money and power and preserving the interests of their party and their paymasters.

need i remind you of the fact that one of the biggest independent operators in Republican Washington, Jack Abramoff, a close consort with the entire apparatus of the "Christian" right, was himself consorting with gangsters, NY Mafia thugs who were hired by his business partner to assassinate a businessman in Fla with whom they'd had a falling-out?

[Idiocracy]

Ron Paul is the only man who has the right answers. But he will not win the primary ro any election.
SO
Theres only one person left who can run this country, who has the experience and know-how, HAS NOT sold out, is simply a REALIST and not day-dreaming about anything.

Wonder who i am referring to? I am not going to say. Use your own mind to make a decision.

REALITY CHECK:
The world sucks
Times are tough
People are mean to each other
The list goes on and on...

Can we change it? NO
Is our way of life important to us? YES

Think about this very carefully...

[BlueBoomer]

I'm sure it's not what you're looking for, which is probably some religious reference, but the REAL DEAL, earthly answer to your query is JOE BIDEN.

[situationcritical]

You mean the Ron Paul who said these things:

Paul, writing in his independent political newsletter in 1992, reported about unspecified surveys of blacks.

“Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty and the end of welfare and affirmative action,”Paul wrote.

Paul continued that politically sensible blacks are outnumbered “as decent people.” Citing reports that 85 percent of all black men in the District of Columbia are arrested, Paul wrote:

“Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the `criminal justice system,’ I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal,” Paul said.

Paul also wrote that although “we are constantly told that it is evil to be afraid of black men, it is hardly irrational. Black men commit murders, rapes, robberies, muggings and burglaries all out of proportion to their numbers.”

[VSamuels]

Well Jon,

I hope that you appreciated Hillary missing the chance to weigh in on race after Tim Russert had asked Obama about Jesse Jackson's criticism of his lukewarm response to 'Jena 6.'

Hillary didn't follow-up probably because she's been advised to avoid touchy subjects like race, and she did. Neither did Kucinich, Dodd, Biden, Ravel (outspoken on apparently everything including stiffing the credit card industry, but this one), or Edwards (the so-called champion of 2 Americas). A golden opportunity for Edwards to cite his well-worn so-called populist viewpoint, except that liberals aren't really that interested in speaking out apparently about injustice and race except in small circles?

If one examines the presidency of Bill Clinton, the one in which Hillary is using to claim she received 'her experience' that will allow her to hit the ground running once she assumes office, didn't do more for black Americans than either the Nixon or Johnson administration.

Nixon began a small business initiative called the 8 (a) program which created tens of thousands of new minority businesses spurred on by the federal government's contracting outreach; whereas, Johnson sought and received both democratic and republican Congressional support for major civil rights legislation.

The Clintons were chameleons; as they sought social visibility in the minority communities, but the evidence of their policies which impacted blacks is absent in housing, education, criminal justice or education that serves as a model for improving and changing the lives of minorities.

The media's depiction of the Clintons with some very visible minorities created a false sense of change that they were actual doing something concrete, when it was simply comparatively untrue. It is highly likely that Hillary will do any better, except continue to be highly visible in the minority communities.

This is what she learned with Bill, who upon leaving the Whitehouse, opened an office in Harlem with much fanfare.

[SensibleAmerican]

Where were you during the 90s when the Clinton Presidency brought in some of the best times in this Country. I don't even wannu get into a list since your prejudices will not appreciate a word anyone states!

But then, where were you? In the backwaters of Russia?!

[Independent voter]

Clintons claiming to bring in the best times is like the rooster claiming to make the sun rise. Pure canard. Slick willie just happened to be the guy sitting in the white house (porking a fat file clerk) when the tech boom caused the American economy to show a brief and vastly overrated spurt.

[situationcritical]

I will never forget the 90s for that reason. My life was incredible. Business (entertainment-related) was booming.

As soon as the idiot took office in 2000 - the bounty stopped.

[Rhydderch69]

The backwaters of Russia were a reasonable place to get a sense of the Clinton presidency. Arguably the establishment's support for Yeltsin and privatization all the way led to the Putin-model proto-fascism we have now.

[vippy]

Hillary ended her campaign when she voted
for the Lieberman which will bring us assuredly the war with Iran. Who would be crazy enough
to vote for her now. And she wants to stay in Iraq. Well, I guess you asked for it.
Granted she is smart but what good is that when you don't use it towards a better world.

[lodipete]

Interesting question raised by Eugene Robinson of the Post;

One thing we don’t know is whether Bush will have sought to tie the next president’s hands by ordering some kind of attack on Iran. Yes, that would complicate the situation in Iraq. So why did Clinton vote Wednesday for a Senate resolution encouraging Bush to label the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization? Having voted to authorize the Iraq War—she says Bush pulled the wool over her eyes—why would she vote for anything that Bush might try to use as justification for yet another potentially catastrophic war?

[SensibleAmerican]

"Hillary ended her campaign when she voted
for the Lieberman which will bring us assuredly the war with Iran"?!

Assuredly the war with Iran?! How? Please elaborate on such acute political observation?!

[Independent voter]

RIGHT ON

[Countess]

Your brain is no longer working if you think Hillary Clinton will not continue the fascist policies of George W. Bush.

[SensibleAmerican]

Your brian is no longer working if you think Hillary Clinton will continue the fascist policies of Bush ...