Post-election Musings

            It has been 4 weeks since election day and I finally feel ready to talk about it, having given some time for things to sink in; as well as to observe reactions, overreactions and other fall-out from this historic election.

            I am, of course, very glad that my candidate won and that it was a very good day for Democrats. Having been on the losing end in 2000, a bitter defeat, I wish no ill-will for those whose candidate did not win.

            More than anything else, I am relieved; not just that the election is over, but that the White House could not be purchased or stolen by empowered and politically active wealth. Even beyond that, my greatest relief is that our nation’s citizens chose moving forward instead of falling backward. By this I mean that the giant step forward with the election of America’s first African-American President, was not followed by a couple of steps backward by giving any legitimacy to the birthers and those who sought to undermine the authority of the Obama presidency before it even began nearly 4 years ago.

            I remember feeling a new sense of excitement and inclusion in 2008, and that feeling was reaffirmed last month. The reason this is so important is because of our post-Civil War history of electing former slaves to Congress and state legislatures, only to destroy the hopes of African-Americans at that time, with the rise of Jim Crow and the Ku Klux Klan. I was very afraid of a backlash, fueled by the incensed racists in the Republican party, who will never be able to honor President Obama with any dignity or respect.  This does not mean that all Republicans are racists. I don't believe that to be true. I am referring only to that part of the Republican party that is obviously racist.

            The racists of today will tell you that the reason those post-Reconstruction blacks elected to office were unable to manage the difficulty and sophistication of governing, was because of “what happened to them.” I heard someone explain this situation to me using those very words in my law office in South Pasadena a couple of years ago.  I almost could not believe what I was hearing. This is but one example of the myriad expressions of white supremacy, subliminal or otherwise, heard in and around Pasadena, California in the 21^st century.

            This is the very same tone used by John Sununu, among others, who constantly implied that President Obama tried, but just wasn’t up to the job. Sununu, Rush Limbaugh, et al, all were trying to appeal the subliminal white supremacist in most of white America today, by suggesting that he was lazy, that he didn’t understand what it meant to be “American,” and that he was everything but what he actually is – an intelligent, strong and effective global leader. There are hundreds of examples of this disdain for blackness in the White House, but they really are not worth repeating, and it would take too much time and space to do so.

            However, it appears that the backlash would be to the Republicans for spewing such 19^th century ideas of ethnic inferiority in this day and age. For, in so doing, they actually may have done more than any other factor to motivate non-whites to vote in 2012. Latinos were very motivated after the State of Arizona passed SB1070, clearly meant to target all Mexican-looking people, in their hunt for “illegals;” and heralded by the extreme right wing of the GOP. Blacks became more motivated when faced with the attempts by the Republican party to disenfranchise them, particularly in important swing states; and the LGBT community was encouraged by President Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage. The women of America were mostly not willing to turn their bodies over to people like Todd Akin and Richard Murdoch, who obviously had no idea what they were talking about, and then were stunned to find their comments so unwelcome.

            So, it appears that a strong coalition of “the other” turned out to say to the world that they were simply not going to take this kind of stuff lying down anymore. When buoyed by the surprisingly large youth vote, this army of non-white, non-male, non-wealthy, non-straight and non-old people overwhelmed all Republican attempts, legitimate and otherwise, to convince most Americans that their interests would best be served by a Romney presidency. The youth vote is significant because the under-30 vote doesn’t usually vote in large numbers in two presidential election cycles in a row.

            Thus, it appears that the changing demographic in America resoundingly rejected the otherization of their neighbors, friends, lovers and class-mates, choosing instead to move forward as one nation -- a nation that honors, not lambasts its citizens. Obama supporters want to see a nation that cares for its sick, educates its children and honors the daily labor of the people who actually do the heavy lifting of keeping our economy moving.

            It appears, however, that the GOP didn’t get the memo on who won the election. Even a month after the election, they are completely dumbfounded by their huge demographic and electoral loss. I must say, I am dumbfounded by their dumbfoundedness.  My experience with conservative Caucasians in America is that, they just don’t know what they don’t know. The sad truth is, they don’t want to know.