The amazing true story of bitter small towns... John Brown explains rural America...

All of this talk about Barack Obama and his sense that rural Americans might be a bitter... Yet all of the people talking about it on TV have never spent more than few hours in a small town at any one time.

I know a lot of people are confused about small town America, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to give you a firsthand perspective on the rural folk of America. I live in the suburbs of Kansas City these days and I can't really claim to be a small towner at the moment but, in the immortal but grammatically awkward words of John Cougar, "No, I cannot forget where it is that I come from".

I grew up in small Kansas towns. I completed my undergraduate degree in a small midwestern town. I was 23 before I lived anywhere with a population greater than 15,000 people. I know small town. I am small town.

And I'd like to tell all of you city slickers who are wringing your hands over the apparent insult Barry O. lobbed at rural America that he took it easy on us. Flyover country has an ugly side. It's not all amber waves of grain and Average Joes lovin' freedom. Those good simple folk who are credited with being the backbone of the USA aren't any more wonderful than anyone else. People in small towns have strained and silly political views born of a relatively isolated history, fear, ignorance and, yes, bitterness.

I met a black person for the first time when I was 7 or 8 years old. I remember the day his family moved in on our block and he walked over to the little ball diamond across the street next to the park with his glove in hand, wanting to play in our neighborhood 4-on-4 baseball game. Always short on personnel, we let him play. It took about 10 minutes before he left running and crying. That's because it took about 9 minutes before one of the kids decided to take out their baseball frustrations by calling the kid a retarded nigger and trying to start a fight.

I was fortunate enough to have the world's most wonderful parents. I told them what happened that night and they made damn sure that kind of language wasn't going to be part of my vocabulary. They asked me if I liked the kid. I said I did. The next afternoon, I was marched down the block to the kid's house. My mom helped his mom unpack and we boys played catch in the backyard.

The family was gone before the school year started. The idea of a quiet life in smalltown America seemed like a good idea when they made the move. The ugliness, unfortunately, made the reality less than tolerable. They moved away.

About five years later, now living in a different small town in Kansas, I learned a little bit more about the fine upstanding people of rural America. There were a few black households there and they consisted primarily of older people. The only black man in town of working age was John. He loaded and unloaded supplies at the lumber yard. No one called him John. The whole fucking town knew that guy as Nigger John. Some meant it in a way that was just as ugly as it sounds. Some did it out of ignorance. Almost everyone did it, though.

African-Americans were niggers. Mexicans were wetbacks. Kids who didn't play sports were faggots. If anyone in these little bastions of American tradition knew a Jew, they would've called him a kike. People came home from trips to the city or vacations and talked about all of the lazy niggers, sneaky chinks and thieving beaners. Everyone hated the Japanese, who were hellbent on taking over the USA by selling us Walkmans and Toyotas. Working women were an unfortunate economic reality that flew in the face of everything right. That was small town Kansas in the 70s and 80s. The 1970s and 1980s, not the 1870s and 1880s.

A lot can change in 20 to 30 years, right? Not as much as you'd like to think. The few black students at the community college still can't really hope to be part of the town. The Latino families are scapegoated for every economic ill, even though they're the only thing propping up what's left of the town economy.

No, I cannot forget where it is that I come from. I took a hunter's safety class with the other kids. I learned to shoot and I even went hunting a few times. I never really took to it. Pheasant and dove aren't THAT tasty and standing around in cold autumn winds waiting to see something to kill didn't excite me. It excited others, though.

The parking lot at my little high school featured pick-up trucks with gun racks visible through the back windshield and shells in the glove box. Like many people, I accepted it as part of the midwest lifestyle. It was, to me, a weird hobby, but it wasn't anything objectionable. By my senior year, though, I noticed a strange affinity for guns that went well beyond a sportsman's affection. I was both amused and a little freaked out when discussions in government class and elsewhere revealed a genuine fear that "they" would take "our" guns away. I started to really understand just what those "you can have my gun when you rip it from my cold, dead hands" bumper stickers were about.

