Going Nowhere Fast

Posted 16 May, 2008 at 1:24 pm by Kevin
Filed Under Politics, U.S. Studies |

Elle has a great post up attempting to get at the heart of the political division that this Presidential Primary has brought. Like Elle, I am completely dumbfounded and disheartened by the viscousness and hate I’ve seen lately. And like Elle, I have to say that as a Black person, the thought of voting for a Republican (a group that I know does not have my interests at heart) or not voting at all (my folks struggled too damn hard to be able to vote; I will never disrespect their legacy by not voting) is nowhere in my mind. I agree with this:

My impression of the Republican Party and what it’s all about is shaped by those things. That’s part of the reason why I don’t believe the world will end if Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee. And I don’t believe the world will end if Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee.

I don’t think an Obama candidacy equals the end of racism in this country. Neither do I think it will usher in the Most. Sexist. Administration. Ever. Similarly, I don’t think a H. Clinton candidacy means the days of entrenched misogyny are over. Neither do I think it will mean “gender has trumped race.”

But I think Brownfemipower in comments really gets at what has been bothering me so much lately (emphasis mine):

but the thing is–just try to say “I don’t like clinton because of nafta” these days. Or, god forbid, “I don’t like clinton because I find her support of nafta and increased militarization at the border to be anti-feminist” Or try to say either of these things within the context of “now, mr. obama, I want YOU to tell me how you’re support of increased militarization of the border is any less misogynistic than Ms. Clintons”.

You can’t talk about issues anymore because everybody’s so sure that a nose scratch clearly means that he’s flicking her off and a hair flip means that she’s pulling poor little white lady syndrome.

Brownfemipower wins.

As I said over there, I’m particularly disturbed by the lack of questions. It’s all assumptions and demands, threats and visciousness. The whole “support my candidate or else we will destroy you” meme is sickening to me (and let me be clear, I’ve seen it on both sides of this political fight). I’ve seen so many “liberal/progressive” Clinton and Obama supporters proclaim that they’ll vote for McCain if their candidate doesn’t win that I’m not sure anymore that I’m not in the Twilight Zone. Now granted, neither candidate makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside (too centrist for my tastes), but I’d really like to get an idea of what these two might do to address entrenched sexism and racism once in office, especially in relation to militarization, the economy, poverty, etc. So far, I don’t know. I just see the Oppression Olympics being played out at the national level, and that, folks, will get us nowhere.

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