Several times since Clinton and Obama announced their run for the White House, we've been asked here at ProgressiveU and elsewhere if the United States was ready for a woman or black president. My answer to that question has always been a simple yes. If other places can elect a woman or a black person to represent them at the highest levels of government, why shouldn't the United States be able to do the same?
Recently, however, I have begun to rethink my simple yes answer. It has become well... less simple. As we've all seen on the news, Obama and Clinton and their respective camps have begun a race debate. They both issued statements that they would back off and stick to the issues, but of course, that doesn't ever really happen. They continue to discuss it because the media and the rest of us don't give them much of an option. Statements were made and people want answers; that's understandable.
But, even more than these recent debates and controversies, I've begun to question my simple yes answer because since those candidacy have been announced the question keeps cropping up. And those statements about women voting for Clinton because she is a woman and blacks voting for Obama because he is black have inevitably followed the question.
The truth is, I'm no longer sure that we are ready. I have no doubts that a woman or a black man or a Hispanic woman, a gay man or even a Pagan could do the job and likely do it incredibly well given the chance. And yes, we may even see such a president in 2008. But, we, as a society, aren't ready to give them the chance or consider the possibility with anything more than grudging acceptance and wide eyed wonder. We're so stuck on such a thing happening that we don't approach the entire thing rationally. We automatically assume that women will vote for Clinton because she is a woman, thus giving many women far less credit than they deserve. And we automatically assume that African Americans will vote for Obama, thus giving them far less credit than they deserve.
We don't look at the issues, or consider the fact that woman and African Americans are capable of looking past genetics and making a rational decision based on fact, performance and issues. We simply see woman or black and that ends it right there for far too many. We see only what is in front of us, are too amazed at the possibility and far too ill advised on the abilities of others to get past that. We simply have far too little faith in women and blacks and that says it all.
And so, my position on the matter has slowly changed to something that is, while a little depressing, more apt than my previous answer ever really was.
We will be ready for a woman or a black question the moment we stop assuming that minorities will vote for one or the other simply because they are minorities.
We will be ready for a woman or black president the moment we can see past what is right in front us to what is at the heart of the matter.
We will be ready for a woman or black president when we learn to have faith in others regardless of their sex or skin color.
And finally, we will be ready for a woman or a black president the moment we no longer have to question whether we are ready.
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I think we're ready for a woman or minority president.
However, that doesn't mean that we have to elect Hillary or Obama just to prove it.
Voting FOR a woman or minority because they're a woman or minority is just as silly and inane as voting AGAINST a woman or minority because they're a woman or minority.
The only exception that I give is that we are currently at a severe moment of tension with many muslim countries, given our stances against terrorism and the direct and indirect support some of these countries give TO those terrorists.
They view women as sub-standard in some of those cultures and as such would have no problem further distancing themselves from us if we have a woman president.
That said, I don't think the impression that others would get of us for having a woman or minority president should matter in terms of whether or not we ought to elect one.
I am not a fan of Hillary or Obama because they're liberal. Not because of their gender or race.
I'm undecided so far as candidates go as of yet. I just don't like much of what I see from any of them.
There are those out there who don't like the candidates because of the issues and there are those who like those same candidates for the issues. We tend to ignore that though and simply hang on the fact that Hillary is a woman and Obama is black. We ignore that people can and do make informed choices that have little to do with racial or sexual makeup. And it's widespread. We have so little faith in the ability of women and African Americans to make a rational decision, that I really can't say we are ready. Sure, we may accept it if one or the other wins, but we will still have those "She won because women voted for her" or "He won because black people voted for him" things. We refuse to entertain another notion and that makes me say we aren't ready as a society. As individuals, quiet a few are ready, but as a collective, we're too busy throwing stones to sit down and think rationally. Once we move past that, we'll be truly ready in every sense of the word. For now, we're not. We're just kind of hanging out at "it could work but..."
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Soar high and laugh on the wind
~Fallon~
"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."- Thoreau
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I'll tell you what really upset me was the racist critique of Iowa when Obama won.
About how the 'white people' have 'matured enough' to look past their bigotry and vote for a black man.
the assumption therein is that white people are, by virtue of being white, racist.
