Exploring the Intriguing
Category: politics
CNN has reported that Argentina has agreed to legalize gay marriage. Yes, highly Catholic Argentina. It's heartening to see that it's not only the US and Western Europe where this kind of progress is being made.
I still subscribe to the belief that by 2020, gay marriage will be legal in at least half the states of the US.
FDO
Hey, I love the Cream song 'Politician'.
I'm in the storm before the calm of Finals week. Spending time to blog has felt like a true luxury item as of late. I hope to take some time to do more this weekend.
Today's big, early DC news is kinda local for me. Ft. Wayne IN is a couple hours away. (Close enough that I've driven to a bar there to watch my favorite unknown guitarist perform. Blessings, EJ.) Their US Rep Mark Souder resigned today because of a sexual relationship with a staffer. This is perfect timing for me because my US History classes are learning about Bill Clinton's impeachment trial.
Part of the follow up involves comparing the expectations we have of high school students at a Jesuit school compared to the expectations of the American public for our Presidents. When students learn that the leaders of the House prosecution of Clinton, Henry Hyde and Newt Gingrich, also had extramarital affairs, they are shocked. Hopefully the Souder news will help indicate how common this situation is among political figures.
FDO
I’ve had students challenge President Barack Obama’s Blackness, asking why it is that he and everyone else seems to consider him Black although he has approximately equal Black and White parentage. Usually I just talk about the one drop rule and social perception without going much deeper. Often students will chime in that Obama never really had a choice, insisting that Black was the only race he could have been in America.
The revelation of his single Census box identity as Black has ratcheted up this conversation and led to some interesting responses. Melissa Harris-Lacewell suggests that Obama created “a definitional crisis for whiteness” by transforming the expectations of what Black and White lives are supposed to look like. She believes Obama won election in 2008 largely because his life hit all the marks previously associated with success in the White community and his decision to identify himself as Black is a deliberate effort to embrace his Blackness.
John Judis subtitles his piece on the subject “Why Barack Obama Isn’t Black” and discusses the one drop rule as a legacy of slavery and racism while positing that Obama did the expected but not best thing by indicating himself as Black only. Refusing to accept the paradigm, Judis seems to say, is the only way to remove the power of race as a social construction.
Even though I understand the hue and cry, the President’s choice seems remarkably simple to me: He thinks of himself as Black. That in no way diminishes his affection for his mother and grandparents; it certainly doesn’t elevate his absent father. Barack Obama was born in America and has been defined as Black for his entire life. How many of us have ever said (or even thought) Barack Obama is the 43rd White man to become President? Our country does not define Whiteness in the same ways we define Blackness and President or not, that’s the reality for Barack Obama in the same way it is for everyone else.
Judis wants the President to begin challenging conventional notions of race by checking more than one box. I would suggest that Harris-Lacewell provides a great answer to that request. Living as he does, accomplishing what he has, being who he is challenge race theory more than any form possibly could.
FDO
I wrote this poem a couple years ago and a NY Times article today encouraged me to post it. I love the phrase and the sentiment behind it.
Remix America
Mestizo mulatto hyphenated hybrid
Mixed up creole cultural mélange of meaning
As who we are and what we used to be pale
next to tomorrow’s endless postmodern possibilities of
Perpetual people driven progress
All the ‘I’s and ‘US’s can become ‘They’s and ‘We’s sooner than YouTube presents the next
Macaca spewing hate monger would be divider
Who unites us in disdain
For his antiquated rhetoric of race,
Religion and righteousness
The 3 Rs that used to keep the South backwards,
Black folks scared and the rarely compassionate conservatives
entrenched in their oh so corrupting power
The beauty of the remix
And the America it is frenetically remaking
Is that all the little boxes
Will mean the very same thing in the end
More empty spaces we can fill
Exactly as we choose
© Gayle Force Press 2008
Well, at least since his inauguration.
Not only is the world still buzzing about healthcare reform passing but now he's achieved the most substantial nuclear arms reduction in the last couple decades AND gained the country around $8 billion through the Citigroup bailout. Kudos, Mr. President. Let's hope this roll continues!
