'Twas ever thus. I've said it from the very beginning, from the instant, in February 2009, when Arianna Huffington all but admitted her ratfuckery by using her rag to begin criticizing everything this President did as too much or too little. I've said it from the inception of the Tea Party, with words like "socialism" and "Marxism" and "Nazism" becoming new euphemisms for "black" or "nigger." I've said it since the publication of atrocious fake postcards showing the White House lawn transformed into a watermelon patch.
This is all about race.
It was bad enough that it was ill-concealed on the Right. The Left chose to exhibit their particular brand in the form of patronising pieces of "advice" given to the President, always unsolicited, by various celebrity pundits, ranging from the emotionally stunted Keith Olbermann to the naive Matt Damon. Some Leftist racism was unintentional - silly inadvertant remarks by Joan Walsh and poor attempts masked as humour by the likes of Bill Maher and Michael Moore spring to mind; others were just very bad examples of patronising white privilege.
Still, it was always easier to blame the black man.
My family has always been Democratic. And Southern. We didn't embrace the Republican party when the Democrats backed civil rights. We grew with the party. Granted, some relatives didn't.
I have a cousin who's a Mormon. In 2008, she voted enthusiastically for the President. This time, she's just as enthusiastic for Romney. I don't know how much of this has to do with "orders" from her church, but it sat very uneasily with me, when home last month, to hear her speak of the First Lady as "the BLACK woman," or to preface her conversations with "I'm not racist, but ..." which clearly meant that she was. And then I remembered a very heated argument, in the late 70s, between her and her older sister, the wife of an African American, about why the Mormon Church was so reluctant to admit African Americans as full-fledged members.
I have the same feeling each time I hear a middle-aged or elderly white person whine about "taking our country back" or being afraid of what four more years of President Obama would mean. It simply means that they are afraid that, having elected one black man President, that America could easily elect another. A glass ceiling has been broken. It simply means they are frightened at the eventual loss of Caucasian hegemony.
The Civil War ended in 1865. We lost. Get over it. North and South.
I listen in utter disbelief as the BBC's North American correspondent, Mark Mardell, all but licks Romney's ass in each despatch, whilst the BBC, itself, buys into the myth that Obama has failed and divided America with his policies - never venturing to say the "r" word. The British have their own incipient problem with racism, rising like a phoenix amongst their overpaid and overly ignorant sports stars; besides, a Romney victory would cement the myth they propagate about American stupidity.
Tonight will be a sleepless night for me, as I wait to see if Virginia bleeds red again - there's evidence that it will based on the number of Romney yard signs I saw during my last visit - and as I wait to see if the next four years means a Democratic Presidency or if I have to send my passport back to the Embassy in London with a message telling them where they can stick it.
Tomorrow morning, either I will have a country or I won't.
I'm scared.
This is all about race.
It was bad enough that it was ill-concealed on the Right. The Left chose to exhibit their particular brand in the form of patronising pieces of "advice" given to the President, always unsolicited, by various celebrity pundits, ranging from the emotionally stunted Keith Olbermann to the naive Matt Damon. Some Leftist racism was unintentional - silly inadvertant remarks by Joan Walsh and poor attempts masked as humour by the likes of Bill Maher and Michael Moore spring to mind; others were just very bad examples of patronising white privilege.
Still, it was always easier to blame the black man.
My family has always been Democratic. And Southern. We didn't embrace the Republican party when the Democrats backed civil rights. We grew with the party. Granted, some relatives didn't.
I have a cousin who's a Mormon. In 2008, she voted enthusiastically for the President. This time, she's just as enthusiastic for Romney. I don't know how much of this has to do with "orders" from her church, but it sat very uneasily with me, when home last month, to hear her speak of the First Lady as "the BLACK woman," or to preface her conversations with "I'm not racist, but ..." which clearly meant that she was. And then I remembered a very heated argument, in the late 70s, between her and her older sister, the wife of an African American, about why the Mormon Church was so reluctant to admit African Americans as full-fledged members.
I have the same feeling each time I hear a middle-aged or elderly white person whine about "taking our country back" or being afraid of what four more years of President Obama would mean. It simply means that they are afraid that, having elected one black man President, that America could easily elect another. A glass ceiling has been broken. It simply means they are frightened at the eventual loss of Caucasian hegemony.
The Civil War ended in 1865. We lost. Get over it. North and South.
I listen in utter disbelief as the BBC's North American correspondent, Mark Mardell, all but licks Romney's ass in each despatch, whilst the BBC, itself, buys into the myth that Obama has failed and divided America with his policies - never venturing to say the "r" word. The British have their own incipient problem with racism, rising like a phoenix amongst their overpaid and overly ignorant sports stars; besides, a Romney victory would cement the myth they propagate about American stupidity.
Tonight will be a sleepless night for me, as I wait to see if Virginia bleeds red again - there's evidence that it will based on the number of Romney yard signs I saw during my last visit - and as I wait to see if the next four years means a Democratic Presidency or if I have to send my passport back to the Embassy in London with a message telling them where they can stick it.
Tomorrow morning, either I will have a country or I won't.
I'm scared.
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