The left, the race card, and Herman Cain
THE DAY AFTER Herman Cain's dazzling victory in the Florida straw poll, I commented to a Republican neighbor -- and where I live,
there aren't many of those -- that with Cain as a GOP rock star,
liberals who have been so ready to smear President Obama's critics as
racist would have to come up with a new shtick.
What was I thinking?
Racial McCarthyism has been a staple of
left-wing political rhetoric for years, but it went into overdrive with
the rise of Barack Obama. Former president Jimmy Carter,
for example, claimed that much of the backlash to the president's
policies was explained by "the fact that he is a black man." Janeane Garofalo,
the movie actress and liberal activist, called Tea Party protesters
"racist rednecks" with one motivation: "This is about hating a black man
in the White House. This is racism straight up." Obama himself
has sometimes played the race card; as a candidate in 2008 he predicted
that Republicans would "try to make you afraid of me" by focusing on
his color: "He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. And
did I mention he's black?"
Of course such accusations are grotesque
canards. But cynics and partisan ideologues have never been terribly
squeamish about trafficking in ugly innuendoes to win votes, especially
when a complacent media lets them get away with it. Still, you might
have thought that surging Republican support for a proud black
entrepreneur -- an up-from-segregation business star who summarizes his
identity as "ABC: American first, black second, and conservative third" -- would make it tough even for cynics and ideologues to keep singing from the same racial hymnal.
Not a chance.
"Herman Cain is probably well-liked by some
of the Republicans because it hides the racist elements of the
Republican Party, conservative movement, and tea party movement," Garofalo theorized
in a recent a TV appearance. "Cain provides this great opportunity so
[Republicans] can say, 'Look, this is not a racist, anti-immigrant,
anti-female, anti-gay movement. Look, we have a black man.'"
In other words, if Republicans or
conservatives oppose a public figure who happens to be black, it's
because they're racists. And if they support a public figure who happens
to be black? That's also because they're racists.
Needless to say, there is no point arguing
with such "logic." If Garofalo discovered that Tea Partiers are
inordinately fond of applesauce, she would presumably attribute that to
racism as well. It would almost be funny, except that there is nothing
funny about racial calumny.
Four years ago, the emergence of the
Democratic Party's first charismatic, credible black presidential
candidate was regarded across the political spectrum as something to
celebrate. Even Republicans who strongly opposed Obama because of his
positions and outlook -- even John McCain!
-- rejoiced in what Obama's success said about America's capacity for
self-redemption. Shouldn't the emergence of Herman Cain -- potentially
the GOP's first charismatic, credible black presidential candidate --
evoke similar feelings? Especially if you think the Republican
Party has a poor racial record, shouldn't you be encouraged that so many
Republicans are excited about Cain? (As a matter of brute historical
fact, it was the Democratic Party, not the GOP, that used to be the racist stronghold of American politics. But that's a separate column.)
Whatever his political prospects, Cain's
story is exhilarating. Born into poverty in the Jim Crow South, where
his mother was a maid and his father a janitor and chauffeur, Cain rose
to become a mathematician in the US Navy, a successful business
executive, the chairman of a federal reserve bank, and now a Republican
star. Liberals should rejoice in his success, even if they disagree with
his politics.
Yet on AlterNet, a prominent left-wing website,
Cain is jeered as a "black garbage pail kid," a "monkey in the window,"
and a minstrel performer playing to "white conservative masters." Cornell Belcher, a Democratic strategist who polled for the Obama campaign, blasts Cain as "racist and bigoted" for saying that many black voters have been "brainwashed" into rejecting conservatism. In a new memoir, Cain writes of being slurred as an "Oreo" and an "Uncle Tom" because he is an unabashed Republican conservative.
Love Cain or loathe him, it should be possible to talk about his candidacy without resorting to racial pejoratives. Like Lester Maddox's axe handle,
the political race card ought to be by now nothing but an ugly memory
-- something no decent voter, activist, or candidate would dream of
brandishing.
(Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for The Boston Globe. His website is www.JeffJacoby.com).
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