Friday, October 8th, 2004

Where’s Race In This Race?

First impressions: Bush’s impassioned aggressiveness signalled weakness. His jokes–except the old “Want some wood?” frat joke–got no laughs. Kerry’s wooden-ness seemed calming in comparison. I think there is no question that Kerry projected that ineffable leadership thing.

But the main question in this race is: where’s race?

In all the discussion about joblessness, education, the war, and domestic issues, there is no talk coming from either Bush or Kerry on the issues that matter to people of color.

OK, so Bush came out against the Dred Scott decision–wow, tough call there, Mr. President–on the grounds that whoever decided that one was doing based on their personal decision. But in all the talk about jobs there is no discussion about who are the jobless, what the effect of that joblessness is on inner-city violence. In all the talk about education, there is no discussion about which children are being left behind in the rush to standardized testing and the tax-cut-driven shift of moneys toward the military. In all the talk about the Patriot Act, there is no discussion about the Muslims and South Asians who have disproportionately been slammed by the very real rollback in civil liberties.

Come on Kerry, get real. You want the base to show up on November 2? Start acting like Bush, who ain’t afraid to call a liberal a liberal.

posted by Jeff Chang @ 6:52 pm | 1 Comment

One Response to “Where’s Race In This Race?”

allaboutgeorge says:

October 10, 2004 at 11:56 pm

Bush talking about Dred Scott may not have been about race.

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