Thursday, August 21, 2008

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.)

17 comments:

adamson said...

I couldn't believe Hillary's BS either. I had a lot of respect for her, but I've lost it.

Gye Greene said...

A bit off-topic, but: Congrats on the impending second kidlet. (You'd mentioned it in an early blog posting [or comment?], but it didn't fully register.)


--GG

Truthiz said...

I hear you Big Man and I agree!

I've never expected anything but low-down dirty and darn right Evil sh*t from ANY Republican. And they've never failed to deliver.

The Clintons? The depth of their depraved indifference, ruthless and vicious acts took me by surprise! I was both saddened and Angry because I never saw it coming. In hindsight, I should have. But I didn't.

And the truth is, until Obama names his VP_and I hear that it's someone OTHER than Hillary, I'm bracing myself for yet another "eye-opening" moment.

Unknown said...

I never liked Hillary. Ever. I spent my politically formative years growing up in the Clinton years and I just never liked her. Nothing that she did surprised me - the woman stayed with a cheating husband so that she could have a political career and I never thought that anything else she had to give up after that would get more than a passing thought, including morals or African American support.

Oh well.

McCain doen't get me all fired up because I really don't think he's going to win. What really pisses me off about him is the way he uses our vets and our military men and women - without their consent -as shields when he doesn't want to answer questions. Pisses me off.
That, and the fact that he thinks whatever corporations want has got to be the right thing to do...

ok, i'm not getting started on McCrack. I was having a good day...

Anonymous said...

Well, personally I think we took some comments out of context from Bill Clinton.

1) The "Jesse Jackson won South Carolina" comment. Should he have kept his mouth shut: Yes! Just out of the simple fact as to how it could be interpreted, which is what happened.

But um, he's telling the truth. Many black folk I know was talking about that. The pundits were talking about that even before Bill said it. Most expected him to do well in SC which is what happened. And to completely ignore the Barack Obama and Jesse Jackson comparisons I think were politically ignorant.

2) The "this is a fairy tale" comment was absolutely safe! That was a blanket statement that could have been to Candidate Joe A. Blow. I think it was blacks hypersensitivity to a black man (like Jesse) who was making a serious bid for the presidency.

Although I just thought it was THE funniest thing when Atlanta's Mayor Shirley Franklin got up in Ebenezer Baptist Church on MLK Day at the service and hollered in the microphone that "THIS AINT NO FAIRY TALE!" and Bill Clinton was sitting on the front row and he was the keynote speaker for the day.

Other than that, of which I can think of--the Ice Queen and the Dark Lord reigneth with a vengeance.

To pull an Obama:

I officially no longer associated myself with the Clintons following the West Virginia and Pennsylvania primaries

I completely denounced them and spoke against them after the heffa "suspended" her campaign.

I left the church, well, totally severed ALL ties with them after this trick decided to put her name on the ballot and after her husband couldn't make his mouth say the words "Obama is qualified for the presidency."

I don't see what the problem is--he's know the damage of when the wrong things go into and come out of one's mouth.

Big Man said...

I think the Clinton South Carolina statement was clearly racist.

Didn't John Edwards win South Carolina one year? On his way to losing the nomination to Kerry I think? Why didn't Clinton compare Obama to Edwards?

And why would he compare Obama's win to Jackson's when Obama's win came in a primary competition compared to a caucus competition for Jackson? Primaries are a totally different format that allow people to vote in anonymity. Anyway, Clinton knew exactly what he was saying and he was trying to minimize Obama by saying that the other black guy did the same thing. Funny, he didn't note that Al Sharpton didn't do anything in South Carolina.

OG, The Original Glamazon said...

I agree and I have a lot to say and no time to say it!!

So I will just co-sign this blog on the dotted line!


-OG

Anonymous said...

@big man

I'm agreeing with you. I know what Clinton said, I just think, that that was more black being super sensitive than it was prejudice coming out (not racism).

TLW said...

I'm surprised that it took this long for Black people to wise up about the Clintons.

It wasn't the policies that the Clintons put in place while president that screwed up so many urban Black Americans that turned them against him, it was when they talked negatively about Obama. Please!!! This is why I have always stated that middle class/upper class Blacks and working class Blacks are on totally different paths towards empowerment and it is time that this is pointed out.

Kit (Keep It Trill) said...

