Now if only one of them had a limp...

I have been wanting to weigh in on the US democratic and presidential races for quite some time, but feel like it's all been said. Interestingly, the last few weeks have raised the issue of race in a more meaningful way than it has been thus far. Mostly, the discussion around racism has been simplistic -- black and white, if you will. However, more recently, some footage of Barack Obama's pastor-cum-mentor, Jeremiah Wright, emerged in which he gave a sermon castigating the Clintons and the rich, white elites of that country for their systemic perpetuation of racism. A week prior, Geraldine Ferraro, a member of Hilary Clinton's campaign, said that Obama would not be where he was politically had he not been black. Her suggestion was more to say that just as she had benefitted by being a woman on the political scene when Walter Mondale chose her as his vice-presidential running mate, his blackness too was benefitting him at this point in history.

Both Ferraro and Wright have stepped down as advisors to Clinton and Obama. In their wake, the pundits have had a field day and each candidate has been left to pick up the pieces. Clinton distanced herself from Ferraro's comments, saying that these were not views she shared. She was attacked by the media and her opponents for not being stronger in her disavowal of Ferraro's comments as well as the woman herself. Obama held a press conference where he gave a speech denouncing Wright's sermons, but defiantly refusing to disavow the man himself. In doing so, he raised the level of the national dialogue which was stuck in a simple racial binary to a point where the complexities and nuances of race were finally named. From what I have read so far, the pundits are lauding this speech and are deeming it to be on par with Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. Cynic that I am, I suspect that this attempt at a critical discussion about race will not go anywhere. More than likely, the blacks and the whites will just go to their separate corners. And of course, all the other races will have to share in the more pigmented corner.

I first saw Barack Obama on the Oprah Winfrey show a couple of years back. I was very impressed. I knew that he would be a great leader if he ever chose to run for president. I continued to support him until a few months ago, when I realized that despite his eloquence, the substance of his political views was far more right wing than my own. Coupled with that have been the horribly sexist attacks against Hilary Clinton. Apparently, sexism is still an acceptable practise in politics and the media. While I continue to be upset by Clinton's support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, her political views are much closer to mine than Obama's. So with a heavy heart, I switched camps (bearing in mind that as a Canadian, I am not able to vote in the States). I believe that what I experienced is similar to what many US democrats have felt. However, it seems more have gone from Clinton to Obama, swayed largely by his eloquent unifying messages.

On the more divisive front, we have Republican nominee and former P.O.W., John McCain whose recent turnabout and support of the torture of prisoners is indicative what his governing style will look like. And it doesn't look good. The ghosts of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld linger all too closely. McCain has said that the war in Iraq could go on for a hundred years. This suggests no evidence of an exit strategy. Nobody wants this. This offers no hope.

Hope and change are the cornerstones of Obama's campaign message. They suggest a very sexy prospect, but can they be realized? I cannot say definitively. Clinton also calls for change, but for most, she seems to be lacking in the hope department. Her ties to former President Clinton and the old boys network of politics hinders her. As do, poorly tailored clothes, thick ankles, bad hair and any other entirely shallow and irrelevant attacks that would never be hurled against a male candidate.

What sealed the deal for me was in a New York Times Op. Ed. piece Gloria Steinem pointed out, among many things, that if Barack Obama was a woman, he never would have advanced politically as he had. Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to ever attempt to become a presidential nominee, noted that gender was always a far greater barrier to her career than her skin colour. Were she still alive, I am sure that everyone would want to know who she would support.

As a feminist, it would give me great joy if Hilary Clinton wins the democratic race. However, as a woman of colour I will not be too disappointed if Obama wins either. My concern is whether these two can come together at the end of it all and present a unified front. My greatest worry is that the divisiveness of this contest (for that is really what it is), will give way to another four to eight years of Republican chaos, not just in the US, but for the rest of the world. Things are getting a bit ugly between the Clinton and Obama camps. Politics are like that. However, will the victor (or victoria, as the case may be) have the resources (and I'm not talking money here because there's been enough money spent/wasted on these campaigns to feed and give health care to a whole lot of people) to unify their party and gather the national support necessary to avoid another four to eight years of Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld type insanity.

For the sake of all of us, I hope so.