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September 10, 2008 04:43 AM UTC

Absit Omen

  • 24 Comments
  • by: Maryscott O'Connor

crossposted from MY LEFT WING




“I have a dream that my four little children

will one day live in a nation where they

will not be judged by the color of their skin

but by the content of their character.”

This election marks a potential turning point in American history. The American people will either elect the first black President, following the dictates of logic, self-interest and absolute common sense… or they will elect John McCain and prove that at least a slim majority of the voters in this nation are ignorant fools, religious extremists, blind believers of the partisan propaganda of the right wing, outright racists — or some horrifying combination of those descriptors.





If you hear the dogs, keep going.

If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.

If they’re shouting after you, keep going.

Don’t ever stop. Keep going.

If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.

They’re out there. We know they’re out there. And they will vote against Obama because he is a black man. Period. Some of them — probably many more than we’d like to believe — are registered Democrats. Such is the reality of racism in America in 2008.

This much is true: Many millions of people will vote on the issues and many millions will vote reflexively based on other factors like how they always vote, what propaganda they believe, which “personalities” they prefer and so on. This much is also true: Many millions of people will vote for or against Barack Obama because he is a black man.

Make no mistake: The single determinative factor in this election is the colour of Barack Obama’s skin. And there is nothing we can do about the people who will vote against him because of it, just as there is nothing the other side can do about the people who will vote for him because of it.

There are still many, many votes to be won on the issues; the Obama campaign knows this as surely as they know the Republican Fraud Machine didn’t shut down in 2004. They’re doing their job and, insofar as I can see, they’re doing it well, given the huge — albeit predictable — disadvantage the Democrat always faces in a hostile and Republican-owned media.

The question remains, then, for those of us sitting on the sidelines, subject to hourly mood swings based on polls and biased media coverage and the myriad other depressingly familiar and predictable factors we understandably experience as harbingers of doom in modern Presidential politics: What are we supposed to do about all this?

I could tell you to ignore the polls and the media, but that would be silly; you’re political junkies just like I am — telling you to ignore it all would be like telling a heroin addict to ignore the baggie of China White on his kitchen counter every day for the next two months.

We have options. First, and most important: If you really, truly care about the outcome of this election, then get off your ass and DO SOMETHING. Register voters, is my first suggestion. It’s the single most important factor in this race, next to… race. Nearly 8 million African Americans — eligible to vote — are not registered to vote:


Nearly one in three African Americans have yet to get registered

While Sen. Barack Obama’s historic campaign has injected a powerful dose of enthusiasm into America – particularly Black America – there are still 8 million African Americans that have not yet been moved to register.

Rick Wade, who handles African-American voter outreach for the Obama campaign says that some 32 percent of the Black voting-age population is currently out of the loop. “Our principal focus has been a 50-state voter registration initiative,” Wade told NNPA. “I think we all appreciate that if we increase the number of African American registered voters and then increase turnout and get people to the polls on Nov. 4, then Sen. Obama will be the next president of the United States.”

Four years ago, more than one in 10 voters was Black, he said. “If the percentage of African Americans was a mere two-and-a-half percent higher, 13.5 percent, Democrats would currently be running for re-election at this time,” he said. “For example in the state of Ohio in 2004, we lost by two percent or 100,000 votes. There were 270,000 unregistered African Americans. I use that as an illustration to show how the African American vote can make the difference in a state and across this country. So the African American vote can absolutely make the difference in this election.”

You bet your ASS this race is going to be about race. You don’t think the racists out there are voting based on race? Well, FUCK THEM. We’ve got the issues voters. We’ve got the intelligent voters. That still leaves us having to make up the deficit made by the racists and the fools. Get out there and register voters.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I want to say something now to those of you who seem to honestly believe there is little to no difference between Barack Obama and John McCain — that the differences are essentially cosmetic (pardon the expression) and that we’re dealing with Tweedledee and Tweedledum again. Now, I don’t agree. I just don’t; but that is an argument we can have another day. Surely we can agree on this: if for NO OTHER REASON, can we not agree that the election of Barack Obama to the Presidency is preferable to that of John McCain because of its historical significance and the defeat of the forces of racism — of ignorance, hatred and sheer fucking EVIL — amassing against it?

