The white privilege Democratic primary

[highplainsdem]

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/461116-the-white-privilege-democratic-primary

The 2020 Democratic primary is a failure of politics. Too many candidates in concert with media, dedicated to serving the interests of all Americans, especially the underserved, are doing the opposite: propping up a system that prioritizes the preferences of white voters. As a result, black voters’ desires are left to play second fiddle to white progressive narratives.

Not a single Democratic candidate for president is racist. In fact, the majority of them have dedicated their careers to lifting up minority voices. But the system — like so much of the bureaucracy in America — is.

-snip-

After big and important Democratic wins, black voters are lauded for their loyalty and consistency. From Alabama to Virginia to Georgia to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., blacks rightfully have been singled out for their ability to deliver votes. There isn’t another group that mobilizes the way that black women do. Look no further than Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez, who tweeted after Sen. Doug Jones’ miraculous 2018 win in Alabama: “Let me be clear: We won in Alabama and Virginia because #BlackWomen led us to victory. Black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party, and we can’t take that for granted. Period.”

Compare that statement to the coverage of the 2020 race. African Americans are still the most consistent, loyal Democratic voters and they also happen to be the biggest supporters of frontrunner Joe Biden’s candidacy. A perusal of the latest headlines tells you what you need to know about the narratives of the race, which have been far more interested in amplifying candidacies that garner little to no African American support while dismissing Biden’s as dull, gaffe-prone or safe.

-snip-

Extolling tales that boost favored candidates of white voters is a serious knock on black voters. It’s frankly insulting to Biden’s supporters and his career for the chattering class to continually intimate that Biden voters are just too afraid to like lefties and are playing it safe.

Furthermore, this type of coverage contributes to disenfranchising black voters who already face greater obstacles in exercising their constitutional right to vote. The pile-on to tear down the candidate with the highest black support, in favor of candidacies running on far-left progressive policies with little to no minority appeal, is ugly.

No candidate is above close coverage and no analyst would claim Biden is a perfect candidate. White liberals can love Warren or Buttigieg until the cows come home, but the belittling of Biden’s support reeks of privilege. This type of coverage is adding yet another systemic challenge to black Americans’ futures.

Why is it so hard for people to grasp that Biden isn’t just the most “electable” but, rather, the candidate with positions most in line with Democrats’ preferences? His platform is made up of policies that poll incredibly well and his supporters aren’t masking their love for progressives in favor of a safe bet. They like Joe.

-snip-

My thanks to Gothmog for spotting this and posting part of it as a reply in another thread.


Editing to link to a thread with tweets from Nate Silver and a NYT political reporter on the importance to progressives of having the primary race start with the very white states of Iowa and NH so they have a better chance of knocking Biden out of the lead.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287284351

[MadDAsHell]

1. "Not a single Democratic candidate for president is racist."

Not according to some of those candidates' primary opponents... have we been watching the same debates?

I realize that some primary candidates will literally say ANYTHING about an opponent if they think it might gain them one or two percentage points in the polls, but is their personal 2 point poll bump worth the damage it does to the party?

[wellst0nev0ter]

2. Hmmmm....

Jessica Tarlov is head of research at Bustle Digital Group and a Fox News contributor.

[lunasun]

4. Yes

Jessica Tarlov, who already frequently appears on Fox News, was hired as a new contributor for the network and Fox Business Network. She’s appeared on the network before, sparring with Sean Hannity and other conservative pundits on the network. Now, you can expect to see even more of her on Fox News.

Tarlov is the senior director of research at the Bustle Digital Group, which owns Bustle, Romper and Elite Daily. She previously worked as a Democratic strategist for Douglas Schoen, LLC.

The 33-year-old Tarlov is not married and doesn’t have any children. You can follow Tarlov on Twitter. She frequently sparks intensive Twitter commentary when she appears on television

[wellst0nev0ter]

5. She sold out to the Trump Network

She and her followers are dead to me.

[lunasun]

9. I don't even know who she is but when I was reading this I had to know if what I was thinking

was correct or not
yes I was
and please white people do not show your white privilege by supporting Harris or Booker!!

[emmaverybo]

8. Jessica Tarlov has worked as a democratic strategist. She is known as a liberal voice. An

impressive resume which includes a Ph.D in political Science and Government from the London School of Economics & Political Science. Bryn Mawr College grad.
Was a “strong supporter of Hilary Clinton...” Her husband has worked for Bill Clinton. Not exactly
the profile of a flaming conservative.


https://answersafrica.com/jessica-tarlov-bio-age-married-facts.html

[wellst0nev0ter]

10. Go ahead, trust a Faux News Democrat

I don't know what she and her stans are thinking.

[LanternWaste]

21. They're probably thinking with both nuance and context.

I don't know what she and her stans (sic) are thinking..."

They're probably thinking of both nuance and context, and how they may fit into a much larger picture.

It's fun... you should try it.

Or you can simply keep moving the goalposts with back-handed compliments.

[wellst0nev0ter]

23. Or, we can listen to people who don't get paid by Trump TV

She made a choice to be paid by faux, and I made a choice to tune her out. Many democrats should try that for a change.

Also, "stan" is a real word, look it up.

[emmaverybo]

3. Wow. Finally the elephant in the room. Black support is being discounted and/or demeaned in a

not all that subtle manner.

