Republicans and Race

I continue to be amazed not only at how much the Republican Party doesn’t seem to understand why they have such difficulty winning the support of minorities, but how condescending they can be in doing so. It seems to have taken the election of the first African American president to alert the GOP to the fact that they cannot continue to so earnestly alienate minorities. But their ongoing attempts to win the support of more than just white men are terribly pathetic. They’re also futile, naïve, and fairly insulting.

The country elects a Democrat who is a black man its President, the Republicans elect a black man party chairman. The nation watches as an African American President addresses Congress, the Republicans follow that with a governor who is Indian American. Rap, hip hop and R&B artists help make both the President and his call to national service popular among American youth, the Republicans begin awkwardly using phrases like “off the hook” and “you be da man.”

They just don’t get it. Jon Stewart put it well on “The Daily Show” last month:

“You know, Republicans, I appreciate what you’re trying to do here. He’s your
voice of change, your Barack Obama. But, you know, it’s not as simple as that. I
know you want to take his fight to the Democrats. But Michael Steele, he’s like,
remember when your kid really wanted a Tickle Me Elmo for Christmas? But all the
stores were sold out, so you went to Chinatown and got him a Giggle-Time All-Mo.
Michael Steele is the Republican Party’s Giggle-Time All-Mo”

Has it occurred to the Republican Party that maybe part of the reason that African Americans vote so overwhelmingly for Democrats in every election is about more than racial symbolism? Maybe the consistent support of the Democratic Party for civil rights – not just for African Americans, but for all Americans – has something to do with it. Maybe the Democratic emphasis on supporting America’s cities, inner city education and housing has something to do with it.

One of the reasons people – and parties – lose elections, is they treat the electorate as though they are stupid. Reminding the country that, while the Democratic Party has 42 African Americans in Congress, scores of African American mayors, two African American governors, not to mention an African American president, that they (the GOP) just elected an African American RNC chair, is not about to convince black voters that suddenly the Republican Party shares the values of so many African Americans. Voters think, voters choose, and believe it or not, sometimes they even do so on the basis of policy.

Plus, when Michelle Bachmann tells RNC Chair Michael Steele, “you be da man” she not only sounds like an idiot, but she highlights the ignorance the GOP has about race, because everyone – black, white, whatever – can see through that. And it’s pretty demeaning.