That is, itself, a racist statement. But that didn't stop people all over the mainstream media from repeating it. heck, even FOX had Jesse Jackson on, saying that filth.
Hillary, I do believe, has a racist slant to her. Not just for the attacks against Obama that have come from her camp (I don't believe that she ordered them but I do believe she could have stopped them).... but for past issues... I remember one occassion where she screamed at some aide and ranted about them being a Jew.
Now, when Mel Gibson asked a cop if they were a Jew he was (probably rightly so) heralded as being against Jews. When hillary clinton ranted about a jewish aide, calling out that the aide WAS Jewish, it was basically passed off as 'one of her firecracker quirks."
Racism is Racism. Whether it benefits or detracts from a race, it is evil and begets more racism.
There will always be racists, but the rest of us need to be more vocal and forceful in calling them out as the useless bigots that they are.
I agree with you. And from what I have seen, it's not a white issue or a male issue. It's a people issue. I've heard the same questions and comments about African Americans voting for Obama and women voting for Hillary from women, Hispanics, African Americans and all sorts of other groups just as often as I have heard them from anyone else. To point the finger at any one group as we have seen in the media, here and elsewhere is, to me, denying the reality of the situation. All groups are playing a part in the problem and not doing enough to fix it.
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Soar high and laugh on the wind
~Fallon~
"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."- Thoreau
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Yes indeed.
Oddly enough, under the guise of being 'politically correct' we've been forced to discriminate based on race and gender, so that we can prove that we don't discriminate based on race and gender.
"See? I'm not sexist, I hired a woman!"
"See? i'm not racist, I've hired 5 minority employees in the last 3 months!"
I saw a interesting interview last night on either Fox or MSNBC(I watch both at the same time so that they counteract themselves and I end up getting neutral news).
It had a black man, forget his name but he was a leader in the community, who was calling blacks racists. Now apart from my intial surpries, I wasn't all that surprised. The things he was saying about how the MSM and most people will brush aside a black democratic leader for saying a white remark while those same people would destroy a white republican for saying the same thing.
And it's usually true. Jesse Jackson and many black leaders will come out strong againist something a white man said and in doing so will let fly a torrent of racists comments. Anyways an interesting interview none the less since it was a black man saying this about black men.
"They lie about marijuana. Tell you pot-smoking makes you unmotivated. Lie! When you're high, you can do everything you normally do, just as well. You just realize that it's not worth the fucking effort. There is a difference." Bill Hicks
There was a fellow who started as scholarship only for white people. He was INSTANTLY condemned for being a racist.
Until it came out that the guy is hispanic. He just felt that it was racist to have scholarships for each seperate race except white people and the scholarship's real purpose was to draw light to the fact that giving a scholarship to someone because of their race is..... wait for it..... racist.
Heh.
Rest in peace
yourfuneralguy
http://www.lowercostfuneral.com
..........including everyone named is that voters are quite intelligent and in many cases more intelligent than political leaders or candidates.
I just want a non-christian one. Preferably, however, not Romney; I don't like Romney.
Nicholas Aden
Self-Promotion
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Choice Picks
i with that we did not have to ask are selves if we are ready for a black president or a woman president. it should not better.
I will say that it is extremely dumb for woman to vote for hilary just because she is a female and to vote for Obama just because he is black. Vote for who ever choose for their issues and not their gender, or race.
Liv Life Your Way
I think either way the coun try will be making history. It will either be Clinton/Obama or Obama/Clinton. I fear for the country if John McCain is elected President. He is too narrow minded and the fact that he is an ex-military member does not fair well with our servicemembers. Whether he wants to admit it or not, he is promilitary being int he war. Either way we all know from our history classes of how government is run that the President can not do anything without Congress.
Rest in peace
yourfuneralguy
http://www.lowercostfuneral.com/rbrianblog
McCain was the only Republican saying end the war with More troops... at the same time he wanted out the continue the war forever Guy Donald Rumsfeld!!!!
Mr. Obama's Hero John F Kennedy came close to blowing up the planet!
If It is Hillary or Obama is the President(or Hillary and Obama)
It will happen again.
To all soldiers who have given there life in Iraq, Rest in Peace.