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White on White Crime
I'm a long time reader of TPM but I was never inclined to create an account before yesterday.
Hillary Clintons' overtly racial statement about “hard working Americans, white Americans” set me off.
From the start of this ridiculous two year presidential campaign, I was prepared to embrace whoever came out on top of the democratic side. Anything else would continue the disastrous policies of the republicans. But over time I came to see that the Clintons had embraced the same tactics that have worked for the republicans. Divide and conquer, fear and smear.
And while I still wound never pull the lever (in New York we still have the ancient voting machines) for McCain, I am very happy that Obama has every chance to come out on top. I want things to be better in this country and it starts with a change in our attitudes towards each other and how we conduct our business. I haven’t lost hope that we can swing the pendulum back towards a more united country that respects all Americans. Race, religion, political leaning, sexual orientation are not the point. Moving the American ideals forward should be our mission.
Comments (3)
The Clintons have a long history of creating unwarranted division and polarization. Of bitterness and vengeance.
This is not the kind of diplomacy we need in the oval office. Not the kind of diplomacy that's conducive to a successful governing majority.
The nominee should know how to build and nurture relationships national and international, with people who agree and disagree.
Running a tough campaign is fine. Fighting your heart out for the nomination is fine.
But in the end, you have to look at how someone gets to where they want to go.
Because that's also the path they'll take once they get there.
May 9, 2008 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
A message to Camp Cinton:
You might want to rethink your outdated, racially-divisive pitch.
Times have changed.... not only in sophisticated urban centers but also in the hills of West Virginia and Kentucky and elsewhere.
You seem to be wooing the people of my grandparents' generation. But, regrettably, vis a vis your presidential prospects, they are long gone.
My grandparents -- self-made,"hardworking white people" -- lived and died in West Virginia. Although my grandfather was a good man --some would even say an extraordinary man -- he had one major flaw: although so pro-Democrat that he said "he would vote for the donkey if it ran" he was racially prejudiced, so much so that he left his church when it integrated.
Happily, my father, who attended graduate school at UWVa, saw a bigger, brighter picture; therefore, in one generation, in our family, prejudice vanished.
Two subsequent generations of our family uphold the principle that all people are equal.
So I'm afraid, Camp Clinton, that the members of the choir you are preaching to cannot help you. They are silent, because they are dead...as is your use to the Democratic party, unless you shape up and act constructively.
May 9, 2008 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am a hard-working white woman and I am thrilled that we are going to have this beautiful amazing Black family in the White House. It makes me happy to see barriers falling, people appreciating each other for their talents and strengths as we go forward. Hillary just revealed how backward and old-school she really is with her knuckleheaded remark. If she really does have a slim majority of non-college-educated people behind her, I don't see what's to brag about!
May 9, 2008 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
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