I didn't go to church regularly, but I went to catechism classes and I was confirmed. It was more about keeping my grandparents happy than it was about my faith or the faith of my parents. Many people did go to church, though. Some went several times a week. They prayed and they prayed and they learned about "them"--those evil outside forces who wanted to steal those guns away and who thought it was okay to let all of those "different" people do their own things.

Taught the fear of Jesus in a small town. That's what the song says. It's accurate. Religion was a lot about love and doing good things. There was, however, an almost equal measure of fire, brimstone, bigotry, arch-conservatism and intolerance. You gotta take the bad with the good in a small town.

Now, let me stick up for my former friends, classmates and their parents. They operated under something of a siege mentality. They feared otherness and bent over backwards to fend it off at every turn because they knew, on some almost primal level, that change was finally catching up with the hinterlands. The old, controlled predictable world that had escaped so much of the 60s tumult was living on borrowed time and, reflexively, they protected what they knew and grew up with. I don't blame them. Cognitive dissonance is a bitch and a recognition that something that was "part of them" wasn't going to stay that way was undoubtedly frightening.

These small towns weren't filled with Klansmen, right wing militias and far-right wing evangelicals with axes to grind. These were little places filled with relatively uneducated people who were accustomed to living relatively simple lives just like the ones their families had lived for generations. As much as anything, they probably just wanted to be left alone. Times change. Economies change. Technologies change. The world changes. And change is hard. Very hard.

So regular people did the regular thing. The stood their ground and they stuck up for the things they knew and the traditions they held. Those traditions were white, outmoded, and "conservative" in the worst form of the word.

If you told them that old ghost story about the "jigaboo house"--an abandoned shack outside of town on a hilltop, haunted by the ghost of a crazy old black guy who would hang you from a tree and dance a jig while you choked to death--was a bit on the racist side, you were out of line. If you didn't laugh at your 5th grade math teacher's joke about black kids jumping on a bed and sticking to the ceiling because of their velcro hair, you were out of place. If you didn't want to go shooting it was suspicious. If you didn't want to join the prayer club it was going to be hard to be popular.

Time has passed and things are changing in those small towns. Those who cling to their versions of faith, their love of firearms and sick perspectives based on skin color, however, do so even more tightly these days. It makes sense.

John Cougar (I don't think he reclaimed Mellencamp at that time), sung about the farm crisis and the loss of family land and tradition in the 80s because it was happening. And while grandma was on the front porch with a bible in her hand and the scarecrow was covered in blood, people were getting more and more worried. And more and more bitter.

My generation is probably the last one that can really remember all of the "bus kids" working on the farm during harvest and bustling business at the Plainsman Supply Store. I was there for the tail end of small town Americana. Our grocery store didn't stock that "weird" Chinese food and tacos were an exotic meal. We had two car dealerships--one for Chevrolets and one for Fords. Kids played outside all day without parental supervision and we walked to school.

I just finished sharing a lot about the ugly parts of rural America, but it had a fantastic upside. Unemployment was rare and usually temporary. People were generous. There was a sense of community. It was safe and being poor meant you didn't go out to eat at the "good restaurant" on weekends--not that you were filing for bankruptcy or losing your home. The sun was bright, the grass was green and we were happy. It was, in many respects, the midwestern fantasy city folk sometimes imagine. But it was dying and the fear, in retrospect, was palpable.

Imagine what's happened in the intervening 20+ years. Family farms really are a relic. Wal-Marts crush downtowns. There are few new businesses. The "good restaurant" shut down 5 years ago. Everyone shops 50 miles away. There aren't many people moving into town and the departure rate continues to increase. The paper isn't really a daily anymore and everyone is sitting around watching cable TV wondering how in the fuck they got so poor, small and inconsequential.

The small town is suffering, the people are pissed and you don't have to be a particularly empathetic person to understand why. You don't have to be a sociologist to sense the bitterness--especially among those who remember better days. You don't have to be Barack Obama to know that these small town people are pissed off. They had relatively modest goals and fell short. They had relatively simple dreams and won't realize them.