If you believe that there is NO DIFFERENCE between Obama and McCain and you consider yourself a leftist or a liberal, then are you not ALL THE MORE interested in seeing Obama elected on this point alone? There is no other viable candidate, my friends. Your pleas for Cynthia McKinney or Nader fall on deaf ears this year of all years: We have the opportunity to break completely new ground with this election, regardless of how you perceive these candidates’ positions on the issues.

Yes, I just said that: If you think it doesn’t matter which of these men is elected, then work your ass off for Obama BECAUSE HE IS A BLACK MAN and THAT IS ENOUGH OF A REASON.

Like I said: I do not believe for a second that’s the only reason to elect Obama. But if you NEED a reason to stop bitching and moaning and spreading your negativity around like so much stinking fucking manure — I just gave it to you. Don’t call yourself a liberal in my presence and tell me it isn’t a damned good fucking reason, or I will have to seriously question whether you ever took a history class, let alone have been paying attention during your lifetime to the realities of racism in this country.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You have choices. You can watch the polls as they come in on an almost-hourly basis and bemoan the state of things as they are — or you can get up and TRY LIKE HELL TO CHANGE THINGS.


“This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that’s not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that’s not what makes us strong. Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that’s not what keeps the world coming to our shores.

Instead, it is that American spirit – that American promise – that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.

That promise is our greatest inheritance. It’s a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours – a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot.

And it is that promise that forty five years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln’s Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.

The men and women who gathered there could’ve heard many things. They could’ve heard words of anger and discord. They could’ve been told to succumb to the fear and frustration of so many dreams deferred.

But what the people heard instead – people of every creed and color, from every walk of life – is that in America, our destiny is inextricably linked. That together, our dreams can be one.

‘We cannot walk alone,’ the preacher cried. ‘And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.'”



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24 thoughts on “Absit Omen”

      2. Anyway.

        Wish I could be in Colorado — best I can do is drive to New Mexico to register voters in late Sept/early Oct.

        But a swing state is a swing state.

  2. And keep in mind I was an Obama delegate to the state convention, am a strong supporter of Obama, and am working to get him elected.

    First above you say:

    And they will vote against Obama because he is a black man.

    later you say:

    If you think it doesn’t matter which of these men is elected, then work your ass off for Obama BECAUSE HE IS A BLACK MAN and THAT IS ENOUGH OF A REASON.

    Are you any better in your racist reason to vote for someone than others using race as a reason to vote against them? In both cases it’s a race based vote.

    It is also belittling of Obama. There are very very good reasons to vote for Obama and you don’t need to bring this trash in to the discussion.

  3. .

    anybody who doesn’t vote for Obama is an idiot.  

    Where can we go from there ?

    There is no way to have a discussion if you brand any disagreement with your position as stupidity.  

    Since you cannot engage in the dialogue,

    I’m hoping that’s the last we hear from you under that particular name.

    .

    1. While I can not agree with all of your comments, I believe I understand where they are coming from.

      It is upsetting to see an honorable man like Barack Obama up against some the most vile and ugly attacks we have ever seen in this generation.  Pictures of sock monkeys, white women claiming Obama said sexist things about Hillary and now about Palin, when no one can produce one that came from his lips,(God forbid a Black man saying somethng negative about a White Woman, that would get you strung up 50 years ago) vile pictures of hanging black men from trees, etc.  It is very painful.

      Like you, I get tired of taking the high road sometimes.  I would much rather come back with my first very negative thoughts about America and trash the Republicans, white women that are lying about Obama and white people that can not bring themselves to see past skin color.  It would feel good for about one minute.  And then I would realize they have made me no better than them.

