How Obama is changing the face of the Democratic party

Before I begin, let me say that this rant was inspired by Hillary latest efforts to belittle any group of voters that swings Obama`s way. Now that the mainstream media has finally caught on to the fact that Hillary`s campaign is a sinking ship, her blatant race baiting doesn`t go quite as unnoticed. Check out this analysis of Hillary`s most recent comments about her ¨white base,¨ here at Jack and Jill Politics.

From the outset of the Democratic primary, the pundits have made a regular pasttime out of speculating on Obama`s chances of being able to woo over the lower to middle-class white vote. Even when he defied odds and succeeded in making inroads in this demographic--one that has tended to side with Hillary--there seemed to be some group of white people that he still couldn`t snag. Whether its 65 year olds or those voters with low income or little education, without carrying every group, Obama`s electability has been called into question. And what about the string of southern states where he managed to rake in double digit victories? Well, my ignorant one, in some of those states, including South Carolina, nearly 40% of the Democratic constituency is made up of blacks. And, given that blacks are obviously going to vote for one of their own--exit polls in nearly every primary has suggested that up to 92% of blacks cast their ballot for Obama--how representative really are those states of the country as a whole? Well, let`s see.

First of all, when did white blue-collar men become the basis of the Democratic party? As she totally should have, Donna Brazile totally flipped shit after long time Clinton croney Paul Begala suggested that Obama threatens to alienate the party`s base by not doing more to woo over these ¨Reagan Democrats.¨ Brazile reminded us that, first of all, working class blacks exist too, and secondly, Democrats have traditionally done poorly to get this vote come the general election. Without their undying support, Obama can still easily win.

But most importantly, we`ve forgotten--Obama hasn`t worked nearly as strenuously as Clinton to belittle his opponent`s voting bases (I`m still waiting for him to just come out and say,¨Yea, but odds are these 65 year olds won`t even be around to see my term out,¨)--that not only do blacks make up a quarter of the Democratic electorate, they are registering to vote at levels totally unheard of just years ago. And even more illuminating than Obama`s abillity to get 92% of the black vote in North Carolina, is the overlooked factoid that Hillary got friggin 6%! But of course, for Lou Dobbs and most of America, that figure doesn`t immediately make us think ¨O geez, she`s in trouble.¨ Instead, we continue to devalue their vote to even less than the 3/5 standard we`ve inherited from Mr. Jim Crow.

By the same measurement, shouldn`t we expect her to be pulling in 90% of the white women`s vote? Well, we don`t, and she`s not. Exit polls revealed that Obama ended Tuesday night with nearly 40% of that vote. That`s HUGE! But considering that the Hillary machine has succeeded in convincing us that whites are the ones that should be wearing the pants and making the decision in this relationship that is the US, we overlook such trivial nonsense.

The Democratic party is undergoing a drastic revamping. However, thanks to Obama`s doing, it has little to do with kicking out unwanted old timers. Instead, it involves stitching together fabrics of our society that have long felt excluded and under represented. This new national quilt is bound together by similarity, replacing the tears of division with patches of inclusion (OK, maybe that`s taking the analogy a little far). Yea, the younger and darker you are makes you a heck of a lot more naturally drawn to the Democratic party--one that embodies compassion for their greatest vulnerabilities in its founding mission statement. However, these groups have long been abandoned by a party that has looked at its consituency, and, seeing more whiter and older faces, finds little need in courting their support. This is all going to end--and already has begun to--as we enter this new ¨Obama era.¨

It`s not an era of immortal perfection. As he mentioned Tuesday night, he`ll always be an imperfect messenger of a nearly perfect message. Neither will it be a time of sweeping reform in which every black person stranded in New Orleans will be handed a new life. He has long ago accepted that the message he preaches isn`t unique to his tongue. That`s the point. We all agree on the most basic rights of every American; what he offers is a chance for us to agree on how to begin to translate this vision into tangible change.

And however much Hillary would like us to believe that his words are little more than a child`s ignorant dreams, we are in serious need of some TLC. 60 years ago, our grand parents got that loving care from FDR`s weekly council transmitted via radio, today, we receive it through charismatic speeches founded on a vision that we all share.

I can`t expect that with a few pretty words racism will disappear for good, or even refuse to poke its nasty little head once again in Hillary`s final hours of campaigning. But, we can follow the advice of Brazille and join together in forming a party that, instead of representing and finding itself dependent upon one group of voters, seeks to be held responsible by everyone of us, equally.

Just to be super clear, recognizing that both candidates have certain electorate bases on which they rely isn`t the problem. What worries me is that we have ranked these demographcically diverse groups according to their supposed importance. Yes, come November, the Democratic party can more safely rely on the black vote than that of blue collar whites. However, two things: Firstly, blacks, and young people will only turn out to the polls if inspired to do so--Obama has proven more able to provide this spark of inspiration than any Democratic candidate in decades. Secondly, as Brazille noted the other night, how can working class whites be considered our base when its well known that regardless of who it may be, the Democratic general election candidate will not gain the majority of this group`s votes. Let`s ditch the race baiting and accept that our party, under the guidance of Obama, will only grow once we stop placing value tags on its different members.

OK, enought ranting. Get a glass of cold orange juice and watch Brazille`s ass kicking of Begala.