My Democratic Party

Yesterday's West Virginia primary raises some important questions about race, politics, and the future of the Democratic Party (and subsequently the United States).

I have too much respect for Hillary and many of her supporters and recognize that she has received much undeserved criticism and flak because she is a woman to join the cries for her to drop out. While I think the amount of money put into primary campaigning is somewhat absurd, and I am getting impatient with this drawn out process, that the voters of every state are getting a chance to weigh in is, I believe, a good thing. In November I will enthusiastically vote for whomever the Democratic Party nominee is. However, if at this point Hillary manages to win the nomination for the racial reasons that the press suggests she may likely have won West Virginia, I will be somewhat troubled by the make-up and direction of the Democratic Party.

In the New York Times's coverage of the West Virginia primary, they mentioned that race was "an unusually salient factor." And while a West Virginia victory isn't particularly significant, Obama's loss might raise questions about his appeal to some traditional Democratic voting blocks, such as white workers, the Times contended. My question is, should we care?

I'm reminded of the Democratic Party's desire, in the 1960s, to pander to the Dixiecrats so as to maintain their support. The party was so afraid to lose Southern white Democrats that it accepted the disenfranchisement of black voters! I am in no way suggesting that Hillary supporters or even Hillary supporters in West Virginia are racist whites--and in fact I think that much of this perceived polarization around race but not gender in the primary has been created by the media--but some of them certainly are (even if in no way resembling the infamously violent, racist Mississippi whites of the 1960s). The New York Times clearly suggested that voters who considered race voted for Hillary. Also according to the Times, 1/2 the Democratic voters in WV think that Obama shares Rev. Wright's opinions (I am too outraged over the fiasco around Rev. Wright and the fact that people feel Obama ought to dissociate himself from the pastor to write eloquently on that matter). The Democratic Party cannot afford to listen to racist white voters--in my opinion it is more desirable to alienate such people from the party than to allow them to sway the direction the party is heading. If you don't want to vote for Obama because he's black, if you don't want to vote for Hillary because she's a woman, get out of my party. (If you don't want to vote for Obama because of Rev. Wright, I would also like to ask you to leave.)