I don't make this post lightly. And I'm prepared to be flamed, even if I won't enjoy it.

Let me start out by saying that I'm a white woman, boomer generation, college-educated, raised in a virtually all-white Chicago suburb and now living in a pretty much all-white ex-urb of Phoenix, Arizona. I have therefore experienced almost nothing in the way of racial prejudice, and what I have experienced was based on having Jewish family members, not on skin color.

Second, I will freely acknowledge that I was a Hillary Clinton supporter, though not a fanatical one. I said privately to a lot of friends and to family members who were Obama supporters from the get-go that I was quite frankly torn between the two but was going with Hillary because I agreed with about the same percentage of her politics as I did of Obama's but that because she was a woman I was going to support her. I also said that if she didn't get the nomination, I would enthusiastically support whoever did. I never had any problem shifting support to Obama.

Third, I have made no secret of my opinion that Howard Dean failed the Democratic party and all the supporters of all the primary candidates when he didn't broker a deal between Obama and Clinton early on, before the party became polarized. I believed then and I believe now that the bitter primary fight not only led to something of a rift between the two camps (if not between the candidates themselves) but that it also exhausted a lot of resources, including financial ones, that could have been better used in the general election campaign. I think the reports of Obama no longer having the massive advantage in funds somewhat supports my conclusions.

Fourth, and more recently, I have voiced the opinion that the failure of the Democratic party -- NOT Obama personally or even the Obama campaign -- to include Hillary on the ticket left the Dems vulnerable to a dark horse VP pick by McCain who would tap into the emotional vote. In other words, I don't think McCain could have picked Palin if Hillary were on the ticket. It would have made him look silly -- or sillier than he already does. With Hillary out of the picture, the pukes could paint themselves as more feminist than the Dems, more progressive, and so on. EVEN THOUGH OF COURSE THEY AREN'T ANYTHING OF THE SORT.

Fifth, the Palin nomination utilizes that opportunity to exploit BOTH ends of the low-information republican electorate: the moderates who see Palin as a strong woman but still a traditional mother, and the reactionary far right who are able to compartmentalize the glaring contradictions in Palin's candidacy the way they always compartmentalize conflicting truths. Palin's gender provides, if you'll excuse the metaphor, an impermeable defense. ANY criticism of her becomes gendered, and the Dems are unable (so far, anyway) to counter that.

That's where I stood until this morning, when something else occurred to me as a result of a casual conversation about Germany in the 1930s. (Yes, my "casual" conversations do run to topics like that.)

The issue I hadn't examined, and which issue now confronts me with a situation I can't quite wrap my head around, is whether or not the GOP has finally been able to capitalize on the latent racism in the American electorate. They are able to play the gender card with full legitimacy, because the Dems are unable to deny their own failure to nominate a woman. And the Dems are now afraid to acknowledge that race may be a more important factor. In other words, the GOP has no problem playing the gender card because they know, from Hillary's run, that it's safe; but the Dems may now have to recognize that playing the race card won't work, because there's still too much racism in this country.

We know that Sarah Palin is not qualified to be vice president and certainly not qualified to be president. As Rick Davis of the McCain campaign has openly stated, this election is not about issues but about personalities. Perhaps what no one is willing to acknowledge is that there are a whole lot of Americans who will vote for an unqualified White woman long before they will vote for an eminently qualified Black man.

I think even Obama tried to engage in a dialogue about race, and there was so much denial, so much pretending that we've moved beyond that, that now the issue (rather like impeachment) is off the table.

We know that the GOP, contrary to its Lincolnian roots, is not the party of racial diversity and equality. The party's nominee can't even present his adopted daughter-with-dark-skin openly. Contrast this to Cheney's treatment of his lesbian daughter. White does matter. White trumps gay. White trumps gender.

I don't think it's a matter of appealing to a bloc of voters; I doubt there are many African Americans who would have voted for McCain anyway under the circumstances, so it's not about appealing to them. Instead, it's a matter of appealing to the "better nature" of Americans, even if we have to do it through a painful intervention.

I don't know. I'm throwing this out for discussion. I'm admitting my ignorance and my lack of experience. I also don't really know what to do about it. I don't know if there's any strategy that can make a difference. I just don't know.


Tansy Gold