Of Gender and Race

You know, if Rudy Giuliani wins the Republican presidential nomination, he'll be the first American of Italian descent to achieve such an honor. Any mention of that anywhere? No? Do you know why? I think it is the fact that America is a country built on immigrants and names are really not any big deal.

In a piece written by Christopher Hitchens today in the Wall Street Journal, "The Perils of Identity Politics", he brings up the point about Rudy. His logic rings true. I'm a Giuliani supporter and it didn't dawn on me that I could be supporting a ground breaking candidate. The fact that no one makes that distinction validates our nation's ethnic diversity. So why the big deal about the first woman and the first black candidates?

Hitchens includes a quote from Madeleine Albright. She states there is "a special place in hell for women who don't help each other." Really? If every woman voter does not vote for Hillary, then those women have a reservation in the ultimate hot spot? How last century of Maddie. This is yet another example of why the feminist movement died. The old dinos out front are clueless. Women are not all alike any more than men are or white people are or black people are or any number of convenient slots used to generalize for the speaker's own purposes.

Are Republican women expected to vote for Hillary, to support a woman? Get real. Plenty of Democrat women don't even want to support Hillary and that's why Albright made the comment in the first place, I would venture to guess. Plus, as Hitchens notes, what about Elizabeth Edwards and Michelle Obama. Are they deserving of support?

Chris Matthews, talking heads show host viewed by a dozen or so people, had to issue a lengthy apology to appease Media Matters after stating a fact about Hillary the night before. He said that she would not be running for President if it were not for the fact that she was married to a cheating husband. It's the deal they struck. Who in their right mind argues that fact? He simply stepped up and said it to an audience. Media Matter, by the way, is a watchdog group that monitors media shows and Hillary brags that she was a founder of the organization. Ok. No conflict there.

Barack Obama runs on the contention that he is the first viable black candidate. He tones it down a good bit but those around him don't. Particularly his wife, Michelle. Remember when he was first announcing his run for the nomination and she said as a black man Barack takes his life in his hands every time he goes to a gas station to fill up the family auto? He has secret service protection as extra protection. He is hardly an average black American.

Both Obamas are enjoying a successful lifestyle and benefiting from opportunities afforded them. For Barack, affirmative action helped him get into Harvard. He rose through the opportunity and did well. She has a big time job in Chicago and sat on the board of directors of a national food distribution company, for which she was compensated in the six figure range. Barack is the child of a Kenyan man and a white American woman. That is not the genetic makeup of someone reaping compensation for the sins of slavery in America. Kenya is east Africa. The majority of American slaves came from west Africa.

The real problem for the Democrats is that they are the party of pitting one group of people against another. Black voters have been taken for granted by the Dems for decades now. And rightly so. Why not as long as black voters buy into the nonsense that the politics of the left are a better fit than the politics of the right? I would remind them that if it were not for Republican politicians voting for the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Act, there would not be a black vote. Far more Republicans voted 'yea' to those two acts then Democrats. Just a little historical fact to ponder.

Hillary is the candidate of the past. She is bitter and angry. She is hanging on to the failed politics of the 60's and refuses to evolve. Obama is a happy warrior. He has a connection with his audience and inspires them. He's fresh.

Neither are an agent for the change we hear of incessantly. Hillary wants to go back to the 90's and Obama is a far left partisan. Neither include national security as a big part of their platform. They connect a big government solution to every perceived social ill.

That is why I wouldn't consider supporting either of them. Not the race or gender issue. It's all about the policy and forward looking solutions.