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May 15, 2008
"Historically more polyglot Democrats" confront wedge issue!
While I like to think that I pay attention to so-called "wedge issues," it appears that I missed one. According to WaPo's Harold Meyerson, John McCain is trying to make "America" itself a wedge issue, by means of identity politics: McCain's first post-primary ad proclaimed him "the American president Americans have been waiting for." Not the "strong" or "experienced" president, though those are contrasts he could seek to draw with Obama. The "American" president -- because that's the only contrast through which McCain has even a chance of prevailing.Yes, and we know what that "pedigree" involves, don't we? I hate to interrupt nostalgic waxing over the "historically more polyglot Democrats," but I must object to the implications of word "historically." Historically, the Democratic Party was home to the Ku Klux Klan, while the Republican Party was home to black voters in the South. In 2000, Condoleezza Rice spoke from experience: The first Republican that I knew was my father John Rice. And he is still the Republican that I admire most. My father joined our party because the Democrats in Jim Crow Alabama of 1952 would not register him to vote. The Republicans did.For additional historical perspective, here's an excerpt from a lengthy piece by Larry Elder: Fugitive slave laws? In 1850, Democrats passed the Fugitive Slave Law. If merely accused of being a slave, even if the person enjoyed freedom all of his or her life (as approximately 11 percent of blacks did just before the Civil War), the person lost the right to representation by an attorney, the right to trial by jury, and the right to habeas corpus.There's a lot more. I can think of many ways to characterize the Democratic Party's regrettable history, but "historically more polyglot"? I think that's a shameless distortion of Orwellian proportions. Anyone who think the Democratic Party's racist history is limited to the distant historical past need look no further than the life story of the much-maligned (by Democrats) Condoleezza Rice: Condi, as friends call her, was born November 14, 1954, in what his 1963 Letter from a Birmingham Jail Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would call "probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States." During the Civil Rights struggle it came also to be called "Bombingham," with racist explosives killing not only Rice's friend and three other girls but also shattering the home of black civil rights lawyer Arthur Shores and terrifying the African-American community.(For more on Bull Connor, Glenn Reynolds recently linked this post by Grand Old Partisan.) For those who enjoy historical quotes from Democrats, Bruce Bartlett, author of "Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party's Buried Past," shared some gems from his book in the Wall Street Journal: "Slavery among the whites was an improvement over independence in Africa. The very progress that the blacks have made, when--and only when--brought into contact with the whites, ought to be a sufficient argument in support of white supremacy--it ought to be sufficient to convince even the blacks themselves."This is by no means an exhaustive compendium; I only wanted to cite a few examples to rebut Meyerson's sanctimonious claim of historically more polyglot Democrats with superior pedigrees. However, while I'm at it I can't resist this vintage snippet from a New York Times editorial: "It has of late become the custom of the men of the South to speak with entire candor of the settled and deliberate policy of suppressing the negro vote. They have been forced to choose between a policy of manifest injustice toward the blacks and the horrors of negro rule. They chose to disfranchise the negroes. That was manifestly the lesser of two evils. . . . The Republican Party committed a great public crime when it gave the right of suffrage to the blacks. . . . So long as the Fifteenth Amendment stands, the menace of the rule of the blacks will impend, and the safeguards against it must be maintained."But never mind any of that. To Harold Meyerson, the Republicans are the historic bigots, while the Democrats are the party of the multiculturally pure. And to his pure way of thinking the word "American" has become ugly code language for white Christian racist bigotry. And callused drowners of cities which probably weren't white enough: ....Their party leader, the incumbent president, let a great American city drown. They are the American party, and McCain the American nominee, that hasn't a clue about how to help America in its (prolonged, I fear) moment of need.(The Know Nothings were largely an offshoot of the Democratic Party which didn't last long.) But speaking of "American" as code language for white, I remember Whoopi Goldberg getting in trouble for describing herself as an American. "Most of all, I dislike this idea nowadays that if you're a black person in America, then you must be called African-American. Listen, I've visited Africa, and I've got news for everyone: I'm not an African. The Africans know I'm not an African. I'm an American. This is my country. My people helped to build it and we've been here for centuries. Just call me black, if you want to call me anything."I'm sure Condi Rice thinks along similar lines, but because she lacks leftist credentials, a remark like that from her would bring down the wrath of the mostly white gods of multiculturalism, who love abusing her with "House Negro" (or worse) and Aunt Jemima slurs, while they accuse the Republican Party of racism. But there's no winning this silly debate. What's important to remember is that Republicans are bigots, "America" is code language for white racism, and members of minorities who dare call themselves American are "acting white." posted by Eric on 05.15.08 at 09:50 AM |
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I guess 1984 came 24 years early.
Whatever divisions there are among Americans, I would think that all would say they are, um, American. It's political vapidity, wrapping oneself in the flag. It's the oldest trick in the book.
If McCain called himself human, would the other side infer an insult? You bet they would. They wouldn't know how they were insulted, but they would take massive umbrage.
The funny thing is, the Obama camp really believes this stuff, I think because of the candidate's overpowering inferiority complex.