Hillary and McCain: The White Bloc That Must be Stopped

by Eric Mann [a veteran of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and the United Auto Workers (UAW), and was a delegate to the United Nations World Conference Against Racism.]

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The Opening Argument

Hillary Clinton is running an increasingly desperate, unprincipled, and racist campaign against Barack Obama. She must be stopped. At this moment in history the defeat of Hillary Clinton and the victory of Barack Obama in the forthcoming Democratic Party primaries in Pennsylvania, Guam, Indiana, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Montana, South Dakota, and Puerto Rico is a critical question facing the anti-racist, civil rights, and Black Liberation Movement.

Despite all Hillary Clinton’s machinations, the power of the Clinton machine, and a year in which she was the unchallenged front-runner, it is Barack Obama who has a commanding lead—a margin of at least 130 votes in the delegate count. Hillary’s last resort is to organize a White Backlash campaign against a Black candidate. Hillary Clinton has escalated her attacks on Obama’s capacity to be president and sanctioned the most racist interventions against Obama that McCain would never dare to initiate—but gratefully receives as a campaign contribution. In return, conservative talk show forces led by Rush Limbaugh with the tacit support of McCain are sending Republican voters (“Dummycrats”) into open Democratic primaries to vote for Clinton. Their goal is to get her the Democratic nomination because they see her as a weaker candidate against McCain than Obama. If they can’t assure Clinton the nomination, the goal is to support her plan to weaken the campaign of Senator Obama, to raise so many questions of his character and competency that again John McCain will have a far better chance of winning the general election. Hillary Clinton is well aware of this stealth campaign by the most reactionary racist Republican voters to assure her the margin of victory in Ohio and Texas over Obama. She gladly accepts this deal with the devil. By her actions, it is clear that Hillary Clinton does not see herself in an alliance with Barack Obama to defeat John McCain. She does not see John McCain as their common enemy or even adversary. In fact, she sees Barack Obama as her worst enemy. Hillary Clinton is leading a White Bloc in which she is allying with John McCain against Barack Obama. She must be stopped.

Barack Obama is well aware of white racism in the electorate. He is trying to appeal to the best instincts among white people, to neutralize “moderate” white voters, and to isolate the most racist ones. He is carrying out a complex tactical plan to talk about racial discrimination in a way he thinks can reach out to Black and Latino voters and appeal to or not threaten white voters through a populist “class” appeal for all working people. While there is much to challenge in Obama’s approach to the endemic problem of racism in U.S. society, it is not accurate to reduce his campaign to a “beyond race” perspective. Obama is an anti-racist. By her practice, Hillary Clinton is running a racist campaign. The choice is that clear.

The victory of Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries and the defeat of Hillary Clinton could provide a seismic shift in U.S. politics 28 years after Ronald Reagan’s first election and 16 years after the Center-Right Far Right continuum of Bill Clinton and George Bush. It is in the interest of the anti-racist movement to challenge the White Bloc, to work for the victory of Barack Obama, and to work for the defeat of Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries.

It is also in the strategic interests of a broad united front against racism, the police state, and the U.S. Empire to strongly encourage the Third Party candidacy of Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. The McKinney campaign will be the sharpest contrast to that of John McCain and George Bush. Her Reconstruction Platform focuses on a full U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, the Right of Return of the New Orleans 250,000, and a challenge to the growing police state and the racist mass incarceration of Black and Latino people. This will offer a principled challenge to the Obama campaign and an alternative and attractive choice in the general election. We should welcome an Obama, McKinney debate with two good choices for the progressive left anti-racist movement.

A Call to Action

This in-depth commentary makes the case against Hillary Clinton, frames our options in the historical fight between racism and antiracism among the U.S. electorate, and offers a tactical plan for taking action. Given that taking action is first and last on the agenda, let me open with what you, and we, can do to intervene in this historic campaign. I include additional action items at the end.

1) Email Hillary Clinton, or call 703.469.2008. Tell her you will not support her racist and cynical campaign.

2) Email Barack Obama, or call 866.675.2008. Offer support and encouragement for his historic campaign and his efforts to stand up to the racist maneuvers of the Clinton forces. Ask him to pledge a complete withdrawal of all combat troops and all other mechanisms of U.S. occupation in Iraq, and the Right of Return of 250,000 displaced and disenfranchised Black residents of New Orleans. ()

3) Email Cynthia McKinney Encourage her entrance into the presidential race as a candidate of the Green Party and offer financial support for the fullest dissemination of her views into the campaign. (http://www.runcynthiarun.org/TalkBack)

The Master Narrative

The Deceptive Honeymoon [click to view full article by Eric Mann]