FDO
Even though I was disappointed to hear Vice President Biden's (latest) ill-advised comment, it's not the worst use of an F-word I've heard this week concerning health care reform…
FDO
This isn't perfect or close to it but it's the kind of first step we need. My parents were lucky to have good health care when my mom developed breast cancer. They got good care and were able to keep their house. Millions more over the years have not been as lucky as they were. Now, they don't have to count on being lucky in terms of where they work; now they can count on the luck of being American.
Watching the signing ceremony on tv was enjoyable personally and politically. What a nice day to be home from work…
FDO
I love this phrase from Rep. Cleaver's statement after being spit upon, "Our nation has a history of struggling each time we expand rights."
I think that's exactly true and part of the reason I still feel hopeful. Despite the ups and downs, the pattern remains clear: Americans GAIN rights over time. The right to health care is another in a long line. The same is true for gay marriage. 5 years ago there's no chance gay people in DC could be married. 5 years from now, I think gay marriage will be legal in 15 or 20 states. We're going the right way, it's just damn hard to get there sometimes.
FDO
"There's no denying this (Health Care Reform) is certainly the biggest and by almost any definition the first major social legislation in the United States in almost five decades."
Thanks for the reminder, Josh Marshall. It's gonna feel good.
FDO
Several people I know were convinced by the 2008 Presidential election that America was quickly moving into a 'post-racial' society. There were lots of articles and essays suggesting that kind of notion and many folks believed that President Obama would be a symbol that America has moved past its racist past.
I tried not to say much in response because I don't like highlighting hate. Well, not only was it clear to many of us that America was nowhere near ‘post-racial’, I was quite worried that the election of a Black President would encourage many silent bigots to rally around their fear/anger. Last summer’s gun toting binge at Presidential events was a clear indicator of this reality and the storm of vicious comments surrounding Congress’ Health Care reform votes this weekend is another symptom of the same malady.
This weekend, that bigotry manifested itself not just in the use of racial slurs but also in anti-gay epithets directed at Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). What, if anything, Lewis’ race and Frank’s sexual orientation have to do with Health Care has not been made clear. For many Tea Party protestors, however, obscene chants and shouts were part of their method of expressing discontent.
I should make it clear that I am emotional regarding this issue. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) is one of my personal heroes. His life and career are beyond impressive to me and I’d be hard pressed to find a current political figure for whom I have even half as much respect. For people to believe they have the right to call Lewis names, especially ‘nigger’, infuriates me. Calling him names because he’s doing the work of representing his constituents is even more baffling to me. Rather, it used to be baffling to me. Now, I’ve come to feel confident that many in our country believe that anyone who disagrees with their opinions is undeserving of respect. Even though that’s patently ridiculous, many seem to operate that way.
What continues to confound and sadden me is that a few years ago, I was able to suggest that the right wing fringe was being moved along by Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and other people whose interest in politics was directly connected to their ability to draw ratings. Now, these folks on the right margins are being coddled by elected representatives. The shift is important, I believe, because of the suggestion of authority Americans have always ceded to our officials. It’s much harder to dismiss Steve King (R-IA) than it is Glenn Beck.
I use King as an example because he’s already downplayed the importance of civility in public assembly being bold enough to assert, “There are a lot of places in this country that I couldn’t walk through. I wouldn’t live to get to the other end of it.” I can only think of a couple interpretations for this statement. One, being a White, straight, conservative male is the social equivalent of being Black or being gay and is just as likely to result in being targeted for death or two, America is dangerous enough that if my car broke down I might get killed depending on where I am. I don’t know which I find more objectionable but either would be ridiculous.
Sadly though, this kind of statement provides license for people to use the same kind of language and engage in the same kind of conduct as yesterday’s protestors. It also directly connects uncivil speech to the possibility of death. While I’m sure it was unintentional, it’s still real and particularly in this kind of political environment is a horrible link to make.
It appears to me that I’ve been wrong. That, in fact, I should be making every effort possible to highlight hate. I suppose I just wish there were not so much of it.
FDO
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