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.
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KenoshaMarge
-- We rant because Hillary's voting record is incompatible with progressive values.
-- How do you justify Hillary's vote (and I'll point out a vote she placed just yesterday) on the Kyl -- Lieberman amendment?
-- Do you want a third war in Iran?
-- Do you understand what the repurcussions would be?
She is too slick by far.
It is quite insane to think that race is everything. I know that for liberal baby boomers, civil rights was a defining issue, but isn't it time we finally moved beyond or racist past? Isn't it more than past time we started judging people by their ability and character rather than by their so call race?
GCOBAU- it isn't time for me to get over a racist past. Well, firstly because it hasn't passed. But it may be time for you to.
All Americans especially the rich political class should all be thankful to Black America as their wealth and power was derived directly from the labor they were forced to provide.
Signed middle aged white dude
Don't believe the hype. Any progressive that votes for Hillary in a primary is a fool of immense proportion; almost as immense a fool as any progressive that voted for Joe Lieberman.
Why?
Check Hillary's vote on the Kyl-Lieberman amendment. You guys just don't get it. It is part of her overly slick platform to be hawkish on foreign policy. She knows that the number 1 thing any woman must do to win a national election in our ass backwards, patriarchal society is erase any doubt that she would be weak in matters of war.
That is a recipe for disaster.
Please elborate on the "amendment" Veevee?!
Hillary Clinton voted for the Lieberman ammendment which is the first step to war with Iran. Need I say more?
Another "amendment"?! Yep! You should say more! For instance, what was this "amendment"?!
In a few years the Hispainic Population will out number the White population. The Republicans will be lining up for the Hispanic Voters and putting the White Voters on the waiting list just like they have the Black voters.
I would suggest that anyone who finds Joe Scarborough "entertaining and strangely marvelous" is naturally inclined to view Mrs Clinton in a positive light.
If Hillary Clinton wins the nomination is there really any choice in the matter? Would any of you seriously consider voting for one of the Repugs, people who at this point seem to think that Bush is just hunky-dory? In fact most of them talk like boy George has not gone far enough. If Bush is a nightmare what would a pea brain like Romney be like? What sort of damage would a real flimflam artist like Rudy be able to cause? Inconceivable.
I would vote for Cheney before Cliton
Then your advice is simply worthless.
Huh?
It looks like you may be auditioning for a cmapaign staffer role. It's sort of transparent. The fawning is way over the top.
I had an idea for a political talk show called Rumi-Nation.
I get the impression of a Pavlov dog in a cage who is served a story about the Republicans missing a debate at an "historically" black college and then the dog shuffles over to a lever, bangs on it, and shuffles back to the cage door for his treat.
It's all so boring and trite and cliche'.
Is anybody going crazy about what is happening in America? Where's our sense of urgency? I don't hear the squeaky wheel. I hear faint machinations and calculations regarding how to win the Presidency for the Democratic Party.
One problem. The Democratic Party doesn't deserve to win and is even more off-track and hypocritical than the Republicans who at least admit that they think we should kill as many muslims as possible until they lay down and give up the ghost.
I always said to my friends:
I think we should take over the entire Middle East and oversee the drilling and sale of all Oil due to the fact that the muslim extremists have made it anyone's guess what will or will not happen to the world oil supply due to their insane fanaticism.
Just be honest about it and don't steal the proceeds. Give them their cut, be fair. Just take it out of their hands for security's sake.
Is that so crazy?
"I think we should take over the entire Middle East and oversee the drilling and sale of all Oil due to the fact that the muslim extremists have made it anyone's guess what will or will not happen to the world oil supply due to their insane fanaticism
Yes, that is what a good world leader should do -- take over other nations to control their resources.
That will set a great example for China, India, Brazil, and other rising powers.
Then we could all have a big nuclear war to decide who gets all the spoils.
This is Bush's policy. Yes, it is crazy.
I have no answer for the dumb Republicans not showing for the debates. However, by the numbers, the Bush Administration has placed more minorities in higher cabinet positions than any other President (including all the DEMS)
Of course, but they are Uncle Tom hand-puppets. There is evidence that C. Rice is trying to improve her image...th
yes, but do you really think these placements profited minorities? these people are sell-outs to the oligarchy they've always wanted to join. they haven't done doodly-squat for their brethren.
