To pander or not to pander?

[politicasista]

I just thought I would raise this question here. Since 2000 there has been a lot of talk about if or not the Dems take African-Americans for granted. Beacuse I am an AA, this issue is somewhat so-so for me. As I said in my introduction, I was ABB until after the DNC and decided to support Kerry (no not reluctantly like some) the rest of the way. Since the election ended, I have noticed that because things didn't go our way like we had hope, people (not just here at DU, but everywhere else) are taking cheap shots, or slinging mean-spirited personal attacks on Kerry. I feel that it's unfair that Kerry is taking so much heat for not challenging the Ohio electors, and supposedly "not taking the fraud issue seriously."

Even Jesse Jackson, who worked in the campaign the last two months said that Kerry's concession "betrayed the trust of the voters." Even Tavis Smiley (who does commentary on the Tom Joyner Morning Show--black radio) was laughing at Kerry for mentioning how African-Americans were disenfranchised on Martin Luther King day instead of on the campaign trail. He also accused Kerry of "pandering to Black churches for black votes" instead of doing so on the campaign trail.

I know that Tavis was a very outspoken critic of Kerry, and the campaign. (I think he was still somewhat bitter over him not being one of the senators to stand with the Congressional Black Caucus and challenge the 2000 election). I know he likes Clinton, so I don't know.

All of this leads me to think that we (AA) played right into Smirky's hands with this "Kerry don't connect with me like Clinton did," "I don't like Kerry, but I don't like Bush." "Kerry's dry, boring, stiff, etc." "Could we re-elect Bill Clinton again?" and so on. Even worse believing the vicious, right-wing media character assults on Kerry. A lot of people think the campaingn could have done more to reach out to AA, but they did ok. (It could have been better, but still ok.).

In conclusion, all this Kerry bashing has just really turned me off. Sure mistakes were made, but bashing him will not make things better. The more they hate on him, the more I appreciate him.

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for reading.

[ginnyinWI]

1. everybody likes to blame the victim

Everybody wants to cast blame. If they can make it Kerry's fault, then the world makes sense again--they remove the cognitive dissonance.

I don't know--I think Kerry spoke to issues of joblessness and poverty and lack of health care and all of those domestic problems, and meant all of the people of America, all at once. I'm no expert, but it seems to be more like pandering to single out the black community and talk about them as though they were especially in need. Wouldn't that come off as condescending, coming from a white guy? So I don't know exactly what the African American leaders would have wanted. He did give a nice talk to an organization of minority journalists and took questions, and was very well received.

It's another example of Democratic disunity and eating of their own.

[JI7]

2. people need to pay attention

Kerry talked about the voting problems even before the martin luther king day thing and he talked about it with many white voters in places like iowa, new hampshire, and massachusettes . i'm not sure why these people weren't paying attention. or maybe they just didn't want to pay attention. too busy complaining about things.

and Kerry mostly campaigned for black voters outside of the churches by going into black neighborhoods. the funny thing is he is also getting a bunch of crap for not reaching out to rural whites enough and spending too much time in places that he already had support like in mostly black areas. but he had to start going to black churches because the republicans were using the gay marriage issue against him.

i'm not black, but i'm not white either and Kerry does fine connecting with all people. did you know he won the minority votes during the primary ? that's how he won the southern states against clark and edwards who are southerners.

Kerry also got more black votes than Clinton did in both elections. he got 2 percent less than Gore because of the gay marriage thing.

[politicasista]

3. Thanks guys for the replies

I have been trying to find some people who could help make sense of this. I was scared to post this in the AA issues group or GD, so I decided to post it here.

[JI7]

4. go directly to the people

that's how Kerry wins over people.

i agree with you that the stuff said about those who supported other candidates probably hurt Kerry among people who never got to see Kerry for themselves. but most democrats voted for him. it probably hurt more among swing voter types who were worried about terrorism and other things. it wouldn't have been so bad if Kerry had been running for re-election as president or if he had been vice president, but as senator he wasn't known nationally so attacks hurt more when people don't know him.

i'm not sure if he will run again but if he does i think he can do well just by going directly to the people instead of making some big name or media types happy.

i live in southern california and kerry was the only one who had been here long before the primaries and visited just regular people. not just big fundraisers and media events. but he walked through the streets and just had talks with different people about their problems. these things aren't always covered by the media but i think it was a big part of why he won the primary.

it's not just Kerry but you see people like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama get the same treatment from some, especially on DU. but what all have in common is they just build up their own relationships with regular people rather than depend on some big names to talk them up.

[LeftyLizzie]

5. I agree completely . . .

I get so sick of the bashing of John Kerry and other Democrats. Sure, some criticisms are probably deserved because no one's perfect, but I think that it would be a hell of lot better if we put our energy toward bashing the other side than bashing people who are on our side. Our infighting will only lead to weakness, not strength. I think the Repugs have been pretty good at putting forward a united face with regards to Bush, etc. Why can't we do the same with our leaders?

[TayTay]

6. Complicated issue, complicated reply

I really think there is something to the idea that Dems take the AA (and other minority) voters for granted. And the Dems risk not paying attention to a base group of voters that can get away.

My take on the so-called 'black vote' is that it is as complicated a constituency as any 'white vote.' Dems can no longer count on Catholic voters to vote Dem because the Rethug wedge issues of abortion, gay marriage and so forth have fractured support. The same can happen to the AA vote. I think that surveys show that AA voters are basically socially very conservative and can be picked off on these issues. (Complicated stuff. Can Gay and AA voters find common ground. This was the secret to the success of the old Roosevelt coalitions, having disparate groups find common ground and using that coalition to build a huge voting block.)

Liberals have to speak with AA and minority groups as equal partners in the Dem future. (Nobody, of any group I can think of, like to be taken for granted or talked down to. I don't. Why would anyone else.) In a way, this is not fair for Kerry because he has an excellent voting record on supporting 'minority' issues. (Gawd, I'm reluctant to use minority as a grouping. I think the future of the Dems lies in seeking common ground more along class lines than racial divisions. Racial division will remain in America for a long time to come (sigh!) but Dems can win by creating coomon economic ground with miners in West Virginia, day laborers in Roxbury or South Central and ethnics in Chicago and in any rural area in America. We are allowing false racial divisions to separate groups that should be natural allies. This is the Rethug plan, divide and keep conquering at the ballot box. Sigh!)

We have to bring up the disgusting racial politics that went on in Ohio, Florida and other places. (Dirty little secret time: It is a problem in Massachusetts as well. Long story, we don't have clean hands at all and MA needs reform.) That this was perpetrated by an AA is beside the point. He saw an opening and exploited it. This cannot stand. Voting is the first among all American rights and the Dems cannot drop this ball. But it will be hard. Dems have no bully pulpits and all the decks are stacked against us. This is going to be a long, hard, difficult fight. I hope we don't further complicate it with backbiting and more circular firing squad events. Sigh!

[elshiva]

7. I think African-Americans and Gays need to find

common ground. If the only common ground is that both groups are discriminated against economically and socially, although in different ways. Certainly, there are alot of African-American gays and lesbians trying to bridge the gap between these groups.
I like Jesse Jackson alot because he is pro-gay.
That said, I do think both African-Americans and gays are taken somewhat for granted by Democrats.