January 21, 2008
Female or African American President
Does anyone think that focusing on the candidates racial background or gender creates distraction from what the candidates actually stand for? It seems like people focus on Hilary's gender and Obama's race because they're easy topics to talk about, almost like stuff you'd find in gossip magazines. Her gender in the big picture nor Obama's race are irrelevant and don't really matter when you think about it. Keep us distracted long enough to get in the Whitehouse, both of you.
10 comments:
I personally don't care about the race or gender, and I do agree that the issues are what counts, but if i'm correct both clinton and obama are using their stereotypes to their best advantages, you've seen clinton tear up, and she's also been shown at mostly african american churches showing her support of the race, as obama has embraced his heritage and done the same. As much as potential voters want to hear the issues concerning race and gender, its easy to see that the candidate are using gender and race to as much of their advantage as possible.
I understand the concern over candidates preaching to their respective background or gender, but then part of me doesn't see anything wrong with it. Yes, no one potential leader should get in SOLELY because they campaigned strictly to one demographic (we are, of course, looking for the greater good), but in philosophy, I don't see a huge difference between a candidate reaching out to their race or gender and a candidate reaching out to, say, their home state or alma mater. Like all people, Clinton and Obama belong to certain demographics of the population, and they will naturally (often without trying) appeal to some of those populations. In other words, I don't think that Clinton should shy away from "femaleness" or being a mother or any of those things, just as Obama should embrace his African-American background. Now, the trick is to not let the fact that someone comes from your group or demographic be the reason you vote for them. Obviously, candidates should be judged on the issues and how well they would lead. But you knew that already.
First of all I know how important this next year is for our country. Yes you are right this is a big deal that for the first time non-middle aged white men are running for president. I hate to take an apathetic stance towards these issues but honestly I am sick of all of the politics talks. The cheese is on fire is right, why should it matter if they are male, female, caucasian , asian, african american, etc. We should be looking for the person who has the best presidential qualities. Perhaps when the politics talks veers towards that side of the subject I will enjoy engaging in this sort of conversation. This is 2008. If we can clone all of the food we eat, and genetically alter the landscape and world to our pleasing, why is it that we can not overcome previous stereotypes that are no longer valid.
This issue one race and gender has been on my mind for a very long time. It seems like no matter what happens the U.S. is gonna be split. If Obama becomes President then there is garunteed to be a small population of racist white men who will be angry. The same thing goes if Hilary is elected. Then there will be a small population of angry sexist men who will be angry. However, if neither one of those two is elected then there will be a large population of Americans thinking that he or she wasn't voted because of gender or race. It is an impossible issue to solve and will only resolve itself after one of them is elected and proves him or herself to be a good president which I think either one of them would/will be.
First off, I think these are great issues to discuss; both for the obvious immediate political implications, as well as in a larger sense the fate of western civilization. As an interested observer, but admittedly a relatively uniformed citizen, I find the racial and gender discussions to be disheartening. Historically speaking,I don't believe presidential elections have ever had to focus on the issues of race and gender quite like this. Yet, many groups believe these focuses have unfairly served as a great advantage to the candidates. I say that's crap, why should a candidate's inherent physical traits in any way diminish their legitimacy? In light of MLk jr. day, shouldn't we place more value on the candidate's character and intelligence, than we do on his/her race/gender.
Of course from a surface level point of view, a lot of voters do focus on the inconsequential details of Obama’s and Clinton’s campaigns. These voters will also base their vote solely on these superficial qualities, such as race and gender. I’m sure everyone has heard about Hilary crying during a debate. She didn’t actually cry, but only choked up a bit when talking about why she wants to be president. Showing emotion for something your feel passionately about is something that should be admired, not looked down upon. Instead this story was blown out of proportion. Many people made the comment, how can a woman run our country if she lets her emotions get in the way all the time? These excuses will have affects on who wins the democratic candidacy, but in the end, I hope they will be overlooked.
Many political blogs on the internet address these issues, such as the conservative blog, the Daily Dish written by Andrew Sullivan and the liberal blog, the Daily Howler. I would highly recommend reading these blogs especially since so much of our news is manipulated by the media and their own personal motives. The recent shift toward news blogs is interesting because the majority of them criticize what the newspapers are printing. Upon reading the Daily Howler I was amazed by how little newspapers like the New York Times confirm their sources. I personally think it’s great that we finally have a forum for which to obtain informed opinions and also critique our current media outlets.
The bulk of these political blogs focus on the current campaigns. Recently Bill Clinton has made some questionable comments regarding black voters in order to win over the Latino vote in California. While these comments definitely isolated Hilary from the black vote in California, the truth is it was a wise political move since the Latino population is larger than the black population. When looking at the “wacky” and possibly risky decisions of candidates during campaigns, there is always an underlying agenda and motives behind their moves. It’s also important to keep in mind that the Clinton’s are a dynasty. They know how to organize and win a Presidential election. They play dirty, but they know what they’re doing.
The better question is how can Obama possibly win against the Clintons, both Bill and Hilary?
Gender and race I feel are playing a huge part of the election season. I think that this is good and bad. This is bringing new attention to politics because the news stories are so big about the two individuals. This means more people are getting involved and learning about politics because it is a little bit more intreging and it is history making. But, it is leaving the Republican party a bit in the shadows. Maybe because all the caucuses are going on, but I feel that I hear way more about the Dem than the Rep party. Are people interested in the true politics behing Obama and Clinton or just the gossip and glam?
I think that anonymous raises a good point. No matter what happens there are going to be happy people and angry people. There's just no pleasing everyone!
After watching the politics evolve over a month since this post has really shed some new light on this question. For example, Hillary being portrayed as not feminine, and Obama's minister going on a racial tirade.
Personally, I think that if the media didn't talk about the race and gender of the candidates there would be nothing else to talk about and we would discover that America doesn't have a good presidential candidate from either party.
Hillary is busy bashing Obama. Obama is preaching about change, but never states how to bring about change, and McCain doesn't think anything needs to be changed. So if the media attempted to report the politics behind the candidates it would be a very short publication.
I agree with “cadillac tears” on this one. I think if the media didn’t cover Hillary’s gender or Obama’s race… we would run out of things to discuss in this election. I think both candidates are poorly qualified for the Presidential race. If we left out gender and race we would have realized this a long time ago.
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