Barack The Magic Negro:

If he’s neither black nor white, why should you be white?

It points to the larger problem of this country and how POC get treated- our thoughts never matter, in fact, for many white folks, it never crossed their minds that we think at all, that we are capable of weighing decisions and making adult choices- that we are sentient.

After all, all these years with nothing but white men to choose from, and somehow race matters now? What the hell did they think we were using to choose our votes with then? Eeny-meenie-miny-mo?!?

Of course, it’s not like there hasn’t been a history of POC and women writers, political analysis and now, bloggers. Though, as always, there’s been a history of ignoring them.

I disagree with this.

Racism is definitely an issue, but because of the way sexism and racism function differently in this country, gender slurs are far more openly acceptable, while racism has gotten coded and gone underground and become disguised in this whole colorblind thing. (Unless it’s against Muslims, in which case, sad to say, it can be open and blatant and encouraged).

Which isn’t to say one is worse than the other (for instance, white women don’t suffer the kind of widespread economic misery, prison sentences, etc, of PoC — there are plenty of issues in which racism is far more damaging than sexism).

But as far as this race goes, the upshot of it all is that Hillary Clinton can be told to go back to the kitchen, told to “Iron my shirt,” she can be called weak for crying, she can be made into a “nutcracker” doll for being a woman who’s too strong, etc., etc. Many of the anti-Hillary posts and websites incorporate her gender into the attacks (“shrillary,” the “cackle,” bitch, and countless other less pleasant words I won’t list). The media has joined in the sexist attacks (Mathews and his claims about Hillary only achieving what she did because her husband cheated on her; the examinations of her cleavage).

Obama has been criticized by plenty of people, but I have yet to see anyone link his race to the attacks on him in the way gender is tied up in the hatred of Hillary. McCain laughed when someone asked a question of him referring to Hillary as a “bitch.” For her, gender is inextricably bound up in the attacks on her. From a Seattle Times article:

“Facebook, popular with high-school and college students, has dozens of anti-Hillary groups, many of which take great delight in heaping abuse on Clinton as a woman, imagining her reduced to a subservient role, and visiting violence upon her. One is “Hillary Clinton: Stop Running for President and Make Me a Sandwich,” with more than 23,000 members and 2,200 “wall posts.”"

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004041541_hillaryslurs29.html

I do think there’s something to what Saladin is saying about voting for a black candidate; I think this because if I had registered to vote in time for the primaries I probably would have voted for Hillary. Don’t get me wrong–I will support whichever candidate the Democrats elect, and I think either Hillary or Obama will do an equally decent job as president. But…I hadn’t realized how much the idea of a woman president meant to me (unless, as Saladin says of his wife re: a black candidate, she’s a crazy Republican–no Libby Dole, thanks) until she lost the first primary. It…does mean something to see somebody like you in a position of power, legitimized in the eyes of the establishment and the world. It does mean that for many of us, white women and black women and men, to have a black and a female candidate feels as though we are being acknowledged in the electoral process in a way we haven’t been before. And that does matter. And to see the level of sexist vitriol being levelled at Hillary is what decided me–I just heard the secretary in my office say that she thought that a woman shouldn’t be president because she’d be too emotional to make good decisions.

I know that the same level of racist vitriol has been spewed at Obama. So I would never try to convince anyone else to eschew him in favor of Hillary because of that. It’s just that because I am a white woman, the sexism hits me in my guts and I’ve had the privilege of not being the target of that kind of racist attack.

Again, I’m not saying that these are particularly good or worthy reasons, or that anybody else should follow them. Certainly the default assumption should not be that anybody is supporting a candidate because of his/her race or gender (although…being white and male has certainly been a prerequisite for the past few hundred years, and nobody said shit about their supporters). I know many white feminists who are supporting Obama, and he’ll do fine as president, I think. But there is something to be said for the galvanizing effect of Obama’s and Hillary’s candidacies because of their identities.

It really pisses me off that in the current climate no one can get elected without this bullshit. Whether they actually mean it or not.

It also kind of pisses me off that as a black person who is probably going to vote for Obama if he gets the nod (because Edwards went away!), I have to wrestle with the fact that, even though I don’t think he actually thinks that way, he still SAYS stuff that makes me go AHHHHHHHHHDAMNITSHUTUP.