True.
As much as I hate to admit it, this is true.
The Repubics weren't the only "No Shows" this week.
There's also the dem candidate who claims he had "better judgement" and was "against the Iraq war" back in 2003, as he chastises those who actually DID face that decision whether or not to authorize "The President" to go to war if necessary.
YET, NOW, WHEN HE WAS FACED WITH THE OPPORTUNIT
Just as I have suspected, Barak Obama is a political opportunist (as is Hillary) who is all rhetoric but no balls...He
By avoiding those two votes he has officially disqualified himself from being able to chastise ANYONE for legislative actions they've taken, mistaken or not. And, if he's so bold as to try, they should fire back at him that they didn't turn tail...tha
I don't know what pisses me off more: That he did that OR THAT THE MEDIA GAVE HIM A PASS ON IT...WTF..
I'm going to vote for Hillary Clinton in the Texas primary and in the general election.
Any questions?
Yea. Do you like permanent bases in Iraq? Your girl Hillary does.
One citizen, one vote, that's all I got and I'm putting it where it will do the most good overall.
The voting machines will decide the next election..
Sorry. Race isn't everything. Race is a factor, but it is over played. It isn't at the heart of of societies maladies: human nature is. If everyone was the same race, there would be some other divider invented (religion, eye brow bushiness, tooth color, etc...). People love to exclude other people from arbitrary groups they create. Reps don't go to black debates because there is no point, blacks will vote for Dems no matter what they do or say. Better to devote resources to groups that might actually bear electoral fruit.
Regretfully, you're wrong. Race is the single most important social factor at play in this country today as it has been since its founding. White Americans have never learned how to deal with the horror of slavery. We don't properly teach it in schools and it is properly taught in most history classes at the lower division of university. Race colors every aspect of our social life and it will continue to be a difficult for white people until we understand and accept it for what it was: An abomination perpetrated by whites on blacks. I could write a great deal about this but don't have the space. I won't deny the importance of human nature but it has little to do with race relations in the United States and to suggest it does indicates a somewhat ahistorical understanding of slavery and the deleterious impacts of reconstruction.
Exactly. It is why some bright white kids today asked Juan Williams today on C-Span some relevant questions, but simplistic ones which revealed that they aren't learning those past structural details created by their own white community. As a student some 20+ years ago at a predominately white university, I saw first hand white students who had come through high school in decent middle and upper middle class families, while learning little or nothing about their own culture's negative and/or positive effect on race.
Most of us non-whites would talk in surprising tones of how common it was to encounter white students who seem to know little if anything about the very assumptions that they had formed about us. In other words, they could clearly state the stereotypes:
1) Blacks are lazy
2) Blacks don't want to work
3) Blacks are sexually loose or deviant
4) Blacks are violent
Those students I met, seemed to have these and other things clearly engrained in their minds and thoughts, but they seem to be like infants about their own white culture and its active role in the demonization. It appeared as though they never engaged in any reasonable, sane or mature dialogue about why they had accepted those stereotypes, questioning them only as they felt comfortable enough to ask non-whites.
My response to them was similar to the other non-whites: contact your parents because ours discussed these things.
And, as for those posters who declare that race isn't everything, I'm clearly aware of their mindset and their glaring unconsciousness about themselves and their culture.
There is natural law. Nothing ever escapes it. Even if you try to bury it in the past, pretend it never happened, tell yourself that 40 years of civil rights equals 400 years of slavery, say the playing field is level, spend your time trying to convince others that it isn't everything, what you send out will always return to you.
You can say that those responsible were not us, but our ancestors. However, some religious traditions (can you guess which?), teach that you are your ancestors. You reincarnate into your bloodline. This can even be found in your Bible.
If this is true, then there must exist a myriad of ways your own hatred can be returned to you. The only thing anyone can possibly do to offset its eventual return is to embrace, accept, and correct the behavior now. But why not go even further - go beyond making up for it? Was it the Brahman's who believed in Dharma? Why not a little dharma to help alleviate another's pain. Why, that would be like laying up a treasure for yourself in heaven wouldn't it?
