Dear Senator:
You have to run for President – you absolutely have to. This goes way beyond personal ambition; or even a heartfelt desire to improve America and the lives of her people. You have to run because of what has attached itself to merely the hint of your candidacy. As I’m sure you are more than aware – certain commentators and so-called opinion makers have been attacking you on personal, ethnic and religious grounds. The terminology is past offensive – scrofulous, aphoristic twaddle - better suited to back of the school-yard pre-adolescent theatrics: ‘halfrican’,or ‘half-minority’,‘Osama Obama’- questioning everything from your sexuality to your childhood and religious upbringing. You can almost hear "nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah!" as the tag line.
Even supposedly credible news agencies (can you say CNN?) repeatedly link your name with that of Osama bin Laden – the implication being that you too are a terrorist. And I swear - if I hear your middle name bastardized one more time - I will reach into the TV and strangle whatever asshole’s responsible. They’ve even gone after your mother, god rest her soul. It seems nothing is sacred to these hooligans – and that is by way of being my point.
Win or lose Senator – I believe your candidacy will finally bring to a head the racist infection that has been allowed to run unchecked in America for decades. I’ve watched it fester all of my adult life with an ever growing sense of alarm and dismay. Twenty years ago in a small café deep in the heart of North Carolina my friend was denied service solely for the color of her skin. Today I listen to shop clerks trade trivial and offensive odiums – assuming that because we share a skin tone I will automatically concur with their casual and all too open bigotry. College students throw ‘ghetto’ parties – dressing up like Aunt Jemima – ridiculing and therefore dismissing the entire African-American experience. Even would-be presidential contenders latent racism surfaces when confronted with a ‘clean and articulate’ black man. So you see – the situation hasn’t improved one jot. It’s worsened – and by miles, I’m afraid. That’s why you absolutely have to run, Senator. You are proving to be a lightening rod. All the pent up hatreds and petty bigotries this country harbors have coalesced around you. You are their locus. Fear that you may one day be hailed as President has forced them out into the open. No sheets, no hoarse voices whispering over anonymous phone lines – real people, identifiably so – their malicious opprobriums now pellucid; and that’s what makes them beatable.
America has danced around the concept of race at least since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. Has it been addressed? In part – if that means anything. Media types trot it out, dust it off and try to squeeze ratings out every election cycle or so. Useless, pleonastic tautology – if that isn’t in itself an oxymoron. Paula Zhan is the latest trying to quantify it – again to little or no avail. What we are left with is a quilt – such and such harbors this resentment or that group considers themselves threatened; patches and band-aids at best – all merely masking the problem. Nothing substantive has actually been done to kill the infection at its root. Why? Mostly because of the silent haters. You can’t eliminate what cannot be found. Well – we can find them now Senator - we can find them thanks to you. The longer you stay out in front, presenting yourself as a target – the more America’s hidden underbelly exposes itself. I know this places you and your family in a difficult and dangerous position. No one starts out wanting to be Rosa Parks. More often than not that mantle of responsibility is thrust upon them. So it would be quite understandable if you opted out. I think were it you alone, nothing on this earth would prevent you from standing up to be counted – your personality just reads that way - but its not just you; your family must also tow that line. They will be forced to sacrifice – they will be in danger too. What I’m asking you to do is run in spite of it - run because of it, really.
You see - I really think that there are conservatives out there, so-called ‘Reagan Republicans’, who have gone along with the Rush Limbaughs and John Gibsons without giving those allegiances much thought. They are, by and large, good people; equating America with a rather narrow track of ‘traditional values’ – Jesus, the military, church on Sunday. They believe what Fox News tells them because up until now (in their eyes) - Fox and the rest haven’t crossed over the line of common decency. I think that’s about to undergo a sea change – and you, sir are the reason for it. These people, these Reagan Republicans AREN’T RACIST – not deep down. They have friends, co-workers, perhaps even family members that differ ethnically; and they are getting mightily offended at what the John Gibsons and Melanie Morgans have to say. These people need to keep hearing them say it, however. The more they are exposed to unreasoning and virulent hatred of you – the less inclined they will be to give credence to the usual thixotropic mess oozing from out Rush Limbaugh’s filthy mouth. Simply put – you could change America, Senator. Win or lose – you could change America for the better. That’s why I implore you to continue your candidacy despite overwhelming and even dangerous odds. Not an easy thing, I know. And there might not even be any reward at the end (if you can call being elected President a ‘reward’). Who knows whether or not the Democrats will select you to represent their constantly shifting, quicksand vision of America? Hell - I can’t even promise you my own primary vote. You espouse certain positions I vehemently disagree with. Case in point - I take exception to your stance on gay rights. I happen to believe in same sex marriage. Civil unions are a matter of state – not religion; and should be treated as such.
But I digress. My personal endorsement of your platform isn’t the point. And there’s a liminality inherent to all politics – I realize that. You do not seem a tendentious man. Viewpoints can change. Not to minimize the importance of individual’s rights and expectations – but America first needs to finally and conclusively open up a no holds barred discussion on race and ethnicity. It’s all about hate, you see. Hate needs must be addressed. All the rest will flow from this. Now - I’ve danced this jig before. In my opinion - prejudice and fear underlie all soterious issues – immigration, foreign policy, political alliances. Why else begin a war with Iraq and ignore the ever worsening situation in Darfur? Why handle a dictator like Milosevic differently than Hussein? Do they not harbor the same evils under the skin? Then why was one granted the consideration of trial at The Hague – and the other taunted and spat on to his grave? And why on earth abandon a major American city to the deprecations of wind and weather? Racism, Senator Obama – a racism so bone deep it defies description. It has to be faced. It has to be dealt with. Now – before that prejudice and bigotry destroy America completely. But you know this, don’t you? And much more intimately and personally than I ever will. Look - I know I am asking a lot. It’s mightily unfair to shift such a huge responsibility onto your shoulders. And it’s doubly unfair to ask your wife and children to suffer that same burden. Again, I understand. Really. Look - I have no syllogisms to serve as lure here. My arguments, such as they are, flow from the heart rather than the head. And I’m not just spouting jeremiads for the hell of it. Cassandra is not a role I’ve ever had a hankering to play. But this is an opportunity that must be seized. Who knows when it will come again? Lightening doesn’t always strike twice. So throw your hat in the ring, Senator. Do it because it’s right. Do it because I don’t think America will survive should you decline.
Cross-posted between The Fat Lady Sings, Daily KOS, My Left Wing and Bring it On.