A lot of Black people ARE voting for Obama first and foremost because he’s Black. My neighborhood (mixed but largely Black) was pulsing with an energy yesterday that would NEVER have been there if a Black man were not running for president. I have friends that TELL ME they would never even have gone to the polls if there weren’t a Black candidate for them to vote for. My wife will say straight up that she can’t imagine there being a viable Black candidate for president and her *not* voting for them, unless they were some kind of crazy republican. The very idea is insane to her.

And I don’t know that that’s such an awful thing. If there were some real difference between the candidates — if Kucinich and Obama were going at it, for instance — I would say “it’s a shame that a brown face is mobilizing support for a less genuinely pro-Black candidate.” But since neither Hillary nor Obama are really going to do shit for Black people anyway, people might as well vote for the brown face…

Certainly my ‘race’ has to do with why I say Obama can kiss my ass. I would never vote for him because he’s selling my people (Arabs and Muslims) down the river to get elected. He’s in favor of increased military spending, and guess who’s gonna be on the receving end of that shit? (Hint: the slur rhymes with ‘land diggers’). He’s emphatically defended Israel’s starvation-blockade and mass bombing of civilians and and has come out as strongly in favor of Israeli Aparteid (yes, it’s Aparteid, that’s what Desmond Tutu calls it, and he would know). He’s sold out Louis Farrakhan to the white media about five times now. He talks about terrorism in terms almost as black-and-white (get it?) as the Bush administration. He’s encouraged the straight-up LIE that Islamic terrorism poses some kind of major threat to the US. He says military force must remain an option on Iran, except we should try starving them (sanctions) first — as punishment for what crimes exactly, I’m not sure. He talks about ‘finishing the job’ in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the same psychotic way Big White Leaders do. And he gets OFFENDED when people draw attention to his Muslim heritage. “My dad wasn’t really religious” “No, look, I go to church!”, “I really want to clear this up”, etc. Well, Mr. B. HUSSEIN Obama, guess what? “Muslim” is not a slur! But on behalf of the 8 million Muslims in America, fuck you for encouraging people to believe that it is!

Now, as a disclaimer, I have met some fine Obama supporters. Some wonderful, intelligent people who have thought over the issues thoroughly. There are many good reasons to vote for the man, and I will certainly support him come the general election if he is our nominee.

My problem with many Obama supporters is that many — too many of the ones who are vocal online in political forums and other places — see him as a flawless representation of unity, hope, and Democratic goodness. Many of these same supporters vilify Hillary Clinton and (when he was still in the race) John Edwards, as if all three didn’t have records that were almost identical! (90 percent the same, really. I checked)

Part of this, I suspect, is due to the media’s obvious love for the man. I don’t like the media selecting our candidate for us. Part of it also seems to be because Obama is the cool new guy. Whatever the reason, many of his supporters who I’ve encountered express adoration but no real knowledge of his policies.

I’m not happy with his general silence on women’s issues (including the present votes, his snubbing of the BlogHer conference, and his lack of high-level female staff members as compared to other presidential campaigns).

But in particular, I’m very annoyed with the recurring pattern of homophobic maneuvering. Which is not to say that I believe Barack himself is homophobic — I don’t — but I do think that he’s willing to ignore LGBT issues for political gain. I have gay family members who were very upset by the McClurkin incident. Then there was the endorsement of another anti-gay clergy member that followed. Then this latest news about his refusal to take a photo with Newsom because of gay marriage. It’s not just one incident; it’s a pattern.

Finally, I am annoyed by his hypocrisy.

Clinton plays politics in a slimy, underhanded way. The thing is, everybody knows this already.

Obama also plays politics in a slimy, underhanded way. I’ve been watching his campaign a long time and he’s done a few nasty things, sometimes clumsily (Punjab), sometimes being called out on it (Health Care mailer). It’s quite clever of him and it’s what I expect from politicians. But unlike Clinton, he claims to be above this stuff. And people believe him.

That bugs the hell out of me. At least with Clinton, we know what we’re getting. With Obama… I think there are going to be many very disillusioned liberals in a few years.