Conservative Clinton? Identity politics
Who is the most conservative candidate? Here is a case made for Hillary Clinton:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/634493/a_conservative_case_for_hillary_clinton.html
McCain, by virtue of being a republican, is considered to be most conservative, but he does have a strong liberal bent.
Obama talks of unification, centrist positioning, but has no record of that in his past, which is strongly left of center.
On another note, identity politics is finally reaching mainstream. When Joe Lieberman ran as vice president in 2000, 80% of Jews voted for the Gore-Lieberman ticket. However, 80% of Jews usually vote Democrat anyways, so there was little effect of this in the national election. Whether or not identity politics played a role in voters decisions was unclear in this instance, but it did produce a sense of pride and acceptance in many Jews I know, whether or not they voted for Gore-Lieberman.
In the current primaries, 90% of blacks are voting for Obama. While Jews consist of about 2-3% of the vote, blacks make up 12% of the population. This means that Obama will have 11% of the national vote by virtue of his race. Normally, blacks vote Democrat at about 80%, so this will have the effect of increasing the Democrat vote nationally by 1-2%. If Obama does win (and I expect he will), the question will be whether he and other blacks attribute his victory to his black support or whether they see it as acceptance of a black by whites, the end of racism.
Lastly, it is interesting that women do not see their sex as their greatest identity politically. They do not feel as strong a compulsion to vote for Hillary as Jews for Lieberman or especially blacks for Obama. Both Jews and blacks have felt persecution, while women have been excluded but not persecuted in the past. Women want power because they never had it. Blacks and Jews want power to prevent abuses against them. Should Obama win, this would be a strong signal that race is not as big an issue for whites as blacks may still believe it is. Then, blacks could move from racial identity to a more advanced one.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/634493/a_conservative_case_for_hillary_clinton.html
McCain, by virtue of being a republican, is considered to be most conservative, but he does have a strong liberal bent.
Obama talks of unification, centrist positioning, but has no record of that in his past, which is strongly left of center.
On another note, identity politics is finally reaching mainstream. When Joe Lieberman ran as vice president in 2000, 80% of Jews voted for the Gore-Lieberman ticket. However, 80% of Jews usually vote Democrat anyways, so there was little effect of this in the national election. Whether or not identity politics played a role in voters decisions was unclear in this instance, but it did produce a sense of pride and acceptance in many Jews I know, whether or not they voted for Gore-Lieberman.
In the current primaries, 90% of blacks are voting for Obama. While Jews consist of about 2-3% of the vote, blacks make up 12% of the population. This means that Obama will have 11% of the national vote by virtue of his race. Normally, blacks vote Democrat at about 80%, so this will have the effect of increasing the Democrat vote nationally by 1-2%. If Obama does win (and I expect he will), the question will be whether he and other blacks attribute his victory to his black support or whether they see it as acceptance of a black by whites, the end of racism.
Lastly, it is interesting that women do not see their sex as their greatest identity politically. They do not feel as strong a compulsion to vote for Hillary as Jews for Lieberman or especially blacks for Obama. Both Jews and blacks have felt persecution, while women have been excluded but not persecuted in the past. Women want power because they never had it. Blacks and Jews want power to prevent abuses against them. Should Obama win, this would be a strong signal that race is not as big an issue for whites as blacks may still believe it is. Then, blacks could move from racial identity to a more advanced one.
posted by DocBrain at
4:38 AM
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