And we know what happens when you corner someone. He or she lashes back in defense of turf. When the only things left to defend are attitudes because the substance has already eroded, you see a bunch of ugly. "They" took the farms. "They" took the money. "They" took the kids who moved on to greener pastures. "They" took the jobs, the downtown, the civic pride and the Sunday dinner restaurant. All that's left is the attitude and culture which, unfortunately, involves shotguns, the holy ghost and an undercurrent of bigotry.

That ugly underside of flyover country also, unfortunately, holds the easiest things to exploit in tough times. You can rally support to try to legislate the reality of homosexuals away. You can rev people up with the spectre of a New World Order that wants to take away the gun your daddy gave you. You can exploit the godlessness of modern America, blaming it for all the evils, foreclosures and changes. Nigger John wasn't uppity like Obama. Those beaners are ruining this country. Everyone is out to get small town America. They know it's true because change, history and, yes, even governmental error has fucked them seven ways to Saturday.

Does this mean that every house in middle America contains a bitter whitey who wants to turn back the clock? Of course not.

There are plenty of people who are more concerned with improvement and progress than they are in self-pity or rage. There are many people working to make things better, who understand that being pissed off can only carry you so far.

Not all small towners are bitter. Every town with only a few thousand people has a wealth of positive, forward-thinking folks. It's foolish to say that everyone from rural America is a bigoted gun nut who fears "the other". It's equally foolish, however, to pretend that many don't.

I was born in a small town. I've seen it all and had a ball in a small town. And I know it well enough to tell you that calling it out as bitter isn't necessarily wrong, elitist, effete or condescending.





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Hillary Clinton is a Monster.... Again... She's a delegate poaching, anti-democratic liar, too... Why people don't like Clinton...

Hillary fans get pissed off about all the people who spend their days, like yours truly, hating on The Monster. Why, oh why are we so unfair to Hillary? Why can't we give credit where it is due? Why must we always attack her?

Here's why: She can't go more than 3 days without doing something that shocks the conscience while turning the stomach. The Monster strikes frequently.

Latest example? Pledged delegates.

Officially, no delegate is really "pledged" to a candidate in any contractual sense. Delegates are generally chosen, in large measure, on their loyalty to a candidate. They are, however, free to act on their conscience.

Thus, if you were a pledged delegate for Hillary Clinton, you would be free to change your allegiance in Denver after the drugs wore off and you realized she was an evil beast. Likewise, you could switch from Obama to Hillary, if you were so inclined.

Fine. It's always been that way. It never really happens that way, though. When the convention prom starts, delegates almost universally line up to dance with the folks who "brung 'em there". Very few exceptions.

There's also a longstanding etiquette thing at play. Candidates just don't go delegate poaching. It's considered bad form. Not only is it a rude and obnoxious display of poor sportsmanship (which isn't particularly Presidential behavior). It's also pretty undemocratic when you think about it.

You see, people (regular folks like you and John Brown) caucus or vote. Our preferences are distilled in the form of delegates who are responsible for expressing them at the convention. If our little chunk of the USA is in love with Candidate A, our delegates really should be backing Candidate A, too. If the delegate says, "fuck ya'll" and aligns with Candidate B. Well, hmmm... That would be like... It would be like... Oh, yeah, it would be like our votes didn't count.

In a non-technical sense, rogue delegates would disenfranchise regular Joe voters. They wouldn't represent the will of the people and they would make a complete mockery out of the primary and caucus processes. All of those elections, all of those votes, all of those nights spent listening to Wolf Blitzer talk about early returns from rural counties in random states, all of the yard signs, all of the robo-calls and everything else would would be meaningless.

Delegate poaching is anti-democratic. Yes, it's true that the delegates aren't required to back the people's candidate. That fact is both a safety hatch in the event of something really weird happening and a byproduct of an old and somewhat outmoded system. It is not an excuse to intentionally sabotage democracy.

But The Monster sees it differently. Now.

