>>> John Thornton <
I guess it's because 20 years ago Jesse Jackson won 7 primaries and 4 caucuses that I don't see the significance of the fact that Iowans voted for Obama.
^^^ CB: Wendy Lyons mentioned this too. See my comment here: http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20071231/000331.html
It was significant then and its significant now. You have to put your hands over your eyes not to see the significance of it. I said what the significance of it is: A bunch of white people voted for a Black person.
That's it. That's significant on its face. It was significant when they voted for Jackson and it's significant now. The fact that it's fewer doing it now than then only means we have gone backward since 1988.
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The fact that white voters were willing to vote for someone as progressive as Jesse Jackson says quite a bit.
^^^^^ CB: Yea. It says we've gone backward since 1988. However, the vote for Obama is a little move toward what was achieved in the vote for Jackson.
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The fact that they are willing to vote for someone like Obama seems a negative.
^^^^ CB: No. It's seems a positive, because he's Black.
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The whole "race doesn't matter" makes it harder for minority progressive candidates to get elected.
^^^^ CB: For middle American whites, race mattering would mean they wouldn't vote for a Black person. In voting for a Black person, they are acting as if race doesn't matter in the positive sense of that phrase, as it is used in the famous MLK dream.
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The expectation is that now minority candidates will have to make the same claims as Obama, like blacks are
90% of the way to being equal with whites, in order to be considered serious candidates.
^^^^^ CB : As long as the white voters vote for those minority candidates making those claims, all is well. Get it ? The act of white voters voting for a colored candidate is the very actualization of race not mattering in the positive sense of "race not mattering".
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Obama, Rice, Powell, etc. are, to the corporate media, the preferred face of minorities in public office. Anyone who opposes their center/right positions can now safely be ignored without fear of appearing racist. That is a step backwards from where I should think progressives would want to move.
John Thornton
^^^^ CB: We'll see on Obama. Powell and Rice haven't run for votes.