The GOP Needs to do some Soul-SearchingSam Stein has an interesting article on Huffington Post today regarding Chip Saltsman and the GOP. In this article Stein talks about the importance discussions of race will play in upcoming Republican National Committee meetings this January. Stein reports:
The forums come at a time when the GOP is undergoing an intense bout of political soul-searching, made even more urgent by revelations that a leading RNC chair candidate distributed a racially insensitive CD as a Holiday gift.
Then a high ranking RNC member said:
"Look, the GOP needs to be inclusive and more sensitive,on the other hand if we are going to fall apart in pieces every time someone yells racism than we are going to lose the next four years.... Because that means that the left is allowed to talk about race but we are not. There has got to be a way to talk about the president's agenda without falling into this trap."
I think there is a a
significant difference between having a discussion about race and criticism over a candidate for the RNC Chair's distribution of a CD with a song called Barack the Magic Negro! During the supposed scandal surrounding Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright, President Elect Obama gave what I believe to be a seminal speech on the issue of race. I would recommend that the GOP find this speech on U-Tube and watch it...take notes. President Obama is opening the door wide for a reasonable and rational discussion on race.
Stein points out that:
The GOP may need to entirely revamp its approach towards minorities in particular and politics in general if the party wants to regain a grip on power."The core play in the GOP playbook for 44 years has been the magic negro playbook," said Simon Rosenberg, head of Democratic organization NDN and one of the most well-versed party figures on racial politics. "They don't have another play or another playbook. Whether it is Willie Horton, or welfare queens and tax and spend, or the way they have dealt with immigration... they don't have a play in their playbook that doesn't start with the exploitation of racial divisions... They are going to have to reject 44 years of GOP politics in order to have any chance in the 21st century America."
I believe that the GOP is at a cross road...America is at a cross-road. Let the discussion of race and public policy begin, but let's be civil in our discussion. In the words of Barack Obama, let us develop an environment where we can disagree without being disagreeable.
Comments (2)
I would agree the GOP needs to do a lot of soul searching when it comes to race. I would also argue that the same can be said for the Democratic party and the paternalism that comes with many of their platforms. We ALL have a long way to go in this country.
On a side note - Some of the best discusions I've heard on race and public policy is on Rush's show. Most people that don't listen to him only pick up snipits that are taken out of context. How is it he gets blasted and Biden can state that the Democrats now have an articulate black man in Obama and a year later he is the VP of our country? That blows my mind. cvkdad
I will not disagree about the need for the Democratic Party's need to also face the issue of race and policy differently than it has in the past. From my perspective Barack Obama was so progressive from a racial
perspective he had a hard time getting support from the greater black
community for that very reason. For example Obama has been quite vocal on several fronts related to this very issue such as his support for charter schools, and his stance on policies related to supporting families and parenthood.
I will also agree that Biden's comment showed an antiquated, wrong, insensitive view on race. In fact when confronted about this statement by the Press, I believe Biden apologized for the foolish comment and admitted that he had a long way to go in learning about race, and said he hoped he would learn from Obama.
However, to me, while there may be good discussions of race on Rush's show from time to time, it does not excuse the intentionally biggotted stuff he continues to put out..i.e. Barack the Magic Negro or Star Spanglish Banner. For that reason I could never support him by listening to his show.