Once upon a time, she agreed with logic and reason. She even went on record regarding the notion of delegate poaching. She was clear in her stance. Hillary Clinton was adamant. Hillary Clinton wasn't going after pledged delegates and she wasn't going to do it in the future. If anything, The Monster was worried that Barack Obama might make a play in the forbidden zone. Read Hillary Clinton's own words about delegate thievery:

We have not, are not and will not pursue the pledged delegates of Barack Obama. It's now time for the Obama campaign to be clear about their intentions.

That was a reasonable thing to say. It makes sense. You don't go stealing the other candidate's delegates. Hoo-ray for Hillary! Glad she said something reasonable.

The statement was also completely consistent with her arguments about Florida and Michigan. Florida and Michigan, you'll remember, violated DNC rules and held early primaries. Hillary won them, but everyone knew they didn't count (including her). In Michigan, hers was the only name on the ballot.

Hillary, however, wants to make sure the fine Americans in Florida and Michigan do count. She wants every vote to count. She doesn't want to see people disenfranchised. It's an election, not a coronation and it's downright awful to think that people's voices might not be heard. That's what Hillary says. And it's wholly consistent with taking a stance against delegate poaching.

It's also consistent with her prolonged campaign in the face of impossible odds. She says she continues to run because people should have choices. They should be given an opportunity to vote. They should be able to make a difference and to express their will. That sounds very democratic and it's very consistent with her previously-expressed stance on pledged delegates.

The Monster now has a different plan. She was just in North Dakota, you know. Why? They did their caucus a few months ago. What would lead Hillmonster to the Flickertail State?

Well, she was there making a pitch for delegates. Barack Obama's delegates. Pledged delegates.

Hillary Clinton was out poaching.

Take a second to re-read Hillary's previous stance on stealing delegates. The one I quoted earlier. You know, where she said she wasn't doing that and wasn't going to do it. Guess what?

She's a fucking liar.

Again. While ducking fire from snipers, Hillary Clinton said the following, per ABC News:

Clinton made it clear to North Dakota Democrats last night that she believes there is no such thing as a pledged delegate and highlighted that stubborn streak in her appeal for delegates to switch from Obama to her when the Democratic national party holds its nominating convention this August.

"I am here tonight because I am seeking your support," Clinton said, adding that she never gives up.

"I know what it's like to stumble. I know what it means to get knocked down. But I've never stayed down. I never will and neither will America if we get ready to win this election in November," she said.

My initial response? A hearty "fuck you". My second? "You're a liar". My third? "And a hypocrite".

Hillary Clinton wants every vote to count in Florida and Michigan. She wants every vote to mean something in every remaining state. She recoils at the idea of disenfranchisement. My ass. She's a liar.

Because right now, as you read this, The Monster is plotting to disenfranchise YOU. And ME. And the people of North Dakota and everywhere else where votes were made and delegates chosen. She wants delegates, whose sole purpose is to represent the will of their districts, to stab voters in their backs. She wants them to switch to Hillary.

She doesn't want them to do that because it's democratic. Or fair. Or decent. She wants to do it because she can and because she wants to win. By whatever means necessary. She's Rocky Balboa, but with loaded gloves. She's the UND hockey team, but with a paid off ref. She's a fighter, but her strategy is all head butts and groin kicks. The Monster is a liar and she doesn't give one-third of a rat's ass if anything she does to get to Pennsylvania Avenue is right, honest, decent or democratic.

And that, Hillary fans, is why people hate Hillary Clinton.

It isn't her gender. It isn't media bias. It isn't her husband. It isn't ________. The reason so many people dislike Hillary Clinton so much is that she really is a Monster.

Please, oh please, Hillary Clinton supporters, defend this bullshit. I need an explanation.

How do you go from "I won't do that" to "I'm doing that". How do you intentionally try to render millions of votes meaningless while simultaneously bitching and moaning about others being disenfranchised because they didn't play by party rules? How can you argue that every vote must count while trying your damnedest to render the votes you didn't like meaningless?

