About two weeks ago (before the South Carolina primaries of both parties), I had drinks in Washington, D.C. with about ten African American colleagues (all attorneys) who ranged in age 30 to 55 years of age. The main discussion of the evening was the 2008 presidential campaign. One male colleague decided to take an informal poll of who we were supporting for President. It was clear that Senator Obama was the hands down favorite of this gathering, with only one black male and one black female colleague supporting Senator Clinton. However, the genuine enthusiasm and excitement about Senator Obama’s candidacy was palpable in the room.
What was more interesting was our passionate discussion about the unorthodox comments made by Civil Rights icon Andrew Young on that very day, when he quipped to the media, “”Bill (Clinton) is every bit as black as Barack. He’s (Clinton) probably gone with more black women than Barack.” Young’s comments were disappointing to me personally as a black woman who has long admired him for his work in Civil Rights. More importantly, his remarks were demeaning to Senator Obama as a bona fide black man in America (not some made up mythical Toni Morrison image of Bill Clinton as being America’s first black President), to Senator Hilary Clinton (as Bill Clinton’s wife) and most importantly to black women in this nation.
Sadly, as with the misogynistic lyrics made famous by Rappers in degrading videos or off color comments made about black women on air by the likes of Don Imus, black women as a group are still afforded little respect in the private and public discourse of the 21st century. It is clear that the Civil Rights old guard is largely supporting Senator Clinton, but I am perplexed as to why someone like Young felt he needed to authenticate Bill Clinton’s blackness by telling America how many black women he (Clinton) has “gone with” (that is black slang for dated, or bedded). Is that the criteria for which our most esteemed black leaders now use to judge the character of who is fit to serve as President of the United States?
Hence, my Obama dilemma: All of the polling data says that black women will play a large role in who wins the South Carolina primary this weekend. I agree. Although I am a moderate black republican woman and have been very active in GOP politics since college, I must admit I am very impressed with Senator Obama. Ever since his win in Iowa I have been closely following his campaign for President. I will never forget how I felt when Senator Obama won in Iowa. His speech was incredible, uplifting, hopeful and bold. But what moved me to tears was when I saw this handsome, youthful, intelligent black man standing center stage on national television with his equally impressive, well educated, attractive black wife, and his two small black children. It was in a word: AWESOME.
All I could think of was how powerful the imagery I was witnessing would be for generations of Americans who have long struggled with the issue of race in America. An Obama Presidency will do more to heal race relations in this country in my opinion, than anything since the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Senator Obama is the walking embodiment of Dr. King’s Dream for America. His story is one of humble beginnings, perseverance, and possibilities. I have been so moved that I am considering starting “Black Republicans for Obama” (with a few like minded friends) and utilizing the vast professional black women’s network that I founded in 2004 to help the Obama campaign nationally. Yet, I find myself feeling a bit torn as a woman over whether or not I should also be supporting Senator Clinton as the first viable woman candidate to run for President. It truly is historic for this generation of Americans to actually have in our power and choice the selection of America’s first female or first black President all in the same election cycle.
Although I am not a Bill or Hillary Clinton fan (as many in the black community are), I have been impressed with Senator Clinton’s toughness in the debates and like most women voters I too grimaced when I felt that the “boys” and the media were beating up on her in New Hampshire. And when she had that brief moment of what I felt was genuine emotion on the stump in New Hampshire, I finally connected with her as a person and I wanted to support her in the name of “sisterhood”. I too felt empathy for her and wanted to see her win because I know all too well as a professional woman that has run for office (U.S. Congress in 1996) what it is like to feel you are damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.
What do I mean?
As a woman if you are qualified, driven, bright, educated, articulate, energetic, and capable people tend to shy away from supporting you no matter how nice you are and in fact they will dislike you for no logical reason whatsoever. Men will quietly refer to you as the “B” word and women peers often quietly resent your success and achievements and shun you socially. Then the sabotage and the tearing down of one’s reputation, motives, and character begins and before you know it the woman in question is some kind of pariah and is so busy playing defense that she can’t focus on all the good she has to offer. I watched this happen to Senator Clinton and I did not like it. I have seen it all too many times professionally, and I have been on the receiving end of it more times then I care to talk about in this article.
