Proposition 8, the initiative intended to amend the California state constitution by revoking the same-sex marriage rights recently recognized by the California Supreme Court, appears to be passing with the help of 70 percent of the 90 percent of African American voters energized by Obama’s historic campaign.

It’s one thing for a candidate to dance around the issue of equal marriage rights. All Democrats and some Republicans do that dance, cagily mincing around the question of “gay marriage” by coming down on the side of separate and unequal “civil unions.” Obama did that, too, and he did express his opposition to Proposition Hate (while reiterating his “states’ rights” argument).

But Obama is also well aware of the homophobic attitudes that are so prevalent in the African American community, and he knows very well that his own parents would not have been permitted to marry in some states as recently as 1967–that is, within his lifetime.

Obama could have done more, and much more explicitly, to distance himself from the pro-Hate interests that used his own words (“marriage is between a man and a woman”) in their ads and robocalls. Above all, he could have resisted campaigning with that queer-hatin’ closet case, “ex-gay” Donnie McClurkin, and he could have chosen not to associate with Prop Hate backers like Douglas Kmiec by including them in his recent “Faith, Family, and Values” tour.

I second hlr’s astute upthread observation that this election was a primal scream from the “haves.” That’s true, on many levels.

Thank you for your excellent, informative work throughout the campaigns. I believe your blog has provided a valuable public service. Ceteris paribus, when I return to visit one year from yesterday, I hope your happiness proves to be well-founded. Given your politics, if an Obama presidency is making you happy, it is very likely that it will be making me happy.

Yesterday night, the Republican party received its deserved comeupance. It has become ideationally moribund. Obama slowpitches were whiffed at by cliched namecalling that carried the force of a flailed ribbon.

The neocons and neolibs have drained Republican virtues of the organic conservative vitality that made them a paternal force for good against the excesses of the Industrial Revolution. I think they must reconnect with the individual and community values that make liberty into a sacred(agnostic sense) social project, if they are to be a meaningful political project. In short, a concept of liberty denuded of the concepts of fraternity and equality, which help one appreciate why it is important for all to be free and able to pursue their happiness, is devoid of a reason d’etre.

I do not share your repugnance of the PUMA pride. Frankly, only a revisionist would not acknowledge the injustices that sowed the seeds of the PUMAs “anger and frustration.”

I think your tendency to generalize from the particular (with respect to PUMAs), and your inability to discern Republicans and Oblackoperatives feigning PUMAhood, makes your analysis invalid, unreliable, and to some extent immoral, given it attacks the victimized. Many PUMAs are not party to any of the offenses you list. Furthermore, internet anonymity, when tied to politics, allows many offenses against civil discourse that face-to-face interaction would not allow. Where disinformation is standard fare, and given that “to rule” also means “to measure”, Louis the XIV was right to say, “He who cannot dissimulate, cannot rule (well).” My anecdotal evidence tends to disconfirm your theory, though I certainly encountered some of what you found distasteful. I have met too many moral, intelligent PUMAS to accept your depiction of the pride’s character.

Thank you for your blog and this forum.

Yours,
Shalom,
Steven

Yours,
Steven

But it was hard to decide what to do.

In my state (CA), a write-in vote for Hillary Clinton would have been counted by default as a vote for Barack Obama, so I reasoned that if I was going to vote for Obama by default, I might as well just vote for him.

But I had also decided that, even though an Obama victory probably means that Hillary Clinton will never be president, an entire political party and platform cannot hinge on the fortunes of any one politician, no matter how brilliant a president she might have been.

I think that John McCain is in many ways an honorable man, but I could not bring myself to vote for any national candidate from his despicable party, so that was not an option. I also think that it’s better to have the federal bureaucracy staffed with Democrats than with Republicans, so again, no McCain.

It certainy was tempting to jump on the Jump for Joy Bandwagon of electing an African American (!) Democrat to the presidency after the last eight years and at least one stolen election. And I actually do respect the way Obama and Axelrod and Plouffe plotted their caucus and campaign strategy (apart from the alleged cheating in caucuses, of course, which still needs to be investigated).

In the end, though, California was going to go blue no matter what I did. And, the tactical brilliance of Obama’s campaign aside, I could not countenance the campaign’s, and the candidate’s, deliberate use of misogyny, ageism, and race-baiting, and the DNC’s acceptance and enabling of that behavior, nor could I assent to the media’s role in creating this American Idol candidacy with the help of major Wall Street interests.

So I left the top of my ballot blank, even though I was disappointed not to be able to join friends and family members in voting for the Democratic nominee, and for the first African American president.

