February 27, 2008
by Steve Hammons
As Barack Obama continues to move ahead in the Democratic presidential primaries, we note that ethnic background and gender still seem to be playing important and interesting roles.
The many domestic and foreign affairs issues we face, such as the candidates' positions on the invasion and occupation of Iraq, are also key parts of the debates and campaigns.
According to recent surveys and demographic studies, Hillary Clinton's support, in part, comes from white women and older Democrats.
Reasons for this seem obvious.
Some white women see one of their own and feel that giving her support is appropriate. They identify with her. This seems like a natural response.
Older Democrats may feel comfortable with "another Clinton" and, should we say it? - they might feel more comfortable voting for an all-white candidate. This may be a factor for some Democrats with lower educational levels, which is also a group supporting Clinton to some degree.
Obama gets support from younger voters and increasingly from men. Since Obama is a relatively young father of two young kids, these voters might naturally identify with him. His youthful manner might also be attractive.
Men probably identify with him not just because he is a male, but because he is a male who appears to be admirable and a "regular guy."
INVASION, OCCUPATION OF IRAQ
Some of the main differences between Obama and Clinton, of course, are their positions and actions regarding the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Many Americans now believe that intelligence information was inaccurate about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. There is significant evidence that indicates this was intentional on the part of some people within the Bush administration and those connected to it.
Many people believe that the Bush administration was willing to send our troops to Iraq, to die and be terribly injured, for access oil, to assist other governments in the Middle East and to "finish the job" that former president George H.W. Bush wisely did not undertake - invading and taking over Iraq.
Some researchers say there were those in and associated with the Bush administration who wanted to pour monies of the U.S. Treasury into war profiteering and those who wanted to establish permanent U.S. bases in Iraq to influence and police the Middle East region for decades to come.
It has been said that there were Bush administration people and others who wanted to show they were "macho" - the "chicken hawks" - even though few of them had ever served in combat environments themselves. Many even avoided military service in Korea and Vietnam.
Other aspects of the invasion and occupation seemed to indicate the huge egos and incompetence of those associated with the Bush administration.
The deceptive and dishonorable nature of some of these players also seems evident to many people.
We have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on the invasion and occupation of Iraq. This has been, in large part, borrowed money. There are many hidden costs as well.
The Bush administration's Iraq fiasco has nearly broken our Army, Army Reserve, National Guard and has broken the bodies, minds and spirits of many good American soldiers, Marines and their families.
According to some research, hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians, including children, have been killed as a result of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Many more have been terribly injured.
Though she may not have intended all of these results, this is what Hillary Clinton supported when she voted to authorize military action by the Bush administration against Iraq.
This is what Barack Obama opposed.
(Article Continues Below)
STIRRING THE MELTING POT
Obama's support includes African-Americans. This is not surprising since his father was from Kenya, Africa.
Obama's father and mother were divorced when he was two years old.
After the divorce, his father went on to get a Ph.D. from Harvard in economics and then returned to Kenya to pursue a career there.
Obama spend formative childhood and teen years in Hawaii, and was raised by his mother and her parents, Stanley and Madelyn Dunham, who were originally from Wichita, Kansas.
Obama has noted that his grandfather, Stanley Dunham, joined the Army in WWII after Pearl Harbor and served under Gen. George Patton in Europe. Obama's grandmother, Madelyn, worked on a bomber assembly line during the war.
This reminds us that it can be fairly and accurately said that Obama is a mixed-ethnicity American. He straddles a sometimes wide divide of Americans from different ethnic backgrounds.
But, he is not the only one. Nowadays, after many generations of mixing the different ethnic groups of people in the U.S., there are millions of mixed-ethnicity Americans.
If your family has some Scottish, Cherokee and Swedish, you have a mixed-ethnicity. Are you part African, part English with maybe some Dutch in the family tree? Same thing. Was great-grandma half-Mexican and grampa Joe part-Navajo? Join the club.
Obama is in good company here.
Along these lines, Hispanics seem to be a swing vote of sorts in the Democratic primaries. Many Mexican-Americans and African-Americans sometimes compete for the same turf, whether it is access to decent blue-collar jobs or other resources. This can create friction.
It should, though, create teamwork. The "divide and conquer" strategy seems to be in play at times when wedges are driven between the Hispanic and African-American communities. They should be working together to obtain better jobs, educational opportunities, housing and health care.
Many Native American Indians have very substandard resources and opportunities too.
And, we might want to remember that the majority of poor and underprivileged Americans, adults and children, are white.
An interesting development in the ongoing discussions about Mexican-Americans and Mexican immigration is that two states with two of the largest populations of Native American Indians, Oklahoma and Arizona, have recently passed some of the toughest anti-immigrant laws in the country.
Isn't it interesting that many Hispanic, Mexican and other immigrants from south of Mexico are of part-Native American Indians and part Spanish ancestry. They have darker skin, like Indians of North America. They have straight black hair and some of the facial characteristics of North American Indians.
And at the same time, Oklahoma and Arizona passed some of the most stringent laws against these immigrants. This just seems like an interesting dynamic.
After all, let's not forget, amid all the talk about securing our borders and saving the English language from destruction, it is probably safe to say that some people just donīt like others who have different color skin, who look different, speak in a different way and have different cultural and social characteristics.
The ethnic factors in play seem to need a fresh perspective from many of us.
Whether the ongoing presidential race is focusing on the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the multi- and mixed-ethnicity of Americans or the other issues of the day, it might be helpful to look carefully and objectively at all the elements involved.
Americans do face dangers from enemies, foreign and domestic. Our democracy, our freedoms, our Constitution and our peace and prosperity are at risk.
As we select our next president and other federal, state and local government officials, our wisdom and intelligence, or lack thereof, can have very serious consequences, as we have seen in recent years.
If you enjoyed this post, please make a donation to help keep this website active:
Click Here for the Free Populist Party Newsletter
Steve Hammons [send him email] has worked as a journalist, editor, counselor, juvenile probation peace officer, public safety urgent-response specialist, teacher, instructor and US Government researcher. He graduated from Ohio University with studies in communications/journalism, health education/psychology and pre-law. Hammons's two novels, Mission into Light and Light's Hand, tell the story of a US joint-service military and intelligence research team investigating emerging special topics.
More Articles from Steve Hammons
