May 21, 2008
Why I'm Really Angry With Hillary Clinton
When Barack Obama first announced his candidacy, I was pleased, relieved, and, after the work I'd done on the failed Dean candidacy, more than a little hesitant to let myself get too excited.
But despite my best efforts to rein in my optimism (get thee from me, Hope!), I knew from the beginning that Obama would be the first progressive president elected in my lifetime. He is a phenomenal candidate, one that just doesn't come around very often—certainly not more than once or twice in a lifetime. Fortunately, this phenomenon was on our side this time.
We'd win, and win big, if the signs I was sensing were accurate.
>snip
There's been little doubt he'd win the nomination since February, and for a while, I was certain that winning the nomination meant winning the general election—and the presidency—in November.
But in the last couple of weeks, I've lost that optimism. I've no longer feel dead certainty that Barack Obama will beat John McCain in November. My hope has ebbed.
Why? Because Hillary and Bill Clinton have been deliberately undermining his candidacy in ways that I'm afraid are too divisive for the wounds to heal by November.
In West Virginia, they both played on racial fears, with Bill Clinton reminding voters that "he's not one of us" and Hillary Clinton insisting that white voters—i.e. hard working voters—would never vote for Obama, thus legitimizing racist attitudes.
While those tactics worked in West Virginia and Kentucky, they didn't work in Indiana or Oregon. She didn't sink Obama, despite her best efforts. The math doesn't change, but certain attitudes are being hardened into stone just when Democratic voters need to unite behind one candidate.
I know a thing or two about grudges—just ask my father, if you can find him, or the candidate I refused to vote for in 2004 after a bitter primary race. If I were a die-hard Clinton supporter, I don't think I'd vote for Obama either. After all, we only have one vote. One vote doesn't matter, not as much as a conscience.
That's why I'm scared, that's why I've lost hope, and that's why I'm really, really angry at Hillary Clinton.
http://whatdoiknow.typepad.com/what_do_i_know/2008/05/why-im-really-angry-with-hillary-clinton.htmlHillary’s behavior has left me speechless
Hillary raises RFK assasination as a defense for extended race. When I said this woman could kiss my ass? I was being too polite. It’s ugly enough that she said this shit, but to say it the week Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with a brain tumor? Is that how we’re doing things now? And her “apology”was only extended to the Kennedy family. No mention of the implications for Obama or McCain. I will not be able to bring myself to vote for her in November. I just can’t do it. Since I seem to be without the words to truly address this I’m going to suggest you imagine me screaming and bashing decorative objects with a hammer. Because right now that’s all I can do.
Sexism, Chivalry, and POC communities
So one of the things that’s been working my nerves this election cycle has been the rush to paint every single bit of language uttered by Obama that could be gendered as proof of his being sexist. The furor over the word periodically was wacky enough (as was the hype over him saying the claws are coming out) but I think Sweetie-gate has officially taken the cake. Was it the brightest thing to say? No. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean it was sexist. Like a lot of MOC Obama has been raised to be very polite to women. Almost ridiculously so. Can you guess why? It’s very simple. He’s a MOC and women (especially white women) are being raised to perceive him as a threat. I can’t tell you the number of time black male friends of mine have shifted their body language so as to be perceived as non-threatening even though they weren’t being threatening in the first damned place. Or the the number of times black men I didn’t know have felt the need to tell me they weren’t a threat if I glanced at them as I was walking alone at night. Hell, the number of comments I’ve gotten about my husband “letting” me walk alone at night from other MOC who have clearly been raised the same way he was to think that protecting women is part and parcel of being a man is a story in and of itself.
>snip
Some of that aforementioned training is an acknowledgment that MOC (particularly black men) have gone to jail or been lynched behind looking at a white woman the wrong way. My sons are being raised to engage in the same behaviors because I want to protect them from being a statistic. Look up the Ryan Harris case if you’re wondering what can happen to young MOC that the police decide are predators despite all evidence to the contrary. There’s this perception of black men in particular (though it extends to other MOC) that they’re sexual predators at all times. Look at the reaction to hip-hop as though it was the first genre of music with songs bearing misogynistic lyrics to hit the airwaves. Apparently people have forgotten rock and roll, heavy metal, and country music’s contributions to the sexism that is part and parcel of our society. Not to mention the reality that hip hop ≠ sexist any more than every country song is sexist. Somehow sexism is a major problem when MOC are engaging in it even though quite often according to internal cultural standards they aren’t being sexist or their “crime” isn’t particularly egregious. It’s not really a surprise of course. After all it’s par for the course for imperialistic cultures to refuse to consider the validity of other cultural norms or to recognize that their standards are not necessarily the best option. I’ve got no problem with Obama being called out for engaging in overtly sexist behavior (which has yet to happen) but this rush to condemn him for engaging in behavior that is already pretty subjective (periodically as sexism? really?) while ignoring the reality of life as a MOC in America is ridiculous.
So…Hillary Clinton’s stopped hiding her racism
Clinton touts support from ‘white Americans’ It looks like she’s decided that if she’s going down she’s taking the party with her. I mean there’s no other reason I can come up with for her to essentially say that white votes are the only votes that really matter. Bets on how long it’ll take her to claim her words are being taken out of context or to insist that calling her out for saying this shit is playing the “race” card? Personally I give it 24 hours. I can’t even analyze this on a deeper level because at this point there’s nothing else to say. Her cards are on the table for the world to see now.
http://theangryblackwoman.wordpress.com/Clinton VP Would Doom Obama
There is a growing effort by the Clintons — led by Bill — to convey a sense of entitlement for Hillary's newly minted vice presidential ambitions. The theory seems to say that she has earned the designation by her strong showing in primaries throughout the nation, particularly by her recent victories in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Indiana.
Her supporters are demanding a place on the ticket as their right after a bruising primary season. But ever since Aaron Burr rose from a vice presidential candidacy to contest Thomas Jefferson for the presidency in the House of Representatives, the person who came in second in the balloting for president lost his entitlement to anything.
There are no more rewards for second place. No silver medals in the presidential race.
>snip
And Hillary comes with unique baggage all her own. Her very presence on the ticket makes all of the unanswered questions about Bill Clinton to the fore. They suddenly become relevant and answers become imperative. What did Bill Clinton do for the $15 million he was paid by the Emir of Dubai?; What did he do for the Canadian mining magnate Frank Giustra, who he brought with him to Kazakhstan and introduced to its president after Giustra gave his foundation, which he controls, $100 million?; What did he do for InfoUSA, the direct mail list company that sold lists of vulnerable elderly people to criminally convicted telemarketers so they could scam them?; and, did Bill Clinton know that Hillary's brothers were being paid to secure some of the pardons he granted on their recommendations?
Obama doesn't need this kind of trouble. Bringing Hillary on the ticket brings Bill with her, these days a loose cannon at best, a self-destructive narcissist at worst.
http://blackstarnews.com/?c=135&a=4569
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