But I can live with my decision.

McCain did not get any points from Hispanics b/c the GOP on the whole is anti-immigrant in addition to other failures. The irony is that the anti-immigrant groups in VA would not support him because he is considered ’soft.’ Couldn’t win for losing.

Mc lost. I kid you not.

I did not vote yesterday and do not regret it. These comments really belong in the previous post, but since this one is fresher …

I don’t think American’s hold any specific economic ideology. It’s very difficult to describe this as a repudiation of supply-side, etc when BO’s chief backers were the primary beneficiaries — both big donors and small donors.

This election was a primal scream from the ‘haves.’ The moderate Rs and upper-income liberals that have been so crucial to the success of the BO campaign looked the other way at the erosion of unions and have been chief players in job outsourcing. Now that analysts are out of work in Greenwich, CT; or suburbanites are upside down on their McMansions, or the Philly suburbanites who are examining their 401(k)s.

These SAME suburbanites had no problem with aligning themselves with the hard-core social conservatives when it suited their purposes. These same folks are now aligning themselves w/ blacks/minorities to suit their own purposes. In that sense, I agree with you that they view BO as the more prudent choice.

It was clear before the Demo primary ever started that BO had big backers. I think what they saw was the opportunity to split the white working-class from the minority working-class. It’s full steam ahead, unfettered.

Looking at the returns in VA, PA, two states that I was following, I see that the ‘bitter clingers’ did not take to BO (underperformed Webb, etc). I’ve been in these regions, and while racism has been the full-time preoccupation of the MSM, the sad fact of the matter is that they have heard the same old song & dance from politicians from both sides of the aisle for 20yrs. The companies and jobs are not coming back. And they don’t want a micro-payment (tax cut) just to see the last of the big employers leave or downsize.

Looking at the VA numbers, turnout was lower this time, as compared to ‘04 (contrary to the 80%-90% polling predictions). It appears that it was mainly white R-leaners depressed, so the minority vote is oversized.

I attribute this to a superior ground game and a hostile media climate. In the first case, let’s not forget that BO ran a $600 million campaign. The top 6% have been donating in a frenzy as they sense reality nipping at their heels. To hear that they will get a tax cut and all will be right in the world was the message they wanted to hear. The super-rich have been pumping money into BO all along.

These people said not a peep during Bush I, Clinton, what-have-you about union erosion, loss of manufacturing, etc because they were building their own wealth on it. Now, they complain. Only now.

Corporate media has been carrying their own water. Uhm, since late September, they declared a winner, with much more substantial margins. In the last minute they dialed it back.

Anyone looking for FDR-style governance will be sadly disappointed. The working-class has no power. The wealth transfer is almost complete. Some substinence crumbs so that the situation doesn’t lead to violence.

A repudiation of Republican managerial skills? Yes. Ideology? No. Americans just don’t care.

Once again, you attack the “PUMAs.” Look.

What was there originally was a group of women who resented that Team BO/Dems basically said we don’t have to do anything to work for your vote because we’re just going to pressure you on the Supreme Court. Compare that to how much work they were doing to reach out to evangelicals before Palin came into the picture.

CNN has a link from politicalticker that in fact, the Supreme Court issue was a major factor in exit polling. Dems are not going to let this go any time soon — the fear card.

Also, the original core appeared to have a high proportion of gay men (and some women) — the ones who resented that BO was just toying with them. Are they wrong? Look at Prop 8 in CA. I’m not gay, but I’m depressed for my activist friends in my state. Our gov, O’Malley has already taken them for a ride — while campaigning he pretended to be marriage-friendly. They dumped all kinds of money and support into his campaign. He backed away almost immediately after winning.

BO was on MTV taking a position against gay marriage (“my religion says no”) while muttering that generally, amending constitutions was not the route. The exact same position as McCain!

I feel for those who are at the bottom of the big tent — I’m not going to jeer at them. The Democrats will do next to zero on reproductive health, marriage rights, and only a little more than zero for the white working-class.

Sarah Palin is personally pro-life and makes no bones about it, much like many male Dem politicians. Yet — Alaska is a strongly pro-choice state with stronger protections in its state constitution than RvW and assistance for low-income women (something you don’t see very often). Alaska had no problem voting in Palin, and she has done nothing to impose her views on her state. You wouldn’t know it from the media hatchet job. Just the fear card and manipulation.

p.s. At Corrente, someone now has a post up that in key states voters turned off, not turned out. That’s exactly what I saw in VA. What does that tell you? For the last 6 weeks we’ve been told that BO will win by crushing margins! Manufacturing consent.