Her campaign is diseased. She won't win. The Monsters never win. They just cause mayhem and spill blood indiscriminately until they lose. So it is with Hillary Clinton, monster.






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Obama passport file hacked... Firings on the way... Obama happy for dirty tricks?

Here's the breaking news for the day...

According to a few different and not-necessarily-reliable sources, two people at the U.S. State Department have lost their jobs after inappropriately accessing Barack Obama's personal passport file a few months ago.

I'm no fan of the Drudge Report, but here's its headline:

DIRTY TRICKS FEAR AFTER STATE DEPT. FIRES TWO FOR UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO BARACK OBAMA'S PERSONAL PASSPORT FILE... MORE... WASHINGTON TIMES SET TO SPLASH THE DEVELOPMENT, NEWSROOM SOURCES TELL DRUDGE REPORT... MORE...

Leave it to a dirty trickster to screw things up for those who'd prefer to see Obama continue to suffer for the words of his pastor. These guys at State may have just discovered the best way to stop all of the race-chat.

*Then again, no. See update*

You'll probably know more than I know right now by the time I post this.

UPDATE: The feds are calling it an episode of "imprudent curiosity" lacking political motivation. Those involved were contract employees at the Bureau of Counsular Affairs. They've been described as "low level" employees.

Unless something weird happens, I'm betting against dirty tricks. I'm guessing that a couple of goofs just couldn't resist taking a peek. Makes you wonder a little bit about security and privacy, but not that much about political scheming.




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Why Geraldine Ferraro should go away...

Go away, Geraldine. Not because you're a racist or anything. Go away because you've gone sour and are bad for everyone.

I know you watched it and have probably read it again, too. Play along with me, though. I want you to read an excerpt from Barack Obama's "race" speech. You don't have to study every word carefully. Just read it and pay a little attention, okay? Great. Thanks. Here we go:

Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.

But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America – to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.

See? I told you it wasn't complicated! Very easy to understand, actually.

For those who need extra help with interpretation, allow me:

It is wrong to simply dismiss everyone who says something controversial about race as a crazed racist. That kind of simplification is silly and its not very helpful.

Just in case you need even more extra help, I'll simplify again:

We shouldn't call people racists every time they say something about race. That is bad.

Still having problems? Okay:

No call everyone racist. Bad.

That last "level of help" was written with Geraldine Ferraro in mind. I used to think of Ferraro as a relatively harmless relic from the Democratic party's bygone days. She had a landmark moment, served her constituency, and moved on. The end. I didn't dislike her and I certainly admired her willingness to be the first woman VP candidate. Beyond that, I didn't really think too much about Geraldine Ferraro.

I now realize that Geraldine Ferraro is a fucking moron of the first order. She is stupid. She lacks reading comprehension skills. She is a fool. I think you get the idea.

Wait! How can it be that this woman, a former vice presidential candidate, can be a complete dumb-ass? It seems impossible! How could an elected official with a long track record in Washington, DC be functionally illiterate?

I don't know. I really don't. But that's exactly what's going on with Geraldine Ferraro. Well, either that or she really isn't stupid and she's just saying stupid things for the sake of some political objective. I'd rather believe she's a Grade-A dummy than to think she's a conniving piece of shit, though. Wouldn't you?

Any way, she's either stupid or full of crap. We know that because she recently reacted to Obama's speech.

Just in case you've lost track, revisit the comment he made that referenced Geraldine. He said it was wrong for people to simply dismiss Ferraro as a bigot. He said that throwing people overboard on the basis of comments about race was short-sighted and foolish. He basically told the people who called Geraldine Ferraro a racist to stick it up their asses. Barack Obama stuck up for Geraldine Ferraro and cautioned those who'd call her a racist because of her "Barack is lucky to be a black dude" comments.

So, how do you think Geraldine Ferraro reacted? Do you think she thanked Obama for recognizing that she wasn't a racist? Do you think she applauded his willingness to explore what her comments and motivations really meant, instead of painting her as a crazed bigot?

