There are some things so secret, so shameful, that people dread the day when their inner thoughts and desires are aired for all the world to see. There are some activities that are so perverse that no human being should ever participate in them, yet many do so anyway. I have found myself in such a situation, wondering if I am alone in my inner perversion, but I have found that there are many more people out there who are just like me, people who share in my shame.
Let me explain.
I first cast a vote in 1988, and it was for Michael Dukakis against Geroge H.W. Bush. In the 19 years since I have never voted for a Republican in a partisan race. Ever. I have not voted for a Republican presidential candidate, Senatorial candidate, or Congressional candidate. I have not voted for a Republican governor, legislator, or mayor. I have not voted for a Republican city councilman, property valuation administrator or dog catcher. I have never, ever voted for a Republican, but if Hillary Clinton becomes the Democratic nominee then that may well change.
God help us all.
There are two basic problems with a Hillary nomination – how she’d have to win it and what she’d do if she’s elected. In order to win the nomination, with the trajectory of the primary contest to-date, Hillary will have to seriously Swift-Boat Barack Obama. We’ve seen a couple attempts at this already from Clinton surrogates with Billy Shaheen having to resign and apologize to Barack Obama for his remarks and Bob Kerry having to write an apology to Barack Obama over his comments about Barack Obama. When the Clinton camp gets desperate it is quite possible for them to further go Willie Horton on Obama, and that will galvanize Black support behind Barack Obama. If Obama then goes on to lose to Clinton then the resentment against Clinton will be overwhelming, opening up an opportunity for the GOP within the Black community that hasn’t been seen since Reconstruction.
The second problem with a Clinton candidacy is what she would do as president. A Clinton presidency would have liberal trappings – there will be some executive orders and signing ceremonies in the first 100 days – but the substance of it would be totally corporate from day 101 until its end. Moreover, much like Bill, Hillary would be pulled rightward in order to prove her critics wrong and to demonstrate that she has the balls to be president. An honest assessment of the Clinton years would show that the core constituencies of the Democratic Party got the shaft on the issues that matter most to them – Labor got NAFTA, Blacks got the Crime Bill, Women got Welfare Reform, gays got DOMA, and peace activists got military interventions in Kosovo, Haiti, and Iraq. I would expect more of the same from a second Clinton presidency, particularly since Hillary has been promising more of the same from the first Clinton presidency.
Here’s where I become a heretic.
If Hillary Clinton defeats Barack Obama in the Democratic Primary to become the Democratic nominee, then I think the best thing that could happen for Progressives and indeed for the country is for Mike Huckabee to be the next president of the United States. Much the same way that Hillary would be pulled to the Right, Huckabee would be pulled to the Left, because when it comes to caring for the least of these Mike Huckabee is a Christian, not a Republican who mentions Jesus Christ merely to gain votes, and he is catching considerable heat from his fellow Republicans on that score, best summarized by George F. Will: “Huckabee’s role…is not merely to attempt to revise a few Republican beliefs. He represents wholesale repudiation of what came after the 1970s — Reaganism.”
Amen.
I thought that I was alone in this perspective, that I was the only apostate who was seriously considering Huckabee if Hillary managed to defeat Barack Obama, but it turns out that there are many people in my neck of the woods who are quietly considering the same thing, who are looking at Mike Huckabee as a candidate that they could actually vote for instead of merely voting against the other guy – in this case, girl. A friend of mine asked me what I thought about the GOP nomination fight, and when I got to Huckabee we agreed so quickly that it scared me – we’re raving about a REPUBLICAN! I then went and spoke to several other politically-active firends locally and the reaction was the same – nothing but love for Huckabee. Nobody is supporting Huckabee openly because we all want Barack Obama to win, but if Hillary becomes the Democratic nominee then all bets are off.
If Hillary Clinton defeats Barack Obama and if Mike Huckabee survives the GOP nomination then I believe we could see the beginning of the Chocolate Migration. Huckabee’s Baptist background gives him the worldview and vocabulary to speak directly to the hearts and minds of church-going Black folk, and he does so instinctively. Democrats, if they’re smart (insert your own joke here), will respond to this by emphasizing their secular credentials – as White suburbanites are increasingly repulsed by religious appeals and socially conservative Republicans – much the same way that Republicans have won elections in the past by emphasizing their religious credentials. The new divide could easily become between those who are overtly religious against those who are not, in large part pitting those who are epistemologically conservative against those who are epistemologically liberal. Blacks, especially church-going Blacks (who also tend to be the ones that vote), are epistemologically conservative and overtly religious, and if the Democrats push their secular credentials too hard, as many are wont to do already, they will alienate many Blacks and drive us into the Republican Party on Huckabee’s bandwagon, the Chocolate Migration.
