Presidential Politics May Not Be Ready to Reflect a Post Racial Maturity
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Race puts a whole new face on the Presidential sweepstakes, an aspect we have not hitherto had to seriously consider.
Presidential politics has always brought out the best, and worst, in America.
Even in the earliest days, before real campaigning was the accepted practice, there was a vicious undercurrent in the press of the times, and, of course, in private discussions, speeches by other politicians, sermons and barroom rants.
Thomas Jefferson's alleged fathering of children by his Negro slave Sally Hemmings was among the most noted of these vicious examples. That it eventually was proven true doesn't supersede the fact that it was irrelevant to his ability to be President.
Andrew Jackson was driven to near madness by accusations that his wife was already married to another man, making him a bigamist.
Al Smith's Catholicism drew partisans into separate camps, drove a religion-based, Klan-fostered anti campaign and led to the election of Herbert Hoover, whose policies brought us the Great Depression.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's relatives had to lie about his infirmity caused by polio, one telling the media "he is a fine, athletic man." It seems charges against his candidacy centered on his disability, detractors warning that FDR's election would cause a wheelchair mentality to sweep the nation.
John F. Kennedy survived religious attacks only because of his extreme charisma, and perhaps some vote manipulation in Chicago. His election kept the conniving Richard Nixon out of office but only for a while.
The nation tolerated the creation of one dynasty of the early days, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, but there was an uneasy sense that we were doing what we had escaped by splitting with England. The American way does not cotton to hierarchical regimes like in Europe.
Teddy Roosevelt and FDR were an exception to this rule, although just cousins, until we got to the Bushes. Apparently we forgot our history and pushed aside the recollection that no matter how it happens hereditary succession breeds corruption. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, as the old axiom goes.
Hereditary succession is bad enough, and should be anathema in America, but familial succession should perhaps be even more avoided. Napoleon could get away with investing his son as emperor; if he had tried to put the crown on Josephine the people as well as the princes and nobles would doubtless have revolted.
Race puts a whole new face on the Presidential sweepstakes, an aspect we have not hitherto had to seriously consider.
We of the liberal and mid-road persuasion can take solace in the fact that three Congressional races have not succumbed to racial hysteria -- even in Mississippi and Louisiana.
The nation needs to keep its cool to avoid disaster. Bill O'Reilly talking with a straight face about lynching Michelle Obama to millions of susceptible lamebrains is madness, as is the West Virginia voter who advised "we ought to hang that darky from a tree." Good Lord! Haven't we learned anything throughout our history about civilized dealings with people of a different color.
We cannot claim to be the most fair, freedom-loving, caring people on earth if these views are to prevail in a Presidential race.
As we have sorrowfully predicted before, these destructive attitudes will come more to the surface as the race for the White House heats up. A Washington Post columnist named Kathleen Parker has quoted 24-year-old Josh Fry of West Virginia saying he isn't racist but would be more comfortable with "a full-blooded American as President."
The Cincinnati Enquirer parroted the line with the headline "Full-blooded American concept critical for our next leader." What does that tell you about how the campaign will be pitched in Ohio?
"Full-blooded American" doubtless is code for "white-faced" American regardless of how Ms. Parker spins it, writing of young Mr. Fry "he may have hit upon something essential in this Presidential race."
Yes, it is essential, Ms. Parker and Mr. Editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer. I believe it is essential that we move beyond bigotry in choosing our leaders. I believe the news media and competing politicians need to help fulfill the American promise of equality. Otherwise, the American Dream dies.
John Edwards did the right thing trying to stem the racial stampede Mrs. Clinton has fostered. He stepped up in the nick of time, no doubt at great cost to his own political prospects, to defend a candidate who is increasingly under assault not for his policies but based on race.
Hillary may be right; perhaps Obama can't win, especially with the kind of racial attacks that we can undoubtedly expect, that will make those to date seem mild. But we owe it to our heritage and to our future to allow him, if he leads in votes and delegates, to try.
And we need to continue to uphold the promise of the Declaration of Independence "all men are created equal" by keeping open minds and judging men and women on the content of their character not the color of their skin.###
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Dave Rogers |
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