In the previous diary about this subject, several commenters suggested that it is hypocritical to suggest that Dems should make an effort to understand the South when Southerners are, at times, so hostile to the rest of the country. Well, as I said before, part of this hostility is a reaction to the condescension (both real and perceived) that the rest of the country heaps onto the South. But, aside from that, it is true that the South is very regionalistic, and I can't think of any other part of the country that makes the kind of stringent demands on national candidates to speak to their regional concerns and culture. Those who see this as being somewhat unfair may have a point, but this is the reality, and if we are to take back our country, it is a reality that we must accept and deal with. That being said, national candidates should understand and appeal to every region, or at least attempt to. Someone running for President isn't running for President of the West Coast, or President of the Midwest, or President of the South. They are running for President of the United States of America, and I personally want a President who knows his/her country well, from sea to shining sea.
Now - and let me be exceedingly clear on this - that does NOT mean catering or compromising with racism, ignorance, or bigotry, or selling out our positions. In fact, it means just the opposite. By becoming competitive in the South, we can fight those evils much more than we can by writing off the entire region. All it takes is for candidates to understand the aspects of Southern culture which are positive and seperate from racism and bigotry, and to appeal to those aspects.
On the subject of Southern culture, some felt that I was really referring to White Southerners. Well, I am a White Southerner, so that is the prism through which I see things, but I disagree that 'Southerner' is code for 'White Southerner', at least when I use it. The aspects of Southern culture that I am advocating we connect to are shared by both Blacks and Whites, and appeal across color lines. With Southern Blacks, the danger is not that they will suddenly start voting GOP in large numbers. The GOP will be unlikely to duplicate its rural white voter success with them, as the memories of where Republicans stood (and stand) on civil rights are still relatively fresh, but that doesn't mean we aren't in danger of losing their support. The danger is that they will just stay home, disgusted with a Democratic Party that has taken them for granted for much too long and that runs candidates that don't seem to have an authentic understanding of what is happening in their lives. Consider this story from my canvassing duties in Eastern NC.
Towards the end of the day, I ended up in a long conversation with an extremely intelligent older fellow named Don, who expressed what I imagine is the attitude of quite a few black folks this year. He said that politicians like Kerry come around every four years around election time to remind them to vote Democrat, and then seem to conveniently forget about their concerns the rest of the time (Clinton being somewhat of an exception). He said he's still going to vote for Kerry, if for no other reason than he really despises Bush, but Democrats had better start addressing the concerns of the Black community (justice reform, inner city education, etc), or next time he might just stay home.
This speaks to a candidate who is able to be plain-spoken about the direction in which they seek to lead the country, and also someone who understands what people are going through and what is important to them. With the South, however, it is true that this plainspokenness must be tempered with an awareness of certain demons in the closet. Race and racism are the big, pink elephants in the South, and the GOP has been able to exploit this by appealing to the worst in people down here. Well, I say that we can fight back by appealing to the best in people.
Southerners are, by nature, what I call 'self-idealists'. By that, we tend to want to believe the best about ourselves and our people, and have a sometimes unhealthy tendancy to get too attached to our romaticized notions. This, however, is something that we can turn to our advantage. The fact is, these days, most white Southerners don't consider themselves to be racists, even if they are (without realizing it), and, in fact, look down at those who are identifiable as racists. A candidate who has an awareness of this inner-conflict could easily use it to drive a wedge between well-meaning white southerners who simply haven't let go of their predjudices and overt racists (whose vote I don't want anyway). But to successfully do this, the candidate must understand Southern culture overall, and must not do it in a way that calls these people racists. Rather, by cultivating their self-identification as non-racists, we can turn them against the hate tactics of the GOP.
There is one important aspect of Southern culture that I have thus far neglected, which can be summed up by the phrase 'don't git above yer raisin' or too big fer yer britches' (thanks to a commenter for reminding me of that). Southerners don't want someone who comes across as being aristocratic or somehow 'better' than them. They want someone who has an understanding of who they are and what's important to them, and can talk to them like a normal person, not 'like a politician'. This person doesn't necessarily have to be from the South, though that can give them a foot in the door. In fact, I would submit that Howard Dean would have had the potential for southern success had he been nominated, simply because he was talented at communicating directly, and he understands what rural, working class voters care about.
The South is where the GOP has built it's fortress. If we let them keep it without even putting up a fight, well, we may win some elections here and there, but they will continue to erode the blue states and put the Dems on the defensive. With that, I'm going to draw this diary to a close, but next time, I'll go into some real 'meat & potatoes' specifics of how we can regain our competitiveness in the South.
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