My Plea to All Democrats [Not a Candidate Pitch]
Mon Feb 04, 2008 at 04:29:26 PM PDT
Watching the debate last Thursday made me very proud of my party, not only because it underscored the fact that we have two great candidates for the nomination. After over 200 years of both parties nominating white males every time, I am proud that we as Democrats have decided to take a risk this year and nominate either the first woman or the first African American for president.
My preference for Obama in the primaries is pretty obvious to anyone who has read my recent comments here. But my call is not to vote for Obama. If you think Clinton is the best candidate, vote for her. If you think Obama is the best candidate, vote for him. But I beg of my fellow Democrats, as members of the party that has taken the lead in breaking down racial and gender barriers for the past 45 years, do not vote for Clinton solely because you are afraid that Americans are too racist to elect an African American, and do not vote for Obama because you are afraid America is too sexist to elect a woman.
Of the two, most people I have spoken to consider race to be a bigger barrier than gender to capturing the White House in November. Last night, I spoke to my great aunt in Arizona, who does not have a racist bone in her body but is concerned that Obama’s race makes him unelectable. Other people I respect have told me that they are supporting Clinton because they are afraid America is not ready to elect an African American president.
For at least the past 40 years, African Americans have been our most loyal voting bloc, voting with us overwhelmingly even in years when Democrats got crushed and lost just about every other demographic group. I am certainly not saying that we should nominate Obama for that reason, and as I said before, if you think Clinton is the better candidate, or if you think Obama is less electable for other reasons (less experience, National Journal ratings, etc), then by all means, vote for Clinton. But to disqualify the first African American with a real shot at becoming president solely because you think his race makes him unelectable is a slap in the face to a group of voters that has been part of the backbone of our party for the past half-century.
I am not saying that the concerns expressed by my aunt and others are invalid, and those who profess such fears say that this election is too important to take a chance with. But you could argue that any presidential election is too important to take a risk. Any time a Republican gets control of the White House, it’s going to mean at least four years of failed policies that leave us deeper in debt, widen the income gap, harm the environment, and hurt our standing in the world community with an arrogant foreign policy. So we can keep making excuses, keep limiting ourselves to white nominees because we say every time that winning is too important to be able to take the risk of nominating an African American (or a member of any other racial minority). But if we as Democrats don’t pick Obama as our nominee solely because we are afraid to take a risk and break down racial barriers, then we don’t belong in the party of the Kennedy's, LBJ, and other great Democrats who had the courage to stand for racial justice despite the political consequences.
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