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Can the
GOP Win the Presidency Without Playing the Race Card?
By Gwen
Richardson
Gwen Richardson
Houston,
TX (BlackNews.com) - Several weeks ago, I wrote a widely
publicized op-ed piece, raising the issue of the 1995 Million Man
March and whether or not all Black men who attended would now be
barred from seeking higher office. I had no idea whether or not
Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee,
had attended the march, but I understood the twisted mindset of
Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and other right-wing talk show hosts
and their racist rants. It appears that my comments were prescient.
Hannity of FOX
News, apparently dissatisfied that the issue surrounding Rev.
Jeremiah Wright did not successfully derail Obama's campaign, is
now trying to link the Illinois senator to Nation of Islam Minister
Louis Farrakhan via the Million Man March. As it turns out, Obama
attended the march, but did not play a prominent role.
The objective
of the Million Man March was to make a positive statement that Black
men were responsible, upstanding citizens who take care of their
families and were not all criminals as portrayed in the media. It
was completely peaceful and attracted one million-plus Black men
from all socioeconomic and educational backgrounds. Farrakhan was
a catalyst for organizing the event, but the march's success was
a result of a nationwide grassroots effort. Through a 1995 interview
with a publication called the Chicago Reader, Obama had some very
critical things to say about Farrakhan and his approach to issues,
as well as a critique of the march.
But these facts
are lost on Hannity and his right-wing cohorts because, in their
world, facts don't matter. Their real objective is to make racial
division the dominant wedge issue of the 2008 presidential campaign.
That appears to be the only way Republicans have been able to win
national elections because they have been unable to win on the issues.
Take a look
at the last 40 years in presidential politics and every Republican
victory has had the underlying theme of racial animus. Richard Nixon
based his 1968 campaign on his "Southern strategy" of
building a conservative majority by exploiting racial and class
tensions between White and Black Democrats.
In 1980, Ronald
Reagan ran against "Chicago welfare queens" (presumably
Black) who were getting a free ride from the government. Reagan,
proclaiming support for states' rights, launched his campaign in
Philadelphia, Mississippi, the site of the 1964 murders of three
civil rights workers, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner,
with an apparent olive branch to the descendants of those who condoned
this horrendous deed.
And who could
forget George H.W. Bush's 1988 campaign against Michael Dukakis
and the specter of Willie Horton. Horton was a Black man who, while
on a prison furlough, raped a White woman while her husband was
forced to watch, conjuring up images from the 1915 film Birth of
a Nation.
During the presidential
primaries in 2000, George W. Bush made a pilgrimage to Bob Jones
University, an institution known for its objection to interracial
dating among its students, to shore up his redneck bona fides. And
527s, independent political groups, ran an underground campaign
during the South Carolina primary insinuating that John McCain had
a Black love child when, in fact, he and his wife Cindy had adopted
a dark-skinned girl from Bangladesh. In 2004, Bush won re-election
based on the anxieties about gay marriage and a potential attack
by brown-skinned radical Islamic terrorists.
It appears that,
should Obama be the nominee, the GOP themes for 2008 will center
around Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, the Million Man March,
1960s radical William Ayres, and whether Obama, as a Black candidate,
is sufficiently patriotic.
My personal
experience with the GOP was eye-opening, to say the least. Raised
in a Democratic household, in my late 20s I had soured on some of
the Democrats' issue stances and the fact the party took the Black
vote for granted. As someone who is pro-business and conservative
on social issues, I decided to switch my party affiliation in the
1990s and became active in Republican politics. I believed then,
and still believe, that Black voters would be better off being involved
in both parties so neither could take us for granted.
However, I found
that Republicans prefer that Black members of their party be seen
and not heard, and were expected to toe the party line at all times.
My husband I tired of being one of the few Blacks in the room at
most Republican events. If other Blacks were present, we were often
mistaken for someone else since, of course, all Blacks look alike.
There was also an unspoken mandate that Blacks in the Republican
Party speak out in opposition of affirmative action programs, although
Republicans exert zero energy to combat racial and gender discrimination
that still exists.
Any hopes of
bringing other Black voters into the party were thwarted by the
Republicans' constant use of the race card, particularly in Senate,
Congressional and presidential elections. After a few years of this
abysmal treatment, my husband and I decided that the independent
route was our best option.
Hopefully, McCain,
as the Republican standard bearer, will not stoop to the tactic
of fanning the flames of racial division, but other members of his
party have already taken a giant leap in this direction. Right-wing
talk radio has apparently decided that playing the race card is
lucrative, good for ratings and serves as red meat for the more
extreme elements of its audience. The 527s will be out in full force
with video snippets of Rev. Wright, Farrakhan and anyone else they
can use to smear Obama as a closet subversive, a potential mole
for a radical Black faction, even though his life's work proves
he is void of prejudice, open-minded and inclusive.
This week the
North Carolina GOP will unveil a 30-second ad that attacks Democratic
gubernatorial candidates Beverly Perdue and Richard Moore for their
endorsements of Obama. The ad, per the party, will reference "controversial
figures from Barack Obama's past," presumably featuring Wright
and Farrakhan, and raise the question of the candidates' "judgment"
in supporting him.
After all, Republicans
certainly cannot run on the crumbling U.S. economy, the falling
dollar, sky-high gas prices, inadequate access to health care, and
their disastrous military and foreign policy in the Middle East
and around the globe. A campaign based on racial fears may be their
only hope. Even conservative commentator Pat Buchanan said in a
recent interview, "I think the only way Republicans can win
is if they win ugly." In November, we'll get a chance to see
if their tactic is successful once again.
Gwen Richardson is an entrepreneur and author based in Houston,
Texas. Her new book is titled: Why African Americans Can't Get
Ahead: And How We Can Solve It With Group Economics. Richardson
is currently writing a book about the 2008 presidential election.
NOTE:
Permission is granted for all U.S. domestic and international media
outlets to print this commentary in its entirety, as long as credit
is given to the above author and author's info citation is included.
CONTACT:
Gwen Richardson
grichardson@cushcity.com
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