In New Hampshire Tuesday, Obama the orator lost to Clinton the conversationalist and there is a difference. An orator hears only his own voice while a conversationalist not only speaks, but listens.
The pollsters and the pundits had all but buried Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and prepared themselves for the coronation of Barack Obama. Well, as we all now know, it didn't quite work out that way.
And along the way those of us living out here in the hinterlands and Indian reservations, far from the hue and cry of the big cities, a thing called sexism reared its ugly head and it was an apparition that was not picked up by the pundits or the right wing radio gab show hosts.
When two white males shouted out and then held up signs that read, "Iron my shirts," a new element entered the campaign of Senator Clinton. There is no better way to fire up a woman than to tell her she should be back at the house ironing shirts and cooking instead of running for public office. It would be like a white male telling a Native American woman to "Be my squaw."
On Saturday during the New Hampshire debates, a debate that saw the Republicans take the stage first, Obama was asked if he had been watching the Republican debate before he came on and he replied, "I was switching between it and the Redskins football game." I use the "R-Word" here as a direct Obama quote and in this case the "R-Word" does not mean "Recession." This lack of sensitivity resonated in Indian country. It made one wonder whether Obama ever considered the meaning of the word that is as hurtful and degrading to Native Americans as the "N-word" is to African Americans.
It would behoove all of the candidates running for the presidency that the American Indian vote should not be disregarded. In states with large Indian populations, states like North and South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arizona, the Indian vote often tips the scale.
For example in 2000, when now Republican Senator John Thune lost his bid for the United States Senate to Tim Johnson, his staff was about to pop the corks on the champagne because there was only one precinct left to count and they felt their lead was so large that it could not be overcome. Wrong. That last precinct was the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the Southwest corner of South Dakota. When that tally came in Sen. Johnson had overcome the deficit and won the senate seat by a shade more than 4,000 votes.
When Thune later scored a narrow victory over Sen. Tom Daschle the turnout on the Indian reservations, particularly the state's largest, the Pine Ridge Reservation, did not come up to expectations. Only 50 percent of the eligible voters at Pine Ridge, and on several of the other Indian reservations in the state, turned out to vote. Had the turnout been just 60 percent, Daschle would still be in the senate.
So although it is often considered of little consequence, in several western states, the Indian vote can turn the tide.
The first president to visit the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in more than 60 years was President Bill Clinton. He took the things he saw on this reservation back to Hillary and they talked about the things that needed to be done to improve the tragic conditions on this reservation, a reservation within a county that was declared "The poorest county in America" in the 1980 U.S. Census. It was too bad that this visit happened during his last year in office because by then it was too late to set any meaningful programs into motion.
Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) and former Senator Tom Daschle, both endorsed the candidacy of Barack Obama. I wish they had waited a bit, but I think both of them realize that in a red state like South Dakota, the votes for the next president will probably go to a Republican and their endorsements will mean little.
What is the difference between racism against American Indians and African Americans? Any Indian living in North or South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho or Nebraska can tell you there is no difference. After all, the white residents of these states have been known to call Indians "prairie niggers and red niggers." There's that dreaded "N-Word."
Now that Sen. Obama knows how Native Americans feel about the "R-Word," perhaps he will refrain from using it again, and in the interim, perhaps he will do a little research about the horrid conditions existing in some parts Indian country. Sen. Clinton has already done her research. And in order to bring about change in Washington, one must know the culture of Washington and no one knows it better than Sen. Clinton.
There is a Native American voting rights group that every Native nation in America should be aware of and should contact. Just email kalyn@indnslist.org and find out how this group can support your efforts to elect Indian candidates or to support the presidential and local candidates of your choice.
Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, was born, raised and educated on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in the Class of 1991. He can be reached at najournalist@msn.com