Cynics Unlimited

As the first (half) black presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama has made history and furrowed eyebrows. Conservative opponents have accused Obama of playing the race card in lieu of experience or solid policy and using his novelty to gain support. Republican presidential candidate John McCain made the accusation himself, in response to Obama’s assertion that Republicans will try to scare voters because he “doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills”:

“I’m disappointed that Senator Obama would say the things he’s saying … Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It’s divisive, negative, shameful and wrong.”
-John McCain (August 2008)

It’s difficult to judge the validity of Obama’s changes when he happens to be running for “the other party”. America’s political environment is cut-throat, after all, and Barack Obama’s supporters have been openly critical of McCain’s age – another demographic trait over which man has no control. Moreover, Democrats have actively targeted socially oppressed groups since the civil rights era, effectively obligating them to pitch their own advances as synonymous with those of blacks, women and gays – particularly if their candidate falls into one of those demographic groups.

Despite overwhelming black support for the Democrats, there has been a recent movement claiming Martin Luther King was in fact a conservative Republican – at least by virtue of his apparent commitment to individualism (e.g. judging someone by the content of their character). Perhaps in anticipation of Obama’s historic appeal, The National Black Republican Association published an essay in praise of MLK and assailing the Democrats’ historically negative history with civil rights:

“During the civil rights era of the 1960′s, Dr. King was fighting the Democrats who stood in the school house doors, turned skin-burning fire hoses on blacks and let loose vicious dogs. It was Republican President Dwight Eisenhower who pushed to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and sent troops to Arkansas to desegregate schools. President Eisenhower also appointed Chief Justice Earl Warren to the U.S. Supreme Court which resulted in the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision ending school segregation.”
-Frances Rice: “Why Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican”

The NBRA and like-minded conservatives must have been profoundly disappointed during the opening night of the Republican convention, where the party faithful reacted in earnest to a collage of American icons:

“Much of the early evening was taken up with prepackaged videos. “Country First,” a filmed roll call of American icons narrated by Robert Duvall, kicked things off, and was marred only by the response of the delegates, who cheered wildly when images of Nancy Reagan and George W. Bush appeared but were silent for Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.”
-New York Magazine: “RNC Speakers Rally Troops to the Best of Their Abilities” (September 2008)

New York Magazine’s perspective was corroborated by RNC featured blogger Shay, an African-American libertarian and owner of Booker Rising (a news site for black moderates and black conservatives):

“Relatively early into the schedule, they showed a convention video featuring both high-profile people and regular folks who’ve done extraordinary things by placing America first. There was a very arousing applause when President Ronald Reagan was shown. Same for President H.W. Bush, and who I believe was John Wayne. However, the hall was significantly quieter than it should have been when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shown. However, there were no boos.”
-Booker Rising: “Republican National Convention – Last Night’s Speeches”

Despite their lingering disdain for racial civil rights, the Republican rank and file are now quite sensitive to gender discrimination, as evidenced by the strong objection to media criticism of Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin:

“At a press conference here at the GOP convention, female supporters of McCain gave the media a scolding for what they perceive as unfair and sexist treatment of Palin since she was unveiled as McCain’s running mate five days ago.
“We’re not going to have this foolishness,” said Renee Amore, Pennsylvania Republican Party Deputy Chairman. ‘You can do what you want to do, but we’re going to keep coming back at you,’ she added in a chastising tone.
Amore was joined by several other female McCain supporters, who decried rumors circulating on the Internet, which include accusations that Palin faked a pregnancy and that she has belonged to a fringe political group of which some members support Alaska’s secession from the United States. (Palin might not have belonged to the group, but her husband did.) ”
-MSNBC: “GOP Continues to Charge Sexism”

By the same token, few of the vocal female Hillary Clinton supporters have publicly spoken in defense of who may be turn out to be America’s first female Vice President – a woman who has accomplished the feminist ideal of managing both a family and a successful career.

One must wonder what this election is really about, as both parties flaunt and compare their ambiguously-qualified but historically significant candidates while attacking the minimal qualifications of the opposing icon. Obama and Palin have been frequently compared directly -to the complete exclusion of their white male partners- despite the fact that they not even running for the same position.

This situation is indicative of what American politics has become – a reality TV drama with political overtones. Even on Canadian blogs there is more chatter about Obama’s opus and Palin’s persecution than there is about our own recently announced election (irony noted!). Talk of carbon taxes in Canada and soaring deficits in the USA seem to be no match for Bristol Palin’s unwed pregnancy and whether Michelle Obama’s writings on discrimination imply a lack of patriotism. Candidate speeches on energy policy and taxation are treated as an afterthought by the media, more interested in pitting the two tokenized candidates (and their families) against one another. The 2008 US election belies the fact that either of the presidential teams are likely to govern from the center, regardless of whose fears and aspirations are stoked in exchange for votes. The economy cares little for well-coiffed mascots.