Hell no. Geraldine Ferraro did exactly what you'd expect an idiot who can't understand simple sentences would do. Or, you could say she did exactly what you'd expect a sick, twisted political manipulator would do.

She became indignant!

To equate what I said with what this racist bigot has said from the pulpit is unbelievable...


It also didn't happen. Nonetheless, that's what Geraldine told the now-halfway-famous Daily Breeze. She was pissed off that he somehow equated her remarks with Wright's yammerings. So what if he didn't actually do that. So what if he did something approximating the opposite of what seemed to piss her off. She's either too stupid to understand Barack Obama or she's intentionally faking rage to serve some other end.

Either way, she sucks. Big time. She's pure evil and her reaction to the speech is far more sinister and malignant than her earlier fool-talk about Obama's luck at being a black guy running for president.

Geraldine Ferraro mind has rotted. Or her political soul has gone rancid. You pick. I don't give a shit. Either way, she's bad.

The funny thing is that I sort of stuck up for Geraldine after her controversial remarks made headlines. I reasoned that her comments were less a product of racism than of her own involvement in women's issues and the context-built prism through which she might view the world. I thought she was wrong, but I didn't think she was a racist.

Well, no more sticking up for Ferraro. She is infected with either the stupid bug or the most dangerous political disease imaginable.

The latest round of Ferraro vs. Obama is sickening. Geraldine is pissed off at Obama for doing the opposite of what he did. That's bad enough. She's also hacked that he failed to criticize Jeremiah Wright.

Yeah, you read that right. She's all hacked off that Barack didn't come down on the pastor. Here's an example of her fucked up (non)insight:

(Obama) gave a very good speech on race relations, but he did not address the fact that this man is up there spewing hatred...

WTF Gerry? Does this ring a bell?

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial. They weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.

As such, Reverend Wright’s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.

Apparently, Barack Obama must kill Jeremiah Wright, urinate on his corpse and then go on SNL and tear up a photo of him after singing a capella in order to "address" the matter to Geraldine's satisfaction. Fight the real enemy, Barack! What a load of shit. She's either beyond stupid or she's faking. We all know it.


And it really comes as no surprise. The "lucky black guy" stuff was followed by Geraldine making these weird accusations that they Obama campaign was calling her a racist. Of course, that never happened. They called her remarks "divisive" and "polarizing" but they never categorized the comments as "racist". They certainly didn't call Gerry a racist. That reality didn't phase her, though. She claimed it was true anyway. Then, Obama says that those who did call her a racist were wrong. That pisses her off even more, apparently. Idiot or liar. Your pick.

I guess there's a third choice--psychopath. I don't know which of the three options best fits Geraldine Ferraro, but I do know one thing. America better damn well be done with folks like her. Otherwise, we deserve every bad thing that comes our way.

If you want to know what a new politics should look like... If you're really interested in bettering the USA and its governance... If you want to know why people seem to love the idea of "change" and why hope is an increasingly popular antidote to the status quo... If you want to do any of those things, you can figure it all out by studying Geraldine Ferraro's behavior over the course of the past month.

She is bad. End of story.

Go away, Geraldine. Not because you're a racist or anything. Go away because you've gone sour and are bad for everyone.





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Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, sex and race... Vaginas vs. Melanin...

Obama won 9 out of every 10 African-American votes in Mississippi. As an Obama supporter, I know there are many good reasons to vote for the guy. At the same time, I'm not delusional. You don't snag 90% of any signficantly-sized demographic unless identity politics are at play.

This is one of those things Obama backers usually won't say, but Barack is locking down the black vote, in large measure, because he's a black guy. Period.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton's greatest base of support seems to be among white women, particularly those who are fairly well-removed from college age. Personally, I think Hillary Clinton is emblematic of just about everything bad about politics, but I do recognize that people have legitimate reasons to supporter her. Nonetheless, the only real explanation for her victory margins within white women, when you look at how the rest of the electorate is behaving, is identity politics.