Not for a second do I think you've been unfair in criticizing Hillary more than McCain. We expect him to behave like a Republican; we didn't expect her to run a racist, Southern Strategy campaign.

Her stirring up entitlement and racial fears in white Pennsylvanians was bad enough, but her Robert Kennedy assassination in the month of June comment linked with Obama did it for me. I've despised her ever since.

Kit (Keep It Trill) said...

Oh, and want to add that your insight into how easily the haters have twisted Obama, the epitome of the 'Good Negro' into a sub-human or even anti-Christ makes any of us who have been paying attention insecure. I knew there was racism but until this election, had thought it had receded. Hell, it's never gone away, and I think it's re-emerged into an even nastier thing than in the 90s and maybe 80s when remnants of the peace crowd tried to connect with us.

This country has really turned ugly since the Iraq invasion against a lot people, including us. It's pathetic how stuck in the dark ages so many of them are, and terrifying how vulnerable we are.

Anonymous said...

Big Man,

You were right to go after Lord Hildemort and your tenacity gets a big shout out. She will try to spoil the convention somehow. But you need to get your game face on for McCain; he's pulling up even in the polls. Last thing this country needs is McBush.

Anonymous said...

kit(keep it trill) This country turned ugly way before the Iraq war. Try starting at it's inception. There has always been something rotten, evil and hateful at the core of this country. If you think about it how could it be any other way? With the execption of African slaves, Native Americans and recent immigrants most of America's population are the decendents of the worst that Europe had to offer. They were the people that Europe had no use for and wanted to be rid of. at least 65% of this country comes from the bottom of Europe's barrel. Why do you think "middle America" hates Europe so much? They came to America to be something and finally had someone to always be better than, us.

Hillary may be evil for appealing to that resentment in some whites, but she didn't create it and neither did the Republicans. The thought of a black family living in the white house because the man of that household is the POTUS is enough to make their heads explode. These idiots went from worrying about protecting SS, medical care and their kids from dying in more wars to protecting their whiteness. It's not that Barack is inferior that scares him it's that he is clearly superior. That's what the whole "elite, presumptous and arrogant" line of attack is all about. "This uppity nigger thinks he's better than you, and he is!" They see in him all that our racist country has protected them from having to compete with and they don't know what to do without it.

These kinds of white folks don't want to live in the world of "change" that Barack is talking about, because they are afraid that it has no place for them. A black president has brought home for them just how much they have depended on only whites running this country. Hillray and before her the Republicans simply milked that for all that it was worth. Hopefully, in the general it won't work for McCain. I acually don't think he's crazy enough to talk about "hard working white Americans" or JFK getting assasinated during his third year in office.

Kit (Keep It Trill) said...

@ Anonymous - Tanks fo' da history lesson. I'se didn't no none of dat.

A.F. said...

"Something about what the Clintons did struck me as truly wrong. McCain is just playing his role."

That statement really resonates with me. I've written maybe two blog entries on McCain but slammed Clinton almost daily for months. It's because her behavior was so shocking to me; I really, perhaps naively, didn't expect it from her. I expect every evil word that comes from McCain, and more.

Great post.

Big Man said...

TLW

I was woefully uninterested in politics during the clinton years. After all, Clinton's presidency started when I was 12 years old and ended when I was 20. I really didn't care about who was president during that time. I don't think that's a middle class problem, I think that's a youth problem. And finally, low-income black people have been some of the Clinton's biggest supporters.

Anonymous said...

wng said: "I never liked Hillary. Ever. I spent my politically formative years growing up in the Clinton years and I just never liked her. Nothing that she did surprised me - the woman stayed with a cheating husband so that she could have a political career and I never thought that anything else she had to give up after that would get more than a passing thought, including morals or African American support."
Exactly. I couldn't stand her from the start. She gave a piece of her soul for something she wanted more than a decent husband. I don't know if she saw it that way at first, but when it came down to losing the power she wanted, she stayed with power. I always thought she cared more about being one of the big boys, the fat cats, more than anything else.
I knew what she was because a long time ago, I gave up a piece of my own soul to have something I wanted more than anything: a home and a family. She made me angry because I could see a part of myself I don't like in her.
What surprised me was how many other women my age didn't see her for what she was.
Incidentally, what also surprised me was John Edwards. I bought his line of shit about being there for his wife and family.
Maybe that's part of it, Big Man. Maybe the things we want so much to be true are the hardest ones to see through.




Raving Black Lunatic