So yesterday, I get a call at my home in Oregon, and when I answer the phone I hear the sound of Hillary Clinton telling a crowd at a rally in North Carolina that she is the candidate, her lobbying for passage of NAFTA notwithstanding (nor mentioned), who can best represent the interests of blue-collar workers. You see, my Dad, a resident of Gatonia, N.C., was at the rally. It was his confirmation that he had indeed gone ahead and voted for Clinton in early voting.
I had worked on him for weeks, trying to get him to vote for Obama. He was reluctant. He's not a Clinton fan. He likes Obama a lot and would certainly vote for him over McCain, but he recently became convinced that Obama could not stand up to attacks against him, and that the Republicans would eat him alive in the general-election campaign, milking Rev. Wright right up until Election Day.
He said something interesting...essentially, that if Rev. Wright was a white preacher saying 'God DAMN America,' this thing would've blown over already. But Rev. Wright is a black preacher. And not only that, but a black preacher whom many (esp. older) whites perceive as someone who's out to make them feel bad about past transgressions against African-Americans and the privileged status white people generally enjoy today. Many whites are secretly looking for a reason to vote against Obama anyway, and this "angry black preacher" gives them their out, letting them not feel guilty in the process.
So, believing this, my dad had the opportunity to stand up to that sort of thinking and vote his hopes instead of his fears. And he didn't, because for him this election is all about winning, and in his mind Clinton is the one capable of being as "nasty and ruthless" as the Republicans.
Perhaps this is a sound electoral strategy. But it does nothing to elevate the public discourse or change our polluted, dysfunctional politics.
Oh well, I tried.