Dems Primary Race Is Like Natives Greeting a Missionary

Democrat fissures are obvious now

By Kelvin Wade | | March 05, 2008 22:18

For Democrats, Tuesday was like Groundhog Day: six more weeks of campaigning. No one is more adept at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory as Democrats. While the Republicans are uniting, the Democrats are coming apart along racial, gender, age, economic and religious lines.

Yes, the Democratic Party is becoming the Donner Party.

Well off, college-educated Democrats, the so-called 'Latte Liberals,' vote differently than blue-collar Dems. Class fissures that usually only raise their heads in Democratic-Republican contests are alive and well in this Democratic primary with the well to do embracing Obama and working class folks choosing Clinton.

Race has divided Dems. Hillary Clinton led Obama among African-American voters until Bill Clinton's tone and rhetoric, as well as the actions of black Clinton surrogates, pushed them firmly into Obama's column. When Bill Clinton made his notorious comment about Jesse Jackson winning South Carolina, he conveniently skipped over the fact that both John Kerry and John Edwards doubled Al Sharpton's percentage of the black vote in that state in 2004. Blacks back credible black candidates. So if at the end of this process, Obama leads in states won, the popular vote and, most importantly, pledged delegates, how eager will African-Americans be to support Hillary Clinton if superdelegates steal the nomination?

By the same token, in Ohio 20 percent of non-college-educated whites and 10 percent of college educated whites said that race was a factor in their vote. Nearly eight in 10 non-college-educated whites say they'd be satisfied with Hillary as the nominee, while barely half said the same of Obama. The race has also broken down along gender lines, with Clinton enjoying double-digit leads in support among white women. Clinton's consistent playing of the gender card has led to results such as a recent poll saying a quarter of her voters would not support Obama as the nominee.

No one wants to be denied their historic first.

There's no doubt that some of Obama's support among men is fueled by gender bias. Matthew Streb of Northern Illinois University has done work showing that despite what voters tell pollsters, a good 25 percent of people won't vote for a female president.

When the Clinton campaign gave Matt Drudge the photo of Obama in Somali garb, they cynically calculated that it would paint Obama as foreign and un-American. Worst of all, it played into the libelous e-mails going around falsely claiming Obama is a Muslim. Democrats aren't immune to religious bigotry.

Hillary's embrace of Karl Rove style tactics, her multiple personalities, gender-card playing and negative ads have worked. Media reports are saying Obama's camp is about to go negative on Clinton.

What this means is as long as John McCain keeps his ethical lapses in check, avoids kowtowing to right wing radio and shows us the McCain of 2000, he should receive support from independents and Democrats tired of watching the human cockfight that is the Democratic nomination process. Peace.
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NOTES: I've always been interested in politics going back to Gerald Ford. I used to have a poster of Gerald Ford on my wall when I was a kid. I didn't know a thing about political parties but I liked reading about Presidents and history.

I was in the Gifted and Talented Program in grade school and we were due to go on a field trip to Washington D.C. I was so excited about it. But...we moved from VA to CA and I missed the trip. But I continued my interest in politics.

I was fond of Jimmy Carter and was upset when Reagan won in 1980. In 1984, I registered to vote for the first time. I voted for Walter Mondale for President. My views were decidedly liberal. In 1987, my brother Tony and I went to the Concord Naval Weapons Station for a rally hosted by Jesse Jackson. after a Vietnam veteran peace activist Brian Wilson had his legs cut off trying to block a train from sending munitions to Central America. Jesse Jackson gave a powerful speech that day. I got to help usher Jackson through the crowd and when he left, he turned in his car, looked at me and pointed at me with a smile on his face. I felt special. For all I know, he was talking shit about me. LOL

As the years went on my views evolved. I had a Democrat mother and a father who became a Republican late in life. Both were pretty conservative. I'm still pretty progressive on social issues but it's hard to pigeonhole my views.. While I loved Bill Clinton and thought he was a great President, I grew disenchanted with the Democrats as a Party. I didn't think they stood for anything. I thought they didn't have any balls. So I became a poltical independent. I didn't want to give my allegiance to any political party that didn't ask me for my vote. The way i saw it, the Democrats assumed they had it and the Republicans never even asked. The GOP dismisses blacks entirely.

In 2000, in the presidential primary, I voted for John McCain..

I'm writing all of this to say that I'm still disenchanted with the Democrats. While I thought it was necessary for them to take over Congress from a rubber stamping, big spending Republican crowd, I'm disappointed that they've virtually done nothing with it. Their political timidity just plain sucks.

I started off this political cycle hoping former VA governor Mark Warner would run for President. When he decided to run for Senate instead, I chose Barack Obama after reading his book, The Audacity of Hope. While I liked Bill, I'm not anxious to see the Clintons back in the White House. With them in power, the GOP will go back into their antagonistic position and nothing will get accomplished. And the stakes are too high...

If you check out The Other Side DR Blog, you'll find my views on the Iraq War.

If you check out the Wading In blog, you'll read about my old Dungeons and Dragons days.