2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumMichelle Alexander: Why Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Deserve the Black Vote
from the Nation:
Why Hillary Clinton Doesnt Deserve the Black Vote
From the crime bill to welfare reform, policies Bill Clinton enactedand Hillary Clinton supporteddecimated black America.
By Michelle Alexander
Hillary Clinton loves black people. And black people love Hillaryor so it seems. Black politicians have lined up in droves to endorse her, eager to prove their loyalty to the Clintons in the hopes that their faithfulness will be remembered and rewarded. Black pastors are opening their church doors, and the Clintons are making themselves comfortably at home once again, engaging effortlessly in all the usual rituals associated with courting the black vote, a pursuit that typically begins and ends with Democratic politicians making black people feel liked and taken seriously. Doing something concrete to improve the conditions under which most black people live is generally not required.
Hillary is looking to gain momentum on the campaign trail as the primaries move out of Iowa and New Hampshire and into states like South Carolina, where large pockets of black voters can be found. According to some polls, she leads Bernie Sanders by as much as 60 percent among African Americans. It seems that weblack peopleare her winning card, one that Hillary is eager to play.
And it seems were eager to get played. Again.
The love affair between black folks and the Clintons has been going on for a long time. It began back in 1992, when Bill Clinton was running for president. He threw on some shades and played the saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show. It seems silly in retrospect, but many of us fell for that. At a time when a popular slogan was Its a black thing, you wouldnt understand, Bill Clinton seemed to get us. When Toni Morrison dubbed him our first black president, we nodded our heads. We had our boy in the White House. Or at least we thought we did.
Black voters have been remarkably loyal to the Clintons for more than 25 years. Its true that we eventually lined up behind Barack Obama in 2008, but its a measure of the Clinton allure that Hillary led Obama among black voters until he started winning caucuses and primaries. Now Hillary is running again. This time shes facing a democratic socialist who promises a political revolution that will bring universal healthcare, a living wage, an end to rampant Wall Street greed, and the dismantling of the vast prison statemany of the same goals that Martin Luther King Jr. championed at the end of his life. Even so, black folks are sticking with the Clinton brand. ...................(more)
http://www.thenation.com/article/hillary-clinton-does-not-deserve-black-peoples-votes/
Cheese Sandwich
(9,086 posts)2pooped2pop
(5,420 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)very durable even in dysfunctional relationships, which is what Ms. Alexander is saying.
Thanks for the link.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)Bread and Circus
(9,454 posts)RiverLover
(7,830 posts)Thanks for posting!!
PoC have time to wake up. What have the Clintons ever done for them??
AOR
(692 posts)PyaarRevolution
(814 posts)You go Michelle. I mean those issues she posted at the end are American issues in general
arcane1
(38,613 posts)Alas.
AZ Progressive
(3,411 posts)jham123
(278 posts)As far as the original topic, let's be clear here....the Clinton machine in 2008 was doing the same thing they are doing this time around...."Claiming to lead" in various demographics when the truth couldn't be more opposite.
Clinton 'NEVER' had the young female voter. She lost them in Iowa and despite that vary glaring fact, they claim that they were stumped when she lost them again last evening to Bernie by 10 points in NH.
Clinton also claims that she wins the black vote, albeit PRIOR to the actual primaries.
This is called "Power of suggestion" and people fall for it. It's just like Strawman arguments as well, far from the truth.
Clinton isn't getting the White 45-65 vote, the black vote, the youth vote, nor the young female vote or even the OLD female vote....
I wish people would stop with these claims, but that's the Clinton Machine MO
cali
(114,904 posts)Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)It's a sign of agreement.
Welcome to DU!
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)you're spot on. welcome to DU
DemocraticSocialist8
(396 posts)thesquanderer
(11,989 posts)jonestonesusa
(880 posts)A remarkable novelist making a needless debating point that was tailor-made to be taken out of context.
IMO.
I'm just glad that the moment has arrived to discuss the Clinton record on race-related issues. The entire record. Bring it on!!
Merryland
(1,134 posts)that goes a long way toward exposing Clintonian hypocrisy. Michelle Alexander is trending on Twitter at the moment.
MellowDem
(5,018 posts)On the whole election system. Sanders isn't a perfect candidate. But he has (IMHO) been the better politician for progressive values, even not as a Democrat.
BUT, the way our system is set up, he had to run as a Democrat, it's a two party system, and the Democratic Party has been shamefully regressive these last couple decades. He has to associate himself with this weak skinned party that bowed down to conservative pressure (and continues to) and it will rub off on him. He doesn't have much of a choice. At least he isn't taking super PAC money or cozying up to Wall Street firms, but the best thing Sanders has going for him is his authenticity, and the Democratic Party tarnishes that, because, as laid out in the article, the Democratic Party has done some terrible shit and continues to in the name of electability.
I'm tired of the lesser of two evils choice. Just tired of it.
Dustlawyer
(10,495 posts)He also needs Democratic politicians to jump on his political revolution when we apply the pressure. That will be easier for him as a member of the same Party than as an Independant.
I agree that he still has a lot to learn about AA issues, but he has always believed in equality for all and he does recognize that the AA community has received th short end of the stick.
thesquanderer
(11,989 posts)at the end of the Clinton administration...
m-lekktor
(3,675 posts)nyabingi
(1,145 posts)and very true.
I think many Black people mistake someone being comfortable in our presence as a sign that they are sympathetic to us and our concerns in some way, but it goes much deeper than that. I can remember the episode of Arsenio in which Bill put on his dark shades and played sax (my college days), and this alone created the impression among many that Bill was "down" (including myself since I voted for the man twice, including my first presidential vote in '92). Many of us were so eager to defend what we saw as unfair attacks from Republicans that we refused to believe that Bill could be pushing laws that were harmful to us, and many are still refusing to look at the facts.
As someone who grew up in (and by high school, grew away from) the Black church in the south, I saw how "clingy" many of us get to people in power, especially pastors. No matter how bad the pastor was, many would just say "amen", say he is forgiven, and allow the pastor to keep their job (even when they were involved in criminal behavior). I've always hated this aspect of the Black church, and I hate it just as much when it comes to political figures.
Cheese Sandwich
(9,086 posts)
Ouch.
Pastiche423
(15,406 posts)" The biggest problem with Bernie, in the end, is that hes running as a Democratas a member of a political party that not only capitulated to right-wing demagoguery but is now owned and controlled by a relatively small number of millionaires and billionaires. Yes, Sanders has raised millions from small donors, but should he become president, he would also become part of what he has otherwise derided as the establishment. Even if Bernies racial-justice views evolve, I hold little hope that a political revolution will occur within the Democratic Party without a sustained outside movement forcing truly transformational change. I am inclined to believe that it would be easier to build a new party than to save the Democratic Party from itself."
AOR
(692 posts)it is however a devastating indictment of the utter uselessness of the currently constructed Democratic Party and the two-party electoral circus in bringing about anything resembling even the smallest demands of the struggling working class and oppressed.
Pastiche423
(15,406 posts)And I am not about to attempt a response to your word salad.
AOR
(692 posts)a response devoid of anything resembling substance.
DemocraticSocialist8
(396 posts)Is clearly attacking the Clinton's & their role in mass incarceration. She's just acknowledging that Bernie, while better, is not perfect either. The article was aimed mostly at Clinton though & she has the same thinking as Ta-Nehesi Coates.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)against him.