Letters to the Editor
Nuttshell
Published Letters: 30 Editor's Choice: 4
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Let's Hold the Media Feet to the Fire
[Read the article: Can Democrats learn to talk about race?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Every Democrat (politician or talking head) needs to hold the media's feet to the fire. I believe they are the major culprits in this divisive talk. If Democrats would not allow the media to use that kind of talk, then we can begin to stop this segmentation. The media wants to cause division. There is no value in talking like this because it is insidious. If white, working class people continue to hear that they are not voting for Barack Obama, then they will start to think that there aren't supposed to. Talk about dog whistling.
Just to address the reason why Obama is getting so much of the black vote...many people seem to forget that until late 2007, most blacks supported other candidates namely Hillary Clinton. I believe the primary reason was that they didn't know him. Most blacks that I talk to are insulted by the notion that they would vote for a black just because he looks like us. There's a saying, "just because we have the same skin don't mean we are kin". As the field narrowed (I have been a John Edwards supporter for the past 4 years) I gravitated to Obama because like most black people, I am hopeful for change from the status quo. As beloved as the Clinton's have been in the black community, they have shown that they will embrace the divisive politics of the past 44 years for political gain. How long are we going to practice the same old politics and think we are going to get a different result?
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You're wrong LindaHewitt
[Read the article: Can Democrats learn to talk about race?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Stop assuming that black people are voting for Obama because we share the same skin. What if I assumed that you as a white woman and every other white woman supporting Hillary is doing it because you're white and female? Hillary started off in the lead position for most blacks by default. The loss of her black support is her own doing. Good golly, I remember when the issue of Barack not being black enough was a major topic. Where did that issue originate? In the black community. Were you not a Salon reader when Debra Dickerson was peddling that crap? There have been enough black politicians who have let us down that for many of us, the move in his direction was not a given.
If anyone is arrogant, you are. In fact, your mentioning how well he speaks several times in your post indicates to me that you think any black person who isn't speaking in Ebonics is an uppity Negro. I totally disagree with you in your assessment of what Sen. Obama did as a legislator in IL but you are entitled to your opinion. Hillary doesn't have any more experience other than in trench warfare with Republicans. She's no more experienced in legislative decision making than Sen. Obama, in fact, she has less. You didn't like how he had to compromise on the nuclear facility. Many Dems didn't like Clinton's knee-jerk hawkishness on the war. She was clearing pandering, just like she is on the gas tax holiday. It's about judgment. Don't get me started about her pandering to the GOP and the leaders of the Vast Right Wing conspiracy and the wingnuts over at Faux News. Hillary Clinton has been a wet dream for many repukes. She galvanizes their party better than anyone other than her husband. When repukes can't handle an argument based upon facts, they always resort to "clinton" as if that is an explanation in itself.
You are so insulting it is nauseating. Many of us want someone who is above the pandering to prove she has the right stuff. Believe me, if there was someone white speaking about changing the tone of partisan politics, black people would be lining up behind that person too. In the partisanship that has dominated US politics since 1994, latinos and blacks have been the whipping boys. We're tired of it. So stop being racist and assuming that our reasons have to do with Obama's race. If you somehow failed to remember, he's half-white and half-black. Meaning he's as much white as he is black.
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TexasGirl
[Read the article: Can Democrats learn to talk about race?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You sure are showing your true colors. I can see you're proud. Proud to be a racist. You definitely sound like a repuke. Blacks are your go-to whipping boys. All are welcome in our party, except your kind (insecure white people afraid of the big black guy).