Audacity of Hope, or Politics of Fear
Much has been made, and much will be made of the issue of race in this political campaign. One thing that has been made clear is that there are some who are voting against Senator Barrack Obama solely because of his race. Now those people will argue that African-Americans who are voting for Obama are doing so solely because of his race, and they’d be right. Likewise, women who supported Hillary Clinton (some of whom are voting for John McCain because of the selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate) did so because of her gender. They would also be correct in that assessment.
But here’s the thing, and it’s the difference between voting out of pride and hope and voting out of hatred and fear. Ask African-Americans why they are voting for Obama, and they will likely (and proudly) tell you that it is because he’s an African-American. Ask many women why they supported
Clinton, and why they support Palin on the McCain ticket, and they will just as proudly tell you it is because they are women. What people don’t seem to understand is that minorities and women take immense pride in their respective groups. As a result, they tend to base their successes and failures vicariously though members of those groups. Be they celebrities, sports figures, or politicians.
On the other hand, with Whites who are voting against Obama there is something totally different at work. Note that I do not say “voting for McCain”, as I feel there is a difference between voting against someone and voting for someone. To be sure, most people (Black, White, etc.) who are voting for John McCain are doing so for very valid reasons (not that I could possibly fathom what they are, but that’s beyond the scope of this post). However, those who are voting against Obama aren’t doing so out of any degree of racial pride, but out of racial fear. Not of what an Obama presidency would mean for America, but of what a Black president, any Black president (or any Black person in a position of authority) would mean for them personally. And at the core of everything, what it represents is CHANGE from their status quo. When Obama campaigned in PA during the primaries, he got it halfway right (though at the time being a Hillary supporter, I didn’t pay it much attention). These people do cling to guns and religion, not out of bitterness, but out of fear. The “bitterness” they feel is born out of that fear. Bitterness towards Blacks, towards gays, towards immigrants, towards feminism, multiculturalism, intellectualism. Anything that threatens that status quo. The Republican party for the past 7 years have masterfully manipulated that fear to their advantage. They used it to garner the support of 76% of the country for the Iraq war in 2002, and in 2004 they used it to get George W. Bush elected for a second term.
Obama’s campaign represents terra-incognita for America, bringing it face to face with its most intractable issue. This is a moment for this country to finally have that “discussion on race” that we always talk about having whenever some celebrity behaves badly (i.e. Don Imus, Michael Richards). More importantly, it is a chance for us to decide whether we allow fear (which is at the heart of most racial attitudes) to dictate where this country will head in the next four years, and perhaps the next generation. It’s time to start talking.
