Could you imagine if Obama played up racism like Clinton is sexism?

Drunken Irishman

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Tue May-20-08 03:55 PM
Original message

Could you imagine if Obama played up racism like Clinton is sexism?

Edited on Tue May-20-08 03:59 PM by Drunken Irishman

Could you imagine Obama sending out Jesse Jackson to talk about how he lost West Virginia and will probably lose Kentucky because he's black? Could you imagine Obama going to an all black college and standing in front of an all black crowd telling them he's going up against the "all white's club of presidential politics"? Could you imagine Obama saying he was breaking down the doors to the Good Ol' White Boys Club? Could you imagine Obama, after losing New Hampshire, telling people the state had no history of electing a black man to state-wide office, so it wasn't a surprise he lost the state? Could you imagine Obama, after the last ABC debate, saying the only reason they were harder on him than Clinton was because of his skin color? All of these scenarios happened, but it all had to do with Clinton and sexism.

Throughout this entire campaign, Hillary Clinton has used her gender as a crutch for sympathy. When she lost Iowa, she said it wasn't a surprise because the state had never elected a woman to state-wide office, she said the same thing prior to Mississippi. When talking in front of her alma mater, Wellesley College, Clinton said she was going up against the all boy's club of presidential politics. She then uttered similar words during the New Hampshire Primary, by suggesting she was breaking down the doors to the Good Ol' Boys Club. When she stumbled in that debate last year, her campaign cried foul, saying the questions were harder on her because she was a woman. It couldn't have been, of course, that she was the frontrunner at the time, no, it was because they were sexist.

Look, sexism does exist and it has played a role in this primary. However, it has also been rallying cry for Hillary Clinton and her supporters. Had Obama said half of what Clinton and her campaign has said in dealing with sexism, but toward his race, he would have lost in a landslide long ago. Why? Because had he done that, had he played the race card, it would have branded him as the black candidate. It would have neutralized him as the Al Sharpton of the 2008 election cycle and that would have been something he couldn't overcome. So Obama has often had to ignore racially charged statements and he's had to play down the blatant racism in this campaign, while Hillary has used sexism as an excuse every time she loses ground.

My point, of course, is that while sexism has had a role, it also has helped her campaign because it's given her a solid base of committed women voters. It didn't hurt that the media never used Hillary's cries of sexism as a real problem for her campaign, even though they constantly told us that Obama could be hurt if he became the black candidate. And what better way to become the black candidate than crying racism every time you lose? But when Hillary did it, she was tellin' it like it was and didn't run the risk of ruining her chances. If anything, it bolstered her at times, but now it's getting ridiculous. Especially if she and her campaign try to make it out like it's Obama who's the sexist.