Clinton fans are quick to bemoan Obama's massive support among blacks, but they don't like to be honest about what's going on with white women. Identity politics again.

It's vaginas vs. melanin right now. I recognize that there are diverse opinions within demographics and I don't really want to hear "I'm a white woman who backs Obama, so you're wrong" or "I'm a black man wearing a Hillary pin, you're wrong". There are exceptions. I'm speaking in broader terms. I recognize exceptions. I'd like to think that I'm one.

Check this out. I'm a white guy. I've long understood and accepted that white guys are usually at the root of major social problems. We've screwed a lot of people over and we've done some bad stuff. If there's something massively goofed up in the USA, it can usually be traced back to the self-interested decisions of white guys.

I tried to break the mold, cognizant of my privilege and "my group's" record of evil. I raged against the machine. I've read more feminist literature than your average senior in a good women's studies program. I'm receptive to the legitimate complaints of minority groups. I've bent over backwards to avoid toxic forms of sexism and racism. I tried to be one of the "good" white guys.

Now, to my surprise, I am a disaster unfold that has little or anything to directly do with white guys. The Democratic primaries are descending into vaginas vs. melanin and white guys like me seem to be the ones who aren't the source of the problem for a change.

Sure, you can blame us for the society that created the situation which has led to this moment. I'll accept responsibility on behalf of all white guys, evil and good, for some of that. You have a point. However, at this point women and African Americans have a choice to make. They can vote with their heads or they can vote with their genitals/skin color (depending on the individual).

As a white guy, I sort of feel bad for both demographics. I also understand the identification thing.

Geraldine Ferraro behaved stupidly with her "Barack is lucky to be a black man" jibber-jabber. Ferraro isn't a Klan member or anything. She's just frustrated. She's a woman who's undoubtedly seen more than her fair share of sexim and is certainly piShe's frustrated because a woman had a legitimate shot at the White House and someone stepped in and blew it for her. It just so happens that guy is black. She's pissed.

I can understand why. As one of the good white guys, I get it. Women haven't had it easy. They've been oppressed. I don't feel like a long dissertation on phallocentric biases and patriarchal domination are necessary here. I'd hope that we all know sexism has deprived women and the world of a lot of greatness over the centuries. Things are a bit better today than in the past, but sexism remains a very real societal force.

Women have been working and fighting for improvement for longer than any of us have been alive. They've sacrificed, they've fought. They've won some battles and have lost others. They've been fighters. Middle aged white women in America have been on the front lines of a battle for equality and the idea of a woman in the White House has tremendous real and symbolic significance to them. That makes sense. A woman President would be meaningful. Very meaningful. If I were a woman, I'm willing to guess I'd want a woman President.

I get it with the African-Americans, too. Again, I don't think we really need to spend a great deal of time talking about the very racist history of this country, the struggles for equality and the assorted evils of our society's long-held bias. As with women, things are better today, but racism is still a very present problem.

The idea of a black President has meaning to African-Americans. If you can't understand that, you're hopeless. Think about what a dark-skinned President might symbolize to those who fought and continue to fight for legitimate equality and civil rights? If I was a black guy, I'd wager I'd love the idea of a black President.

I think there are probably some resentments between the two groups, too. I don't know how strong "fear of the black man" is among white women. I don't know if black men hold a real grudge against white women, either. I do know there are tensions sometimes.

Vaginas vs. Melanin, though. It's a problem. Hillary supporters can't simply concede that they're backing a candidate because she has genitals that match their own. We all KNOW how shallow and silly that sounds. Those of us who identify as Democrats also know that we've been pissy about Republican identity politics for so long that we can't really advertise our own dissent into "voting for our own".

Thus, you get Geraldine Ferraro. Thus, you get the posters at Taylor Marsh's website, who find reverse racism in every utterance of the Obama campaign, sexism in all media coverage of Hillary, and a complete unwillingness to recognize that their support of Hillary is no different from the support of Barack within the black community. It's pathetic deflection and an absolute unwillingness to admit what's really happening.