[Joe941]

15. +1

[jcgoldie]

6. so the argument here is that criticizing Joe Biden "disenfranchises black voters"

What a load of complete bullshit.

[highplainsdem]

11. Tarlov's absolutely correct that it's insulting to the many black voters who support Biden for

pundits and other candidates to "continually intimate that Biden voters are just too afraid to like lefties and are playing it safe."

I heard it from Warren again tonight when she was on Colbert's Late Show. The "people are scared" line is getting really old, and it's very insulting to people who don't already support her.

[jcgoldie]

12. The premise of the article is ridiculous

45% of black people polled 6 months before any vote will be cast claim to favor Biden.
Biden is criticized for subpar debate performances as well as frequent missteps on the campaign stump.
Therefore ... black voters are being insulted and yes she used the word "disenfranchised".

Hmmm exactly how far into polling do we have to get before we have to stop critically assessing the candidates performances so we don't risk depriving his supporters of their voting rights?

[Cha]

14. Yes, I would imagine it is insulting to

POC.. it is to me.

I also imagine that it doesn't endear them to those making that accusation.

[crazytown]

7. A young white woman whose good looks got her a gig on Fox News

is not the most credible person to talk about white privilege.

That said, this is important

Why is it so hard for people to grasp that Biden isn’t just the most “electable” but, rather, the candidate with positions most in line with Democrats’ preferences? His platform is made up of policies that poll incredibly well and his supporters aren’t masking their love for progressives in favor of a safe bet. They like Joe.

As for me, I am prepared to trade the 3% forever misogynist vote for our first woman president .. and not any woman, this woman.

[emmaverybo]

13. And Warren is an elder white woman who addresses her economic policies these days to racial

inequities. That’s ok. She can do that. It’s not hypocritical.

Anyone should be able to talk about white privilege as it pertains to injustice and inequities in all areas of life. One of those areas it pops up in is politics, pervasively, and often without our recognizing it.

Probably all white people should shut up about howblack people vote especially if they are going to make claims they can’t support or act like the black electorate is a desperate partner in a bad marriage who “settles,” consciously engaging in an endless cycle of concession despite rational self-interest.

[crazytown]

16. She asks "Why are candidacies backed by liberal white women the favored storyline "?

She was rather less concerned with the outsized influence of 'liberal white women' when she was working with HRC.

[StevieM]

17. When people dimiss Hillary's nomination in 2016 they are also dismissing the minority voters

who made her the nominee.

The DNC hardly had the ability to get her the nomination. She beat Bernie because she clobbered him among minority voters.

[5starlib]

18. I have been saying this is true for a while now...black voters are forgotten

If you don't get the support of white progressives, then your campaign doesn't matter. It's really sickening how the media and others downgrade black voters as if we don't matter. The truth is that black voters are the true base of the party. Warren is getting all this fawning media attention, but no outlet fails to mention why she does so poorly with African-Americans.

Also, I'm sick of the media and others acting like Biden supporters have some sorta mental affliction cause we don't know better. That somehow we're not smart enough to embrace Warren. Racism is alive and well in the Democratic Party too.

[JI7]

19. i think Waren will try to win Black Voters but she has to do well in the early states

if she wants to move on.

i think she has a plan for reaching out to minorities once the first 2 states are done.

[emmaverybo]

20. She has a plan now. Buttigieg got a plan too, when he was doing so poorly at home and the writing

was on the wall. But where was he before?

Warren has had a long career. Plenty of time to form relationships with black leaders and communities and to have related her economic policies specifically to the needs of POC and inequality issues. Now she is phoning leaders. Now she is talking up how her economic vision can right racial disparities.

Biden goes way back with civil rights on a global basis. He confronted the Reagan administration on its complete failure to condemn the South African white government and to stand with black South
Africans. Maybe his talking about some racial matters has been clumsy—true for most of us who are white—but he got into politics because of the civil rights movement and he’s been focused on
racial injustice in America for years. He has also reached out to the AA community for years, not
only during an election year.

[HeartlandProgressive]

22. so if we don't vote for Joe, we are racists according to her?

that makes no sense

[Gothmog]

24. Why is it so hard for people to grasp that Biden isn't just the most "electable"

Link to tweet

Biden consistently has commanded a staggering lead among black voters. Two-thirds of black voters over 65 are backing Biden, as well as 42 percent of black voters overall; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) comes in a distant second with about 12 percent support. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is down at 8 percent and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg is not even registering at 1 percent.

This sounds like a pretty interesting story. Instead, “frontrunner, but …” is a common refrain. Consider the new Axios-NewsWhip 2020 tracker that found Biden has been bombarded by negative coverage. Of the 100 stories about Biden that got the most social media attention, 77 were negative. Presumably, the same is true of cable news.

Even with the magnification of Biden’s gaffe-du-jour and the flow of media admiration of Warren’s surge — both of which reflect a true story — Biden’s backers are the most committed. Nearly 65 percent of his supporters say they’ll definitely support him, as opposed to just 34 percent of those who support other candidates.....

Why is it so hard for people to grasp that Biden isn’t just the most “electable” but, rather, the candidate with positions most in line with Democrats’ preferences? His platform is made up of policies that poll incredibly well and his supporters aren’t masking their love for progressives in favor of a safe bet. They like Joe.