When Racial Politics is More Important than Our Country

America’s racial problems are legion and of long standing. In fact, as a country, we’ve done many things to alleviate the issues, many times clumsily and without satisfaction for all. Still, there have always been people who try and find solutions no matter the current mood.

But many people are saying that a vote for HRC or McCain is a racist vote. Aside from the utter ridiculousness of THAT position, it brings up an interesting question. Why is racial politics suddenly the most important thing in a Presidential election?

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It is as if the far left only want to elect Barack Obama BECAUSE he’s AA. The attitude is he is somehow the only candidate who can “heal” our country.

From what? Racism? THAT’s going away if he’s elected? Or maybe we’ll just have more set-asides, more affirmative action. Then everything is solved and we can all just walk away? Yeah, right.

Is Barack Obama the “medicine” that “white America” is supposed to take to make things better? (And at what point are other racial groups allowed to weigh in – if ever?) Obama’s supporters constantly talk about racial politics, as if there were no other issues and as if it were a two-race discussion. At this point, it seems as if Obama’s campaign can ONLY talk about racial politics – the politics of anger, name-calling, and long-held grievance. This is our middle east.

Some people may think the rise of racial politics this cycle is due entirely to the tough race for the Democratic nomination. Don’t believe it. This will engulf the general election to the extent the Obama campaign can drive that process as well. It makes sense since Senator Obama is yet a relative lightweight on national-level issues to focus the race on what he represents rather than what he has done or might do. Race may be his true bona fide, so he has got to keep our eyes on that issue to the exclusion of others or bring it in wherever possible. Kind of counter-intuitive, but it has worked so far.

Here’s a bit of heresy: maybe racism is NOT the MOST important problem we have right now. Maybe energy policy or the Iraq war might just be a wee bit more important. And these issues affect everyone as equally as anything can.

But putting our internal racial struggles front and center instead of how our country will respond to global problems is indulgent to me. Any person with the skills and intelligence should be electable as President, female, male, race-whatever. But that person should focus on American politics and American problems AS A WHOLE. Fighting for this job based on racial politics should be a red herring. Many “I won’t vote for Obama” people would have voted for Powell. I want to know what a President will do to reconstruct our monetary policy, restructure our standing with other countries and spend our taxes as wisely and productively as possible. I want to know a nominee has thought of these things or worked closely on these issues before.

Quite frankly, I think it’s energy policy. That’s an arguable point, I’ll agree. Some may say the Iraq war and some may say global warming. That’s fine with me. But don’t you think any of these issues are more compelling right now than making “whitey” take his medicine? Will racial politics get Obama elected? If that’s why, then we’ll get what we deserve. More arranging of the deck chairs as the ship of state sinks ever lower.