Posted by
Andrews on Saturday, April 05, 2008 7:03:25 PM
After 2000 we spent four years hearing about how Bush stole the election, or about how the supreme court gave the election to Bush. (Actually, I still hear that, so it is even more than four years.) After 2004, we heard about how the Republican smear machine fabricated charges and "swiftboated" John Kerry, and how the voters ignored the fake but accurate reports from Dan Rather.
Now, unless the Democrats come to their senses and nominate someone more electable (like Kucinich*), I am looking at spending the next four years hearing about how Obama lost because America is racist.
And that will inevitably be the story. Not that Obama has an incredibly left wing voting record. Not that Obama was associated with militant black separatists. Not that many close to him had ties to Farrakhan. Not that he made excuses and obfuscated when confronted with the statements of his mentor. Not even that he ran a campaign devoid of any platform.
The entire story the press will present is that racist America was not "ready" for a black president**.
How I wish the Democrats would stop obsessing about race. It seems, outside of a few fringe groups, the only people who mention race in this age are those who think that have "overcome" it. While claiming to be enlightened in racial matters, the left is the only group that seems obsessed with the issue***.
Well, Democrats, if you have such an enlightened view of race, can you stop mentioning it every 2 minutes?
The rest of us would be quite happy to stop hearing about it.
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* It started out as a joke, saying Kucinich is more electable than the two left in the race, but I am starting to believe it. Could a Kucinich run have any less chance of success than an Obama run? Or a Clinton run? If they want someone electable, bring Howard Dean out of mothballs and put him on the campaign trail. Even after the Dean Scream he is still a better prospect that the two they have running.
** Anyone who doubts this, recall that part of why Mondale was crushed in the general election, according to the press, was that we were not ready for a woman as vice president. Not that Mondale promised to raise taxes. Not that Ferraro was about the worst choice imaginable. Not that Mondale had all the cachet of being associated with Jimmy "Malaise" Carter. Nope. Just gender.
*** To anticipate the inevitable critic and his smirking "gotcha" comment, yes I have mentioned race frequently of late. That is because one of the two presidential candidates on the Democrat side was involved for twenty years with a professional race baiter. As race is obviously an issue to Senator Obama, despite his claims to the contrary, it forces me to address race as well. Should everyone simply stop mentioning race, and stop brining it up in politics, I would be quite happy to never mention it again. If you bother to examine my blog, you will see race rarely, if ever, was an issue in posts prior to the Obama candidacy making it an issue, both during the Wright scandal and earlier by focusing on "racial healing".