Why does it have to be this way?

I find it interesting that much of the national media is saying that Obama and Clinton are both injecting race and religion into this election.

In fact, Bill Clinton started this in South Carolina when he compared Obama’s South Carolina win to Jesse Jackson’s win in 1988. Bill Clinton could have mentioned that John Edwards won South Carolina in 2004, but he compared Obama and Jackson so that white people would perceive Obama as a candidate that only had the support of blacks. Of course, that would not make sense, because Obama had previously won in Iowa and Wisconsin, states with few blacks.

Mrs. Clinton continued the racial and religious dialog when she gave a partial answer to someone that asked her if Obama was a Muslim. Instead of her telling the truth, she gave an answer which implied she wasn’t sure what faith he practiced. She heightened the fears of whites by allowing a supporter to distribute pictures of Obama in African clothing.

If Mrs. Clinton wins the nomination, it will not be an affirmation of her leadership, experience or intelligence. A Clinton nomination will be a validation that race baiting and fear mongering is still the way to gain the support of whites.

The sad part of this is that the same tactics were used in an effort to keep blacks, other minorities and women away from the political process.

The ironic part is that in the 1960s, the Democratic Party supposedly repudiated these methods to win over the disenfranchised, which included (and still does) blacks and women. Now in 2008, a white woman and her supporters use these tactics against blacks in order to draw white voters.

It has been a common practice of the Republican Party to fan the flames of fear and ignorance in order to draw support from the whites who might not otherwise be inclined to vote. A favored tactic is to have a non essential member or “unofficial” supporter make an insensitive statement that can’t be directly attributed to the person campaigning.

The person who is campaigning for office does not immediately reject the offensive statement, but instead allows the media to sensationalize and distribute the controversial statement(s).

The media is happy to do their part because it helps them get ratings, readers and listeners. The campaigner waits until the statement has become a national story, and then denounces the statement. Denouncing the statement wrings out every last drop of publicity about it.

Once the remarks have become a national topic of discussion, the candidate fires the person who made the remarks, which makes the offended parties feel better. The offended parties fail to realize that the true purpose of the statements. The statement(s) purpose was to inform whites that the candidate shares their beliefs that minorities are an obstacle to white’s achieving the American Dream.

Anyone with even a simple understanding of politics and racial dynamics would know that the last thing Obama wants is to bring up race. America is a country that has a simmering racial and tolerance problem that is manipulated by our leaders and would be leaders. Obama knows this and has made a point of reaching out to whites, and placing the concerns of blacks inside a social agenda that is relevant to people of all races.

Yet, the media does Mrs. Clinton a great favor by portraying the Obama campaign’s responses to these attacks as attacks themselves. Can the desire to attract readers, listeners and ratings prevent the media from realizing the Clinton campaign is using them to stoke racial and religious fears?

I would like to think the media professionals are more intelligent than I am, but if they are, it means they realize what Mrs. Clinton is doing, and they know they are helping her promote racism and intolerance.

So far, Mrs. Clinton and her supporters have been successful at turning Mr. Obama’s success against him. Instead of people focusing on him winning more delegates, twice as many states and more votes, people are focusing on whether or not he is a Muslim, is patriotic or some other foolishness.

She is so desperate to win that she claimed someone from the opposition Republican Party nominee is more qualified to be president than Barack Obama, even though she and Mr. Obama are both members of the Democratic Party.

Republican Party members realize that criticism within the party could tear it apart, so they adhere to President Ronald Reagan’s “11^th Commandment”. If Mrs. Clinton admires the Republican Party so much, maybe she could adopt their commandment within her own party.

Instead of focusing on race and religion, I would like to see blacks and whites focus on the tactics of Mrs. Clinton and her supporters. After reviewing her campaigning methods, we should ask ourselves just what she is trying to accomplish, and why she feels the need to demean others on the way to her goal. Then we should ask ourselves why would we want a president who would do attack a member of her party more strongly than a member of the party she would face in the Presidential Election.