Identity politics
Divide-and-rule identity politics turns out to be (surprise!) divisive.
The Democrats created a Frankenstein's monster, and now its chickens are coming home to roost.
(Trans-gendered Asians are sure to take this as a double snub.)
The sub-text is this: Identity politics works as long as there is an overriding issue or enemy that can unite the groups above their separate interests. The war in Iraq was supposed to fill that role, with the neo-con Repubs as the personification of evil. But the war is being won (as of yesterday, Pelosi was still desperately trying to deny that, and this is why), so now what is left to hold the Democrat conglomeration together? It was in this context that Billy Boy careened out onto the campaign trail and dissed Obama, something black Dems instantly took as an ethnic insult. A stupider move can hardly be imagined, Bubba tossing a stone like that in the Dem's glass house. Stone? More like a grenade. Obama's campaign took off like a rocket, while Hillary's instantly tanked, as identity groups chose sides and split off.
Without the Big Issue to unite them, and the race-ethnic cards suddenly laid bare on the table, the Democrats may be descending into an intra-party free-for-all that will be very hard to bring under control. Lots of little tents can act like one big one only under certain conditions, which have to be carefully nurtured and guarded. In their blind ambition, the Clintons have trampled all over everything.
Byron
The Democrats created a Frankenstein's monster, and now its chickens are coming home to roost.
February 12, 2008 (NYP) -- A prominent member of the national Democratic Party has circulated a sharp e-mail saying the removal of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle was disloyal to Hispanics and should give "pause" to superdelegates and voters.
The e-mail from, Steven Ybarra, a California superdelegate who heads the voting-rights committee of the DNC Hispanic Caucus, was sent to fellow caucus members in the hours after word broke that Solis Doyle - the most prominent Latina in Clinton's campaign - would be replaced by another close Clinton loyalist, Maggie Williams, who is black.
(Trans-gendered Asians are sure to take this as a double snub.)
The sub-text is this: Identity politics works as long as there is an overriding issue or enemy that can unite the groups above their separate interests. The war in Iraq was supposed to fill that role, with the neo-con Repubs as the personification of evil. But the war is being won (as of yesterday, Pelosi was still desperately trying to deny that, and this is why), so now what is left to hold the Democrat conglomeration together? It was in this context that Billy Boy careened out onto the campaign trail and dissed Obama, something black Dems instantly took as an ethnic insult. A stupider move can hardly be imagined, Bubba tossing a stone like that in the Dem's glass house. Stone? More like a grenade. Obama's campaign took off like a rocket, while Hillary's instantly tanked, as identity groups chose sides and split off.
Without the Big Issue to unite them, and the race-ethnic cards suddenly laid bare on the table, the Democrats may be descending into an intra-party free-for-all that will be very hard to bring under control. Lots of little tents can act like one big one only under certain conditions, which have to be carefully nurtured and guarded. In their blind ambition, the Clintons have trampled all over everything.
Byron
posted by Byron | Tuesday, February 12, 2008
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