Playing the race card

I don't think she's the most eloquent woman, but Elizabeth Edwards has a point.

"In some ways, it's the way we have to go," Edwards says. "We can't make John black, we can't make him a woman. Those things get you a lot of press, worth a certain amount of fundraising dollars. Now it's nice to get on the news, but not the be all and end all."

The author of the article responded:

The implication that Obama and Hillary consider getting attention for being black or a woman "the be all and end all" is, of course, completely absurd, especially given how much black-on-black racism the Obama campaign has faced, and how dizzy everyone got when Hillary showed the tiniest bit of cleavage.

I disagree.
Barack Obama gets a lot of press because he is a black man. If elected to the Presidency, he would be the first African American president in US History. Hillary Clinton gets press because she is a woman and would be the first female president in US History if elected.

John Edwards is a "middle-class" (um, upper class...) white guy. A real first for us.

Just touching on the race card, I was surprised to be hit with this for the second time in one day. Waiting at the doctor's office earlier this morning, I read an article in Time Magazine about "Is Obama black enough?" He was questioned by one of his own advisors on how he'll deal with having called America a "magical place" to his father, even with the days of Jim Crow laws lurking in the past.

Black enough? First of all, Obama is biracial; of an African father and a white mother from Kansas. What defines black enough? If the elections were on race only, by this standard no 100% black people should be voting for him, only biracial voters. Still, some have argued "he isn't black like me." Why, because he's an articulate senator and not the product of a gang in the ghetto? Pardon my political incorrectness, but that is what they mean. He isn't black enough because he's not "authentic."

Black, in our political and social vocabulary, means those descended from West African slaves," wrote Debra Dickerson on the liberal website Salon.

Well guess what, children of slavery: In almost every cycle since 1984, at least one African American has run for President. Your past of your race is not your destiny, nor is it an excuse for not working hard to make something of yourself.

I know that race is still a prevalent issue in our society. Obama is still going to talk about the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr. and America's history of slavery. He's going to relate to his African father, appeal to the hardships of the black voter. But it's our media that is going to make his race THE issue that frames him. It's not going to be about his education, or his rise in politics, or even his plan for America on most days. It'll be his name, followed by a discussion of how his skin color impacts the race for president.

I find it difficult to see our world moving past the racial divide anytime soon, only because its on the front-page everyday. In January for the Superbowl, how many times did I hear that Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith were the first African American coaches to ever be a head coach in a superbowl game. Countless!! That's great and all, but I wasn't even thinking about their race. I was thinking they did a damn good job coaching their teams that year. Isn't that why they were there anyhow? Dungy and Smith didn't make it there because they're black.

And in Wisconsin in our own upcoming 2008 Supreme Court race, it will be the challenger conservative candidate against Justice Louis Butler, Wisconsin's first African American Supreme Court Justice. Mark my words, that is how the news media will almost always describe him.

So until the news media stops asking "when are we going to move past the race card" and actually does-stops pointing it out, Elizabeth Edwards is correct. Calhoun writes,

"Elizabeth Edwards' comments are Theresa-Heinz-Kerry-grade reckless, certainly, and they are deeply cynical about the way sex and race function in American politics."

So what if she's cynical? Only because our news media and our society are too!

Do I think Elizabeth Edwards could have kept this thought to herself? Maybe. But it doesn't make her point any less valid. Let's cut political correctness out because the world isn't right or wrong, or black and white.