Race and the Race

A few months ago, before normal Peruvian citizens could be expected to have a nuanced understanding of superdelegates (if anyone remembers whose blog mentioned this, please remind me, I think it was Ben Smith's), I had a conversation that is now coming back to haunt me.  I was having a beer with a good friend who played a role in the first Clinton administration, and I told him that I was supporting Obama.  His personal preferences are irrelevant, but he opined that voting for Obama, for a lot of white folks, was going to be like "getting tickets for the ballet."  It's something you brag about a cocktail parties but never get around to really doing.  I laughed, but I was pretty dismissive.  Then, my extremely progressive white parents, and my far-from-progressive white uncle, ended up voting for Obama in the New Jersey primaries, further solidifying my belief that we had transcended race.

Fast forward to mid-March, and I'm having second thoughts (see: Ferraro, Wright, etc).   And it's Geraldine Ferraro's fault.

Folks are right to point out that it wasn't Ferraro's initial insinuation that is so baffling ... rather, it's her bewildered insistence that she doesn't understand why what she said was so wrong.  Whenever I hear her on a talk show now, I can't help but think of my great aunt saying things like, "But, you realize he's a black, right?" (That's right folks, using the indefinite article.)  All of us have had an experience like this with an elder relative, and we roll our eyes and go back to whatever we were talking about before the soft-racism train left the station.  On the one hand, we can dismiss Ferraro as a crazy old lady ...

Here's the thing, though.  If this sort of race-baiting wins HRC the nomination, it will vindicate all of these tactics AND the beliefs that underlie them.  If we support that, another generation of idealistic Americans will have acquiesced to identity politics, and today's ramblings of an old lady become the staples of another generation's cultural lexicon.  Don't underestimate this.  I know you're idealistic now, 20 and 30 somethings, but so were your parents when they were getting high and protesting Vietnam. 

So I've started to wonder, am I just living in a post-race, post-identity politics bubble?  If that's the case, I think a large share of my generation inhabits that bubble, and guess what?  We're the ones giving $5 a pop to candidates after e-mail solicitations.  So, while the "politics of the past" may end up trumping the post-race utopia today, I'm starting to come around to the fact that this could be devastating for the democratic party long-term.  And frankly, I'm okay with that assuming the long-term result is either: A) a Democratic party that truly eschews racial divisions, or B) a viable solution outside of that party.  Unless you want to keep patting yourselves on the back for watching "The Wire" on DVD, my friends, let's make sure that we expunge this nonsense from the primary.  And if we don't, we should seriously reconsider clicking "Buy It Now" the next time a Democratic party candidate floods our inboxes.

-Education Dude