You also get 90% voting blocs within the African-American community and a sort of hyper-sensitivity about race matters from within the ranks of Obama supporters (both black ones and white ones who just love the consistent lockdown of the black vote). People are engaging in a game of mental Twister to avoid admitting what we all really know. Obama gets 90% of black votes because he is black. Period. It's the melanin, stupid.

It wasn't supposed to come down this way, you know? We were supposed to have a string of white dudes as Commander in Chief until EITHER a black or a woman became a serious contender. We weren't supposed to end up getting them both at the same time.

What happens when two historically disadvantaged groups both have a horse in the race? It gets ugly. Women and blacks are left to duke it out in favor of their choice to the detriment of the other. There is an alternative, but it requires a lot of people to take a big step away from the issues, causes, and beliefs that have, in large measure, defined their politics and their lives. That's asking a lot. Maybe too much, although I personally believe there is a permutation available to reconcile the situation, it's unlikely that the white women and the black guys will figure out the right common ground any time soon.

Meanwhile, you have the "good" white guys trying to make a smart decision and the "bad" white guys defaulting to whichever wrong-headed bias is stronger for them.

Sometimes I wish Barack Obama had a vagina. Hell, I might settle for a black Hillary Clinton.

What do I know, though? I have a penis and I sunburn easily.





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Geraldine Ferraro, Barack Obama and covering Sam Cooke

Hey, Geraldine Ferraro. Before you keep on with this whole "being black is easier than being a white woman and that's why Hillary Clinton is losing to Barack Obama" thing...

Maybe there's a different way to look at things?

Sam Cooke's classic, as performed by assorted whites, blacks, men, women, southern rock bands, a blues band with an Asian guitarist, and others. Take note, Geraldine.




























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Obama, McCain, optimism about politics and 8-track tapes...

I'm sort of optimistic about the direction of American politics. It seems as though the campaign of Barack Obama and, to a lesser extent, that of John McCain, are moving away from the kind of no-bullshit-barred smear-fests I've watched for the past sixteen years. I'm beginning to see a chance for a more civil and reasoned process in the future.

I don't think we're there yet. We have a ways to go. That's obvious when you read the papers, watch the tube, or peruse even my own blog posts (which, I must admit, can be tinged with a little too much vitriol from time to time). We all need to continue to grow and to continue to work toward a process that really engages important considerations without quite as much snark and malice. Almost all of us have plenty of room for improvement.

The nastier era may not come to an end with this Presidential election cycle. Things could get ugly. The candidate I see as the chief representative of a better politics, Barack Obama, may not even get his party's nomination when all is said and done. Even if he does, there's reason to think that McCain and his crew might decide to go ugly in order to seal up a win. I hope those things don't happen, but they could.

Either way, though, I'm hopeful. The Democratic primary process has given me reason to think that we're moving in the right direction. John Edwards' angrier version of traditional anti-corporate populism didn't last and the Clinton campaign continues to demonstrate the eroding effectiveness of slash and burn campaigning.

If Obama doesn't beat Clinton, Hillary will just be the last of a breed. Whatever comes next, whether it be Obama again or someone else we don't even know right now, won't come from that old school. The screaming Carvilles, the plotting Penns, the wily Wolfsons and the repugnant Roves might still find a little face time on TV, but they'll be relics on their way out. I'm hopeful about that, I really am.

If Hillary wins, she'll just be the political equivalent of 8-track tapes. They had their place, they did their thing, now they're gone. The same will be true of serious candidates. The outmoded strategies to which a few still cling today will be the worn 8-tracks you can find on yard sale tables. A funny, laughable, inconceivable technology with which no one is enamored.

Oh, and here's something sort of ironic/funny. I took a moment to find out about the last major release on 8-track tape actually was. You won't believe it. In 1988, Fleetwood Mac's Greatest Hits was offered on 8-track tape cartridges. It's recognized as the last big release of the format.

Track #2: Don't Stop. Bill Clinton's campaign theme song.





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