Race And The Courting Of Reagan Democrats

Perhaps not enough has been made of race factor in this election by the poobah's in The Chattering Classes (although some might argue otherwise). The cable TV newsers in particular have apparently bought in to that whole Pat Buchanan narrative that it is fear of the different -- those treacherous psychological waters, navigated by only the most expert of demagogues -- which motivated Senator Hillary Clinton's significant victory margins in those dying counties in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Ohio. Race, Buchanan would argue, is nearly irrelevant as an issue in this election when it concerns the white working class vote. How convenient! And the Obama campaigns reluctance to dwell on significant instances of racism - and there were some, we cannot fail to note -- is understandable though it unfortunately plays right into that corrosive Buchanan narrative presently dominating the cable newsers discussion of why Obama cannot close the white working class vote in previously reliable Democrat districts.

The Buchananites, though, are partly correct, even though their motives are wholly suspect. But -- and here's the rub -- clearly race played a part in the equation of those runaway victories so late in the Democratic Party process. Up to 19 percent of "The Scranton Daughter's" vote in the Pennsylvania primary -- a state not unacquainted with dying towns -- admitted that race played a factor in their decision in the quiet of the booth. The will and innovation needed to resuscitate those dying towns is tremendous. It is so much easier to appeal to the fighting instincts of the terminally ill ("For everyone here in Ohio and across America who's ever been counted out but refused to be knocked out") than to diagnose and remedy the problem, which is our dependence on foreign oil and the off shoring of the manufacturing industry. It is not an easy sell to the working class, but we must build green industries to replace the disintegrating manufacturing economy.

The too-smooth-by-a-whisker Mitt Romney offered - surprise! -- bromides to the Michigan economy in order to eke out his victory against John McCain. It didn't hurt that he, through his father and his childhood, is a known quantity in Great Lake State. Again, the appeal to tribe: you know me, Romney almost seemed to be saying; my father was Governor. The negative aspect of tribalism, of course, is the "He's-Not-One-Of-Us" campaign that the Republicans are so good at bringing off. And one, unfortunately, that is plays acutely against the first African-American nominee for President from a major party. Therein lies the tragedy.

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Comments

[Nonamnesiac]

Recognizing that generalities don't explain every situation, there is a major difference between Dixiecrats and Reagan Democrats, although racism is at the core of both. Dixiecrats are poor and working class White, racist, Southern populists who voted Democrat until the Civl rights movement forced equality for Blacks and then they turned Republican. Reagan Democrats were Northern poor and working class Whites who were sold a bill of goods that affirmative action benefitted northern Black workers over themselves and starated voting Republican.

George Wallace tried to unite Dixiecrat and what became Reagan Democrat in 1972 and Nixon, Reagan and others eventually did so, creating Repubican majorities that developed devastating economic policies that hurt Reagan Democrat and Dixiecrat alike, along with hurting minorities.

Reagan Democrats came to realize that it was Republican economic policy that was hurting them, not poorer Black workers, and although still racist, started voting more and more Democratic while Dixiecrats continued (and continue to this date) to vote Republican voting for politicians who help their bosses and hurt themselves.

Obama will win the Reagan Democrats, as these poor and White northern workers, though racist, are more opposed to Republican economic policies that hurts them than they are racist. Dixiecrats haven't changed and still vote overwhelmingly stupid.