If on the other hand a professional woman is more demure and quiet about her approach to her professional achievements she may be viewed as weak and indecisive; or as someone to be placed in a support role versus a leadership role. If she tries to get along with everyone, socialize with them and draw them closer to her, then she is feeding the old stereotypes about how we as women should act in the workplace and professionally. You simply cannot win that contest.
I think that is why women voters rallied for Hillary and gave her an upset victory in New Hampshire earlier this month. Many women, particularly those over age 45 truly understand the aforementioned paradox that we as women deal with everyday when we attempt to step out of our traditionally accepted roles in America. Thus, why I agree wholeheartedly with Gloria Steinem in her NY Times Column of a few weeks ago that “gender” not race is still our most daunting challenge in America when it comes to achieving goals as loft as the Presidency of the United States of America.
Thus, my dilemma as a black woman (and it is an age old dilemma dating back to slavery) do I stand on pride with my race and support a black man who is seeking to not only elevate “the race”, but America as a whole beyond issues of race, or do I go with my very essence, my gender as a woman and support Senator Clinton? The answer I think to that question is that neither reason is a good enough reason to vote for the next President of the United States. I feel pride in both of these candidates if the truth be told, but the fact of the matter is we all need to get over our obsession with race and gender in this nation. For the past month we as a nation have allowed our political discourse to become mired in racial accusations, misstatements, mischaracterizations, personal attacks and confusion. It has been disappointing to watch.
The democratic debate on January 21st hosted by CNN & The Congressional Black Caucus in South Carolina was a real fiasco in my opinion. Senator John Edwards was the clear winner in that scuffle, largely because he did not join in and rose above the petty bickering that Senator Clinton and Obama seemingly gleefully engaged in for most of the night. I truly hope that I will live to see the day when we truly move beyond the divisive rhetoric about race and gender and actually become the meritocracy we profess to be (clearly we are not there yet). Americans have no real concept of how much talent we have stifled, limited, or wiped out in our best corporations, universities, in science, medicine, law, and politics as a result of our national obsession with race and gender differences. I truly hope we do not allow that to happen in this Presidential campaign.
The fact is that both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama, whatever you think of their politics, are both qualified to be President of the United States. So let’s get past this obsession with how they look and listen to what they have to offer. No-one is questioning if America is ready for any of the white male candidates who are running for President. Why not? History has shown us repeatedly that we have had some pretty unqualified, ill tempered, unfit white male Presidents run this nation. Ask yourself can a woman or black man do any worse? Maybe the differences in perspectives and life experiences will allow us to do better and try some new approaches to solving some very old problems.
As a black republican I am having a hard time articulating reasons to my colleagues as to why they should support any of the leading GOP candidates. The republican field is still largely up for grabs, the GOP candidates all (except for Mike Huckabee) ducked the candidates forum hosted by Tavis Smiley in 2007 at Morgan State University in Maryland to address issues of concern to the black community, and we all know that the GOP has a less than stellar track record with courting and winning black voters in presidential campaigns since 1972.
Don’t get me wrong, I long for a GOP candidate that will excite, inspire, and truly reach out to all Americans regardless of race, but unfortunately I think that in the 2008 election all of the passion and vision is on the democrat side of the aisle. The GOP is offering America the same old thing: all white, all male, all conservative, and all Baby Boomer or older. And my advice to the GOP candidates is that they stop talking about Ronald Reagan all of the time. That is backward looking, we need a President who will be forward thinking and who will build his or her own legacy for America to be proud of. Obama talks about a new kind of morning in America. It has inspired thousands of young Americans to get engaged in politics in a meaningful way for the first time in 30 years or more. The GOP has got to get the “vision thing” in check.
Looking back historically since 1960 here is what we know about presidential politics: The 1960 campaign changed everything in modern politics. When President Eisenhower’s term was coming to a close in 1960, the Republican Party enjoyed the support of at least 50% or more of the black vote. At the outset of the 1960 campaign, then Vice President Dick Nixon was expected to easily defeat the youthful inexperienced John F. Kennedy. Yet as that election drew closer and Kennedy’s Catholicism was no longer a stumbling block for him, the large black vote in the south was key to who would win the presidency. When Dr. King was wrongly imprisoned in 1960 in Georgia, Senator John Kennedy (at the urging of his brother Robert Kennedy) called Coretta Scott King & the Rev. Dr. King Sr., to express his support for Dr. King, Jr. and his willingness to intervene and try to help get King released safely from jail.
