It Just Ain't The Same

Do y'all remember the good old days of this blog?

Many of you readers have been visiting my spot for a while, and I appreciate y'all allowing me to share my thoughts about the world with you. I've lost some loyal readers over the past eight months, but I've also met some folks I feel privileged to have encountered.

Those of you who were around in the beginning may remember that this blog began as a place to share my thoughts, but also as a way to release some of the tension I felt because of the Barack Obama presidential run. The vast majority of my pieces have mentioned Obama, and I would be lying if I denied that he has been good for business.

I realized recently that when Obama was running against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, I rarely missed an opportunity to write something negative about Lord Hildermort. It wasn't because I had a grudge against her, but because she and her supporters rarely missed an opportunity to take the low road. With all of the racism and other crap flying around during the nomination process it was like the blogs were writing themselves.

I haven't been able to find that same groove with John McCain.

Sure, I've mentioned him in a few blogs and even dedicated some pieces to discussing troubling aspects of his candidacy, but I haven't been able to generate the same outrage that I had with Hillary. While this has allowed me more time to talk about topics outside of politics, it has left me confused.

Am I being unfair to the Ice Queen?

Seriously folks, does my failure to attack McCain with the same fervor I went after Clinton expose an inherent bias in me? Did I go after Hillary because she was a woman? Because she was a strong, assertive woman? Was I threatened by her strength and intelligence? Am I a bad person?

Nah, she was just surprisingly evil.

Note the word "surprisingly." See, both Clinton and McCain are evil bastards. Both of them lack morals, both are willing to cut any one's throats and they both are liars. However, Clinton surprised me with the depths of her evil.

Like most black folks, I don't expect much from Republicans, no matter what color they are or how moderate they are supposed to be. Since the "Southern Strategy" was born, Republicans have made it very clear how they feel about people who look like me. Democrats haven't been much better, but they have been better. So, to see John McCain lying and distorting really isn't a shock.

But, Hillary, well to see a Clinton behave that way towards a black person destroyed some fond memories of my youth.

Like many black people, I used to view Bill and Hillary as decent white folks. I remembered that the country did pretty well financially under Clinton's watch and that black people made some gains. I was woefully uninformed about the Clinton's dedication to the prison industrial complex, mandatory sentencing laws and Bill's role in the Rwandan genocide, but that was pretty typical of black folks.

Bill was one of the coolest white boys in American, and his wife ain't take no stuff.

So, when I saw the Clintons roll out every dirty racial trick in the book to thwart Obama, well it was unexpected. I know I shouldn't have been shocked at how far powerful people will go to protect their power, but dammit I was. I honestly thought there were some things the Clintons just wouldn't do because of their morals, and I was horribly wrong.

(Sidenote: Honestly, I should have known better. Besides his aforementioned crimes against the black community, Bill Clinton also got head from an intern while on duty in the White House. Come on, the dude is a serial philanderer and liar. I should have known that he and morals were like Michael Jackson and sanity, arch enemies.)

I think I've said this before, but I believe that anger is a byproduct of either fear, surprise or a combination of both. In this case, it was a combination of both things.

As I've already documented I was surprised by how viciously the Clintons and their supporters went after Obama. I know politics is called a "bloodsport" but their attacks seemed ridiculous. But, it was probably the fear that made me more angry.

Honestly, Obama is the type of black cat who plays by the rules, yet he was still getting castigated and attacked like he was one of "Dem Negroes." Now, some of y'all may argue that by attempting to become president Obama violated the most sacred of the Good Negro rules; mainly, know your place Negro.

I can understand that argument; it's a really good argument.

But, in my mind I still saw Obama as the prototypical Good Negro, and I was frightened by how easily the media and Clinton turned him into an Evil Negro. If it was that easy to discredit somebody like Obama, how easy would it be for these folks to get after somebody like me with a whole bunch of militant skeletons in my closet? They weren't even concerned with the truth, all they needed was innuendo, and things got popping.

I imagine it was similar to the way black folks felt when lynching was at its zenith. As they watched mostly innocent men maimed and murdered by angry white mobs, I'm sure it reminded them that none of them were really safe. That reminder undoubtedly affected how they lived their lives and what they aspired to become.

So, I was afraid of the message the Clinton's attacks sent to black people interested in improving the world through politics. Hell, I was disturbed at the message those attacks sent to black people in general. It was like the Clintons slapped us across the mouth before quickly hissing that "we better not get too big for our britches." Then they pointed to all the rules and standards that everyone was supposed to adhere to, and told us "They can't save you if we really want to get to you."

Chilling.

I guess that's why if you search my archives you'll find a host of nicknames and insults directed at Hillary and very few for the Old Man by the Sea. Something about what the Clintons did struck me as truly wrong. McCain is just playing his role.

(I just want to note that the Clintons keep pissing my off and this latest news about Bill Clinton's underhanded endorsement of McCain's energy policy would be comical if it wasn't so sad.)