      They would win.  Even if Barack does not win, I believe he will, but even if America gets it wrong for three elections in row, the old guard knows its time has ended. And what a mess McCain / Palin will be in the eyes of the world. Their victory could spark intense outrage, which could bring more change than we can imagine.

      Just look around, Barack is just one symbol of America’s change.  Hillary is another.  So, we know that evolution is on our side. Blacks, Latinos, women are in the forefront and change is coming – real change, not McCain change (which is the most stupid thing I have ever heard of in my entire life – McCain the change agent, after 35 years in congress)

      Ok, so yes, the republicans are not real bright, they are effective at bringing out peoples fears:

      Willie Horton, the evil doers, WMDs and Saddam, Barack is a bad, bad Black man and, unfortunately, on the weak minded and the uninformed these tactics work.

      Times are changing, the world is changing.  And I am so pleased that those that came before me have given me the education and the wealth to be a part of that change.  So, don’t let them get to you Mary Scott – all is good.

    2. And you evidently didn’t read the essay thoroughly.

      People who who don’t vote for Obama are, I state:

      ignorant fools, religious extremists, blind believers of the partisan propaganda of the right wing, outright racists– or some horrifying combination of those descriptors.

      Not all idiots.

        1. Are you seriously telling me I ought to try to REASON with the unreasonable?

          THEY WILL NOT HEAR IT.

          They’re arguing RIGHT NOW about Obama “calling Palin a PIG” because he used Dick Cheney’s line (and about three thousand other politicians’ — it’s an OLD line) about “putting lipstick on a pig.”

          THESE are the people you think can have a discussion about the ISSUES?

          Um, okay. We disagree.

          They’re idiots.

  4. As a matter of fact Whites and Jews have done more than a tremendous amount to bring about racial change in America.

    I thought you were Black because these are often the comments I hear from my cousins and some friends, who are Black.

    I just want to remind all of us that we are moving forward and not all is lost on the ignorance that we are facing.

    1. Doesn’t matter what race you are – you’re a minority. I knew every day that I was white, sometimes that helped, sometimes it hurt, manytimes it didn’t matter – but it was always there.

      I think this is a large part of what helps Obama approach this – he also grew up in Hawaii where there was no one race in the driver’s seat. So he grew up in that multi-cultural world. (To give you an idea of how diverse Hawaii is – I’m not sure you could find a single city block that is racially homogeneous.)

      ps – my sister was a classmate of Obama’s

    2. And yeah, it is a whole helluva lot of ignorance — but the fact that this race is close is encouraging.

      In another generation or two, maybe the racism will have ALMOST died off.

  5. That is exactly how it feels to be anything but White in America.  And either good or bad it colors your perceptions, especially in places like the middle of the country.

    In LA, I never really thought about being Black too much. I was surrounded by smart, intelligent successful Black people.  In Colorado, I can go all week and not see one person of color.

    Then I pick up a newspaper of come to the blog and I read some of the most stupid comments known to God about Barack.  My first reaction, many times, is, “Are White people nuts?” I then grab hold of what I know to be true, “No, White people are not nuts.”  We as Americans have a major paradigm shift happening and people are using their “filters” to find something that is in their comfort zone.

    It just so happens, that many peoples comfort zone is in direct conflict with the racial, sexual and gender shift that is happening. So, they come out with hate and base it on something else other than the obvious, “I don’t want a Black man in the White House.”

    We saw the same thing when Antonio Villaraigosa ran for Mayor of LA the first time. Many White people and some in the Black establishment said privately, “we are not ready to turn over America’s largest, richest city to a Latino.” He lost the first election.

    1. Where do you live? I live in Denver and see black people every single day. They are a major part of our city, and it was such a welcome change from when I used to live in Louisville, Boulder and Greeley.

      1. Not only do I not see Black people, I very seldom see Asians.  Because I am in North Denver I do see Latinos – but no where near the level I am used to.

        Aurora is different.

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