Thesis/Antithesis Politics and The Obama/Clinton Campaign

The attitudes reflected in many of the political columns today, i.e., The Washington Post’s David Border, the NYTime's Frank Rich and Maureen Dowd etc., are exactly the attitudes that rib the Obama campaign from top to bottom. Today, for example, many of the Black C-span Obama supporters (they have a listener call in show every morning that nicely reflects the visceral side of American politics) made it clear that the White people who don't like Obama had better shut up or learn to live with the "new" reality. The message, in a nut shell, Hillary should fold up shop and shut up.

May 8th, on CNN, Donna Brazile brazenly expressed the essence of the new visceral style in a discussion with Paul Bugala. "We don't need to just rely on white-bule-collar voters," she said, "and all those Hispanics. We have to get beyond those people." Her implication was not hard to read. . .they're just a bunch of racists jerks; we don't need 'em.

Not nearly so sure Bugala responded, " We cannot win with egg heads. We cannot win with egg heads and African-Americans. OK, that is the Dukakis Coalition, which carried ten states and gave us four years of the first George Bush."

Interestingly enough, one rather educated sounding C-span caller even suggested that Obama will probably "bridge" the divide by appointing Colin Powell as his VP running mate. I'm not too sure what divide would be bridged by such a move, but in this new Obama political calculus, if you're White, you apparently don't have to bother about such details. The Black and White proponents of feel good politics have got it all worked out, with the aforementioned columnists help of course.

A good old White boy from some place in Pa. called the C-span line to say in very direct terms that he'd had it. . ."the Democratic party and the Obama people have trashed the Clintons," he said as he concluded, "I'll never forget it."

That sorta thinking is scary. Given the way the campaign is shaping up, I'm beginning to wonder if we have any kind of a chance at a Washington change that would, in fact, be different from the politics of greed, religious zealotry, and corruption that has characterized the last seven years of the Bush reign.

It does seem clear that the Bleeding heart liberals, the Maueen Dowds, The Frank Richs and the David Broders, the egg heads and the insensitive Donna Brazile--spokeswoman for the newly arrived Obama Blacks, whose time has arrived-- have pushed so hard with their own uniquely visceral political views, they’ve been blind to the "thesis/antithesis" response they've engendered from the lunch box Joes of this world. The Joe's are being translated into McCain Democrats. The voting results in Pa, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and the south as a whole reflect that transmutation.

Given the though going way racial/gender concerns have hijacked the Democratic Party primary campaign, the question legitimately arises: Can anyone expect movement on the great issues that make life in this country good or bad: universal medical care, real social security reform, a transportation system that works, saving our rapidly deteriorating environment, ending that atrocity in Iraq. . .the list of such problems is endless.


The historical record is replete with examples of good intentions vanquished by the arousal of basic visceral instincts. . . politicians have always sought to aroused the viscera with red meat issues, red herrings, or wedge issues; this list is long too; indeed its length suggests its dastardly efficacy.

In sum, people need to back off and let Hillary do her thing. Anybody who thinks that the Wonder Boy from Illinois is going to sweep Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi etc. in November as happened in the primaries is smokin’ too much of the weed. The White vote in November is not going to be split between as many competing forces as was the case during the primaries, and the Black vote doesn’t look nearly as imposing when measured against the unified white block. LBJ's comments, made when he signed the Civil Rights Bill, haven't been nullified. . ."The Democratic Party has just lost the South for 100 years," he said; that hundred's not up yet.

Let’s face it, the Black/White visceral color of this Democratic primary campaign is potentially far more costly than Hillary’s continued presence on the campaign trail. If the major political issues mean anything at all, issues of race and gender are not the decisive factors. That is, IF the issues basic to the campaign are those that genuinely relate to the welfare of the people without respect to gender and racial identity; those racial/ gender equity interests will be satisfied, as they should be, in the total scheme of things.

The time is now to stop campaigning to put a Black or a woman in the White House; putting a Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court didn’t translate him into a Thurgood Marshal; having an Alberto Gonzales in the AG Office didn’t make him a civil rights lovin’ Bobby Kennedy; disappointment lists such as this are long too. It’s not gender or skin color that stamp the character of those who should serve our interests in the White House over the next few years. It’s time we stop focusing on racial/gender concerns and refocus upon the big issues of the day. We don’t need John McCain’s promised hundred years war in Iraq, or more tax holidays for the super wealthy.

Ever on the watch for ya,
Davy Crockett