Or - you can just do like Falwell.
I like to say look for the reincarnated Reverend Jerry Falwell in the State of Texas in the body of a newborn, black child possessing a female physical gender, and a male mental/emotional gender.
And knowing Falwell, she'll still join the Log Cabin Republicans.
This nation was founded and built upon both racism and sexism.
It wasn't until early and the middle of the last century that we even began to address these issues.
And stop trying to tell us "blacks" what we would do.
As the son of a mother who voted Republican I can tell you bluntly that you don't know what you are talking about.
Hillary is a bit of a puzzlement because I both love her and hate some of her actions. What's to love? She's bright, capable, dedicated, passionate and constantly trying to improve. She was a loyal wife in the dark days of Bill's presidency and she was a good mother to Chelsea. She's also got a mind of her own.
What's to hate? She's bright, capable, passionate, and she's got a mind of her own. Sure, she can get under our skin. So what? My BW of 38 years gets under my skin. That doesn't mean I don't love her. She is who she is.
Hillary is hated by the Republicans because she's better than they are and they know it. She can instantly disprove their whole ideology and that scares them to death. Sure, she can game the system; what's wrong with that? She can beat them at their own game and that scares them to death. These are attributes that we should be taking advantage of. Any Republican nominee knows from the outset that she'll destroy them in debate.
What's most important to me is that she will serve as an inspiration to millions of young women(and to a lesser degree men) thousands of whom will flock to Washington, regardless of what the pay is, to serve in her administration. She will attract the best and the brightest in a way that no one since JFK has. No other Democrat with the exception of Al Gore, who is not running, has that potential. Think about who will serve in her administration as opposed to any Republican administration and the question is a no brainer.
Also think about a 2008 congress that the Democrats actually control. That combination will not initiate a war. That combination will fix most of what's broken in this goverment, and that combination will go a long way to return us to the country we should be.
Until Al Gore enters his hat in the ring, love her or hate her, Hillary's the man.
So well said Producer!
Apparently, both of you have forgotten how terribly run the Gore campaign was from start to finish. Gore was a disappointment as a speaker, as he was easily outmanuvered by the current occupant in the Whitehouse.
Lastly, Gore's political instincts were basically non-existent as he ran from Bill Clinton, who Hillary is now using as the basis for her overwhelming experience. Some, who constantly whine about Gore coming in to save the day, most likely haven't given any thought how Gore is or could frame his new run for office?
Unless, Gore has undergone a personality transplant and has figured out how to embrace the legacy of the Clintons, where he spent 8 years as VP, Gore is done!
Hillary is another Neocon AIPAC stooge. Voting for her is keeping status quo in the white house.
"She will attract the best and the brightest in a way that no one since JFK has. No other Democrat with the exception of Al Gore, who is not running, has that potential. "
No.... the 'Best and the Brightest' will have to take their place behind the swarm of revolving door Washington Democrats who are rushing to endorse Hillary and make sure they stay in her Roll-a-dex.
And will the 'inspiration to millions of young women' be to enter a career in public service? Or will the inspiration be to marry well, overlook your husband's indiscretions, and pray to get your day in the sun?
The Clinton's are no friend of black people
Little Too Late: President Clinton's Prison Legacy. Washington DC: The Justice Policy Institute.
http://www
Regardless of his positions on capital punishment and criminal justice, to suggest that Bill Clinton wasn't the best friend blacks ever had in the White House is to be blinded by a dislike of the man. I personally don't care for Bill Clinton's brand of "Republican light" and I think he has harmed Democrats in the long run. Regardless, I'll acknowledge that more than any other president he did more to represent people of color than any white 20th century politician. He could have done a lot more for people of color but it is necessary to keep in mind that perhaps more than any other political leader in the US, the presidency requires its occupant to play a balancing act. A person can have the greatest ideas but if he can't sell them they don't matter. A practical politician accepts reality for what it is and looks at what s/he can accomplish through compromise while never losing sight of long term goals. We live in an unequal society and while it isn't broken down just along race, race is its most important division.
Perhaps you could remind us what Clinton actually did for Black America. JFK and even LBJ were much more accomplished in this area.
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