The Republican Party, if it is smart, will be ready for the Democrats to over-reach and will open its tent in earnest to church-going Blacks, but it will take a great deal of political skill and finesse to merge Blacks and Southern Baptists into the same camp, a total eschewing of White Supremacy that is in no ways limited to rednecks in sheets or the GOP. It may be that no such political skill or good will exists and that Blacks will simply have to suck it up and deal with functionally atheistic corporate Democrats if we still find Old South Republicans to be too strange a bedfellow, but it will be an interesting journey over this election cycle to see if this realignment actually plays out – libertarians migrating to the Democratic Party and Blacks returning to the Republican Party. Of course, if Barack Obama becomes the Democratic nominee for president then all bets are off.
Now that’s a hell of a thing. Huckabee as the Anti-Hillary.
And while I think you have a valid point, I think you have to look at the relative strengths of the pulls you talk about.
Because let’s face it, what the corporations want more than anything is another 8 years of Chimpy McBumblefuck. Hillary’s corporate ties would certainly fit the bill. But I strongly believe Huckabee would be co-opted just as easily or more so. He desperately wants to be the “compassionate conservative” that Bush failed to be, and I have to think given the modern GOP, Huckster as president will be beaten into capitulation like a particularly disobedient hound.
Not that Huck doesn’t have problems. But I think to be honest there’s much more of a chance of Huck to be dragged down the road of good intentions into Bush territory than Hillary.
I understand where you’re coming from. Hillary’s already 80% of the way there, Huck isn’t. But Huck is more likely to end up at 99%.
I believe the GOP is about to splinter, as BooMan pointed out a couple days ago and E.J. Dionne alludes to in WaPo, so it is quite possible for Huckabee to redefine the GOP in much the same way that Reagan redefined the GOP a quarter century ago. Obviously, none of knows with any degree of cetrtainty how it will actually play out, but I believe from what we’ve seen that we can be fairly certain of what Hillary’s presidency would look like, and I can’t imagine Huckabee’s being any worse while I can easily see it being better, him having the excuse to his fellow Republicans (as Bill did from the other side) that he has to work with the opposition Congress, so his hands are tied.
The man called the Club For Growth “The Club For Greed” – a Republican with the stones to take on the primary GOP hatchet men definitely gets my attention. I just hope he lives to tell the tale – politically and physically…
Well, I’m not sure either Obama or Clinton will end up with the nomination.
If Edwards doesn’t win Iowa (or at least come in second) then he’s done – he lacks the money to compete elsewhere in a prolonged 3-way fight. He’s way behind in New Hampshire and South Carolina can’t save him this time either – he’s a distant third in his (other?) home state. Nobody else is even on the radar, so if Edwards doesn’t win or place in Iowa then it’s either Hillary or Obama, and I believe the better choice is clearly Barack Obama.
OSCAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
there are 2 problems with your essay.
#1 is hillary isnt that bad….read larry’s essay on her….she IS smart and i believe she is heads above any candidate on brains…i like edwards and i like obama better….hell i like richardson, biden and dodd….throw in kucinich too….they are all way better than any republican….every president has to bend over for the guys with the gold….thats the golden rule…..but at least with hillary we would get someone with brain cells and backbone…..ill take that over any republican at this point…..i mean seriously….she isnt bob casey.
#2 is hucklberry isnt a real christian….he is a pseudo christian…he hates…his beliefs are misogynistic and homophobic…..neither of these are true christian attributes….i have frequently defended many of your points about being a church going christian democrat with personal beliefs that are a little to the right of normal democratic platform stances like abortion etc….however i will never defend anyone who would vote for someone who will legislate their right wing intolerant narrow minded pseudo christian hateful religious sounding doctrine above what i believe are fundamental human rights that should be american citizen rights….women’s rights to determine what happens to their bodies and completely equal rights for gay persons…..you can personally believe abortion is murder…as long as you keep it to yourself and dont try pushing that on other women who dont believe that or who, like me, believe murder is not always wrong (abortion, assisted suicide, death penalty for child molesters and rapists etc.)…..you can personally believe gays shouldnt adopt children and gay sex is against your bible beliefs….so dont have sex with men….dont pick them up in airport bathrooms for blowjobs….but dont vote for people who will legislate that kind of morality….ever…it wont help the progressive movement….it will hurt people in real ways….this is important…..oscar….think this through….putting people in power who will make laws that truly hurt people in fundamental physical spiritual emotional familial ways is not progress and its not what jesus would have wanted…the people can lead on these issues…they really can…..the people of this country wanted to go to war…..they can stop war and bring troops home if they would get off their butts and stop watching desperate housewives….if they would wake up out of their stupor….we need people like you who are not in a stupor to help make sure we dont go backwards…..be real oscar…..hillary in no way is even close to being as bad as huckleberry.
black church going folks have to stop the hating …..stop hating gay folks….stop falling for the bullshit twisted bible spew that false prophets are pushing.