Kennedy’s support of King, helped to swing him a majority of black votes in the south thus breaking the GOP’s over 80 year old lock on that vote. The 1960 campaign defeat was one that Dick Nixon would never forget. By the time the 1968 campaign came around President Lyndon Johnson had been disgraced by the Vietnam War and was not seeking re-election. After Robert Kennedy’s assassination on June 5, 1968, the Democratic Party was in disarray and put that on display at its convention in Chicago. Enter Richard Nixon. Blacks were rioting in the cities of Newark, Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere. The nation was deeply divided over the war, civil rights, and the assassinations of Dr. King and Senator Kennedy. The nation needed a steady, trusted hand at the helm of American leadership. Nixon won the election by appealing to the so-called “silent majority” (e.g., those opposed to the emerging Hippie culture and anti-war protestors) and promised America that he would restore “law and order” in America’s cities as well as ‘peace with honor’ in Vietnam.
What many people forget is that Nixon narrowly defeated Humphrey (popular vote was less than .7% or 500,000 votes) and the presence of racist Alabama Gov. George Wallace in the race drew 10% (46 electoral votes) of the vote which would have arguably gone to Nixon. By the time the 1972 re-election effort was on the horizon, Nixon and his aides understood clearly that they had to bring in the “Wallace voters” (Wallace carried the states of Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi) to the GOP fold. Thus the term “southern strategy” emerged. Nixon and his campaign aides decided on a cynical and racially divisive strategy to use race as a subtle “wedge issue” in national elections to swing traditionally democrat voters (e.g., disenfranchised blue collar working class citizens) to the GOP.
This strategy has worked effectively in every single national campaign with the exception of 1976, and 1992, 1996 respectively (years that democrat candidates won the white house). Interestingly the GOP is very prone to nominate so-called establishment candidates. For example, if you look back to every campaign since 1976, there has been a person named Dole, Reagan, or Bush on every republican ticket, including the 2004 campaign. 2008 will be the first time neither of those names appears on the ballot for President.
Candidly, given this history of the GOP it is difficult for republicans to make an effective case to black voters as to why they should even consider voting for the GOP nominee. Ironically, my colleagues and I did discuss who we would vote for on the GOP side (this was pre-South Carolina & Nevada primaries) if the general election were held that day. Most of those gathered said that John McCain was the most likely person they could support if forced to vote republican. But as young professionals the consensus was that McCain was uninspiring and simply too much of a Washington political veteran to seek the presidency.
Then we discussed Mitt Romney. I will admit that early on in 2007 I was pretty enthusiastic about Governor Mitt Romney’s candidacy. But after watching all of the debates and the last several primary elections, and knowing some of the key players that Romney has advising his campaign (I am not referring to my good friend and GOP Lobbyist Ron Kaufman, who came under scrutiny by the media as a campaign advisor after Romney’s Michigan win) I simply cannot support him. Romney does in fact have lobbyists and former lobbyist advising and working on his campaign. One of who, a woman that I worked for on the Hill in the late 1990s now serves as a national spokesperson for his campaign.
Although I myself am a registered lobbyist in Washington, I am looking for a candidate that truly inspires my generation (Xers) and younger Americans to get engaged and involved in American politics in a meaningful way as did the Boomer and other generations before us. I want a President who will lead us to greater heights as a people, someone who will ask more of us as human beings, and not one who will give us Washington politics as usual. I do not care what party he or she represents, I want real change in Washington and I want a better more hopeful, kinder, compassionate world for my two nieces as they grow into their teenage and adult years over the next 8 years.
As such, I will continue to listen to all of the debates, read the party platforms of the eventual nominees of both parties, and encourage other black women in particular to vote for the candidate who will most clearly speak to those issues that we care about and that will impact us as a demographic. Pride in the achievements of one who hails from your race or gender is normal, and understandable. But, choosing the next President of the United States has to be about more than that. It should be about hope, vision, and building a better future for all Americans.
Sophia Nelson works in Washington, D.C. as an attorney and is President of iask, Inc. She is co-author of a new book, The Illusion of Inclusion: A Black Insider’s View on the Modern GOP, Racial Politics, & the 2008 Presidential Campaign. Her email is sophia.a.nelson@gmail.com