| Passion in the Primaries: Clinton vs. Obama |
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| Written by Frisky Larrimore | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sunday, 03 February 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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By default or by design, echoes of the presidential race in the United States of America is one throughout the recent history of international politics that reverberates in every corner of the world conveying an ever present sense of exasperating agitation. This emotional element took center stage recently as the heat flared up in the democratic camp with the focus flashed on the race question. Guess what, it suddenly became a unique moment of bickering that was heading for making or breaking the entire essence of a traditional intra-family party. Politics and hypes, passion and emotion became the true focus of a battle for favor. Twist and turns and manipulations also took a very frivolous role and black voters were agitated and South Carolina provided a formidable answer. But sitting back a little, lovers of motion pictures will remember one recent movie in a series of many, made by an Asian veteran named Jackie Chan in the company of one black Chris Tucker. One captivating scene in this movie saw this Asian and the young Blackman in a predominantly black bar. While the young Blackman greeted his fellow Blackmen casually with the expression “Nigger” and all that stuff and set out immediately for a dubious backroom, the unsuspecting Asian could hardly figure out the peril that the usage of the phrase “Nigger” may entail for him. He politely requested “my Nigger” behind the bar to serve him a drink. Of course it was met with an immediate and ferocious hostility of disproportionate dimension. Stepping into the “boxing ring” to assist his failing spouse in a battle that she has long controlled and was slipping out on, ex-President Bill Clinton made a crucial comment insinuating that Barack Obama’s victory in Iowa and perhaps his wife’s success in New Hampshire were by-products of being black and being a woman (race and gender). While this and several other subsequent comments was interpreted as being aimed at arousing the fear of wasting votes on a Blackman that may stand no winning chance on the long run, it simply set out the backlash Express, coming out from the mouth of a Whiteman who may ultimately stands to gain from the veracity of such fears. While politics has been and will ever remain a ruthless and dirty game aiming at the total annihilation of the opponent, it is always known to be deeply rooted on the emotional basis of frustration, desperation, sadness and joy. Nothing indeed could best arouse a sense of frustration and desperation than witnessing the sliding decline of a hitherto commanding lead. Every observer thus agrees that the sense of desperation and frustration that informed the surge in offensive oration against Obama by the Clintons was a foreseeable impact of underrating Barack Obama from the very start. On the other hand though, Bill Clinton as a former white President from Arkansas, has long been nicknamed the first “Black” President and the “little rock” of black conscience in obvious reference to his commitment to uplifting the “black” cause in the American body politics. Many analysts and even black voters have equally expressed the fear on several fronts, that if a Blackman may not win the presidential election on the long run, nominating him to represent the Democratic party would be tantamount to nothing else but a wasted caucus vote. It was therefore, interesting and captivating to observe the ease, with which black emotion was suddenly garnered and intensively hyped in reaction to the frustrations and acts of desperations of the Clinton family. All of a sudden the reality that Bill Clinton has never being a racist or an enemy of the black race was simply thrown overboard and sacrificed for a populist campaign rhetoric of reaching out to our own. Bill Clinton suddenly became the Jackie Chang Whiteman, who should not dare to call a Blackman a “Nigger” no matter how close in heart he may be to the Blackman. Thank goodness the potential danger and quality of a delicate backlash on the Obama campaign, that this attitude would have had, has been quickly detected and a roundabout turn quickly negotiated. What more could have been more damaging than focusing on and promoting a black-white voting pattern? An emotionally incensed demographic divide would indeed, have done no candidate (particularly a black candidate) no good in any sense, given the overall weaker numerical standing of the black population. Therefore, going into the last debate in advance of the infamous “Super Tuesday”, the candidates have come around to streamline voters’ attention towards issues and the crucial moments that matter. That indeed, was the moment for observers who hear the echoes reverberating outside the frontiers of the United States of America but never have the real opportunity of catching a glimpse of or getting to share in the overwhelming captivation potentially spurred off by both candidates in their oratory capacity. It was a moment in which Barack Obama unveiled his face to international observers of being a sound orator and a politician with a substantive grasp of the issues at stake. More than anything else, Barack Obama has the standing of what experts in the communication business would consider a perfect client in the verbal punditry of sticking to slogans and associations. On the contrary, Hillary Clinton has shown a great sense of practical experience in the handling of issues and acquaintance with the routine business of governance at the highest level. It was with utter fascination that well-meaning observers noticed Barack Obama’s attempt at covering up his inferiority on the issue of Healthcare policy by simply invoking Ted Kennedy’s statement crediting Obama with the necessary quality to implement a sound healthcare policy. The appeal of the catchwords “Ted Kennedy” was to keep the voters focused. Sensing the risk of not having hit the nail precisely on the head on the immigration issue, the senator from Illinois simply threw in another popular phrase that is currently making the round in the news media namely “uniting and not dividing”. It was impossible not to see the central weapon and strength of the Obama campaign, which is “Sloganeering and Oration”. On the opposite end though, Hillary Clinton displayed a better dose of political experience and readiness for the task ahead in calculated choices of words and statesman’s mimics. Sloganeering featured prominently in her presentation just once and not more. She said: “it took a Clinton to clean up the mess of the first Bush. It may take another Clinton to clean up the mess of the other Bush.” It is indeed, no secret that Hillary Clinton is not at her best when oration and the magic of moving and mystifying crowds are required. She is therefore focused on what she knows best. Experience and routine! A perfect recipe indeed, were it not for Iraq and her damaging position of voting yes without the robust sense of judgment of anticipating those facts, which she now knows. Precisely this is an issue that indeed makes Barack Obama a more formidable candidate with a splendor that no one in the Republican camp will be able to take. It was a slight reminder of sort, of the television debate between the presidential candidates Ms. Ségolène Royal and Mr. Nicholas Sarkozy of France a few months ago. While Royale’s sex appeal commanded some political dynamics, it was Sarkozy’s experience and robust political agenda that carried the day. In the end, it is imperative (as Hillary would say), to stand clear on one fact. An Obama victory in the caucuses will be the victory of ‘beauty over brain’ with Clinton’s experience and robust preparedness for the office symbolizing brain and reminiscent of Obafemi Awolowo’s perfect preparation for the race in Nigeria of 1979. Barack Obama on the other hand symbolizes beauty irrespective of his outstanding intelligence and prowess of mental articulation because his focus mainly on what he knows and does best. Moving crowds and sloganeering! A Clinton victory, which against all odds, seems more likely and expectable will be based on very many obvious reasons. And even though both candidates stand very good chances of flooring any Republican candidate, it seems to be absolutely true that Hillary Clinton may have a very hard time debating with a Republican candidate than would an oration-talented Barack Obama. In the end, it is a deep relief that the race card that was foolishly galvanized by ill-advised strategists has now been quickly thrown off the table and dumped in the trash and one can only hope that this may be for good. Else, who knows what interpretation would have emerged from this last pre-Tuesday debate if an atmosphere was allowed to prevail, in which arguments were frantically sought to buttress racism suspicions? Hillary Clinton’s comments asking voters to take a look at them both, and see that they are not one of the same (in comparison with the monotonous composure of Republican candidature) and would definitely bring in change, would perhaps, have been another ammunition in the hands of race propagandists in search of far-fetched interpretation and the end of such a vicious circle would have been wide open.
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Posted by Robot| 03.02.2008 16:02