Hey Anna! Good to see you again. To your points:
#1 is hillary isnt that bad
Yes, she is. I’d already read Larry’s piece on her but I’ve been watching her since she first announced her intent to run for the Senate in 2000, and she has tracked further and further to the corporate right every year, culminating (for me) with her hawking the Iraq war in 2002-3. She either lacks judgment, courage or integrity, and I don’t seriously doubt her judgment or courage. She’s simply not on my side, and that’s cool, but I simply won’t support her, and I have been surprised to find that I am not alone on that score.
At what point do you believe Hillary will be an improvement over George Bush? Her differences with Bush have been in matters of degrees, not in substance. She apparently figured that was the politically-pragmatic position, much like John F’ing Kerry on Iraq, and I see her in much the same light as Kerry. The biggest difference is that Kerry lacked the courage to make substantive changes, Hillary seems to lack the will – her constituency does not demand dramatic change, just a little tinkering around the edges, because every-day people are not the constituency of the DLC, and we never have been.
#2 is hucklberry isnt a real christian….he is a pseudo christian…he hates
One of the biggest mistakes that anyone can make is to actually believe your own caricatures of those who disagree with you. It is useful in shaping public opinion to characterize one’s opponents as irrational, emotionally unstable individuals who are prejudiced against a specific people-group for no rational reason, but one actually believes that characterization at one’s own peril.
You say that you “will never defend anyone who would vote for someone who will legislate their right wing intolerant narrow minded pseudo christian hateful religious sounding doctrine above what i believe are fundamental human rights that should be american citizen rights” – and that is your right, of course – as is it the right of others to “never defend anyone who would vote for someone who will legislate their left wing intolerant narrow minded pseudo christian hateful religious sounding doctrine above what i believe are fundamental human rights that should be american citizen rights” – namely, the 1st Amendment.
Specifically, the basis of one’s political positions is irrelevant – if someone believes that the Iraq War is wrong because of utilitarianism, the Bible, the flight velocity of migratory swallows (African, not European), or Ms. Cleo, it matters not – all that matters is if they can convince a majority of their peers to vote with them on that issue. Regardless of the basis of one’s support or opposition to homosexuality and its acceptance by society, all that matters is if you can convince a majority of your peers to support your particular position – there are no invalid bases for one’s position if we truly have a freedom of speech, assembly, religion, and to petition the government. The separation of church and state simply keeps the state from establishing an official church or mandating a specific religion as the national religion – as Thomas Jefferson himself pointed out – it is not the separation of religious thought and legislation. Saying that someone can believe something but they can not act on that belief is essentially saying that they can not, in fact, believe something that you do not agree with or approve of – much like George Bush’s “Free Speech Zones” – and that, too, is quintessentially un-American.
black church going folks have to stop the hating
Again, the emotion that you ascribe to me and mine simply does not exist – it’s not hatred, it’s opposition to the validation of an activity and lifestyle that we understand to be immoral. You may disagree, and that is fine, but one of the points that I’ve made here is that if submission to your opinion becomes a litmus test for remaining within the ranks of the Democratic Party then we will, indeed, walk. As for me, I’ve laid out in detail how I balance all of this (homosexuality, abortion, et al.) in a post, Why I’m Not A Republican last year.
Obviously, if I’m no longer welcome in the Democratic Party then that will change…
oscar…im only gonna respond to one part of your post and use my personal experiences to do it.
i say its hating…you say its opposition to an activity.
have you ever been in a room full of black clergy and black christians….your neighbors of the last few years….who suspect…they dont even know for sure, they just suspect, that you might be gay?
i have been…..and im not gay….but im a gay rights activist….and i have been in that room and seen, heard and felt the pure HATRED directed towards me….i have felt just as threatened as when i was in a wendys in cummings georgia in jan 1987 with klan guys that had shotguns under their robes and showed them to me and told me to get out of their town fast…..and im not black but i was there for a protest….i have felt that hatred in only a very few times in my life….you as a black man must be able to relate to this…..feeling threatened like that….feeling the hate…..its not just opposition to an activity…..men buttfucking each other…..its not just being opposed to that activity….its pure hatred….its knowing if they could get away with it, they would beat you to death, burn you out of the neighborhood….but they will settle for making laws that keep you from participating in society the way everyone else does…..they will settle for protesting your lifestyle and presence (their constitutional right) ….but you know if they could….they would do more.
i repeat…..black church going folks have got to stop the hating.
so does everyone else for that matter.
and oscar….where are you gonna go?
I’m sure that there are those who hate – you can find a sample of such people in any demographic (ask Black gays about the racism within that community) – but that is not the reason for most Christians’ opposition to homosexuality.
I can certainly relate, and it is much like how I’ve had to remind some of my right-wing friends that all of the Islamic world does not hate America and intend us harm, but I have learned that those who need to see hatred will always see hatred, no matter how rationally I try to show them otherwise…