This isn't a diary I intended to write yesterday. Then I saw Tim Russert on Today this AM, and it has been bugging me ever since. So, I decided to just write down what I was thinking.
Now, this is all anecdotal and it is borderline trollish, but I really just wanted to share what happened last night at one of our regular Democratic party get-togethers in my area.
Take it for what you will. I am a Barack supporter at this point, and so am obviously partisan. But this is just too much for me.
Let me set the stage a little. Where I live a large group of us (anywhere from 30 to 100) get together regularly to strategize in small groups about how to help local and state (and national) Democrats.
Now, I have bitched in diaries before about how this group tends to be run by a lot of Hillary supporters, and how much I loathe them. What ends up happening at our meetings is that there are always a group of Hillary's folks in each small-group and they try to control the agenda for their gal. This has been going on for over a year.
In this environment, I remain uncommitted. I have not told them that I am supporting Barack. The main reason is, I watched what these folks did to the Edwards supports last summer and into the fall. As soon as it became obvious that someone supported anyone other than Hillary, folks became pariahs. You weren't included any more in anything. It was the worst kind of High School sh*t. But there it was.
So, even though I've made up my mind, I still want to and intend to work for my party. And if that means deceiving some of the Hill-cats, that's fine by me.
That's the context...
Now, to last night. It's really a pretty short tale.
We were in a smallish-group, talking about how to do some get out the vote work in our caucus, mostly focused on a latino, black, and elderly area of our town. Eventually we drifted into conversation about Nevada.
And then the Hillary supporters started talking about how no matter what Barack's people tried to do, it wasn't going to work, because they were going to "beat the Black Guy" by leveraging the latino vote.
Now, on the surface this is nothing new. Using the latino vote against the African-American vote is a tried and true Repug technique, and something we've addressed before. I have been admittedly disturbed that this is now a DEMOCRATIC strategy too, but I really believe that Barack's message will overwhelm this stuff. Plus the latinos I know are all planning to vote for Barack, anyway. So, no big deal.
But I was really taken aback by the reference to Barack as "The Black Guy". I first heard it last night. Not just once. Or one person. Several times. From several folks.
Suddenly, he is no longer "Barack" or "Obama". He's "The Black Guy".
Coming home, I was thinking it over and just sort of chalked it up to my local prog-nuts losing their minds. And I was mad at myself for not calling them on it. Sometimes even the most rough and tumble of us choose not to fight when we should. And that was me last night. To my disgrace...
I was starting to get over this, BUT THEN...
This AM I am watching Timmy on Today and HE SAYS THE EXACT SAME THING!!!!He refered to Hillary's strategy to "beat the Black Guy"!
WTF!????!
Where did he get that? Has this now become a NATIONAL strategy? Has anyone else tripped over this recently? Was there a memo???
So, anyway, that's why I'm bothered. When this was just a few of my local Hillary fans acting their usual arrogant and dismissive selves, I wasn't too bothered. But if this is really where Hillary and her pals are going to take things, then at some point we Progressives are going to have to take a more aggressive stand.
I was wrong last night to not call the folks who used this phrase on it. I apologize to all of my Barack friends here for that. It won't happen again!
So, think of this as a kind of "call to arms". If anyone else hears this sort of thing, do not hesitate like I did.
Get it their face! Make a big deal out of it! And don't hesitate to call them the racists that they are!
We CANNOT let this become a winning strategy for Hillary and her campaign!
Thanks for taking the time to read this far!