My Kind of President

By Abdul-Aziz Hassan

All eyes in the country, if not around the world are glued to the television, print media and the Internet. The reason for all this excitement and pondering of what the future will bring is not related to who will be the next American Idol, but who will be the next American President.

This primary cycle is nothing short of historic.

Candidates few people knew of a few weeks ago are now winning states, finding their campaigns re-energized and hoping to gain their party’s presidential nomination.

Other than the popular notion of "change" the central issue for all the candidates is one of identity.

Sen. Hillary Clinton could be the first woman, Sen. Barack Obama could be the first African-American, Gov. Mitt Romney could be the first Mormon and Sen. John McCain could be the oldest person in history to be elected president.

More traditional candidates like Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. John Edwards find themselves behind the pack in recent primaries and national polls. Being a young white guy may not be to their advantage this election cycle.

With no clear front-runner, the dual party system seems to be in disarray looking for a candidate who can ignite the fire that is buried deep within the American political belly.

This fire could lead the way towards change. What type of change, Liberal or Conservative, Republican or Democrat, is in the hands of the electorate. Nevertheless, this Rubik’s Cube for "change" seems to be clicking itself, slowly, into form.

This change will hopefully unfold into political and social change, not just a change in the identity politics around the next administration.

The general assumption is that the Republican party has no real candidate for the nomination. Rumors of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg considering bidding for the nomination this late in the game (This essay was written in January. Ed.) is a clear indicator that the Grand Old Party, collectively, is not excited by any of its candidates.

However, the Democrats show a lot of excitement concerning their two front-runners. The battle for the Democratic nomination, if not the presidency, is clearly between Sens. Clinton and Obama.

The space between Clinton and Obama is not drastic. Most national polls show them neck-and-neck. Early polls showed Clinton in control of having a guaranteed nomination, but now that advantage has almost completely disappeared.

Again, this is a battle.

Ironically this is not the first time African-Americans and white woman have bumped heads while struggling for representation.

The public is no doubt excited to see history unfolding as Clinton takes the step to become the first female President of the United States. It would seem odd that her biggest competition for the nomination is an African-American male. Historically these two groups have been pitted against each other in their battle for representation in traditionally while male roles.

The origin of this conflict is seen in gaining the right to vote.

The 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870. This Amendment gave African-American males the right to vote. Women had to wait 50 more years for The 19th Amendment to be ratified in 1920 for them to gain the right to vote.

The established subordinate position of African-Americans made the continued dismissal of women’s rights carry an extra burden. The idea of male superiority trumped race when concerning woman’s right to vote.

White women were known to help enslaved African-Americans to read and played an essential role in the underground rail road and Civil Rights movements. Unfortunately the tightening of the demands of the Women’s suffrage movement and second wave feminism resulted in the movement’s exclusion of African-American women and created a wedge between the two disenfranchised groups.

Looking to the race for the presidency, we see these two groups, who have historically had similar interests, have been placed in opposition to each other once again.

The existence of sexism in our society is all but undeniable.

The animosity towards Clinton is an example of the existing gender bias. Her narrow victory in New Hampshire is articulated in a framework that equates her success to displays of inherent female weakness.

The popular explanation for Clinton’s victory is her display of emotions magically poured into the hearts of women across the state and lifted them up from drudgery to the voting booths. Clinton’s ground operation, voter friendly weather, the subtle history of racism in New Hampshire, Obama’s place on the ballot line up and many other factors that may have played the decisive role all pale in comparison to the power of a woman crying.

The limiting of Clinton’s skills and political operation is not the worst part of the media explanation of the surprising New Hampshire primary results. The media’s reaction to her emotional display is nothing short of male bulling. Most of the major news networks show harsh criticism of Clinton. After hours of ranting it seemed obvious that Clinton is not welcome in the country’s political tree house.

The Clinton’s themselves are not free of attempting to uphold "tradition." Their criticisms of Obama just smell funny.

We are not sure what they are cooking, but there are hints of racism in former President Bill Clinton’s tirades.

In the wake of everything from Hurricane Katrina to Michael Richards apparently losing his mind and Don Imus confirming rumors that he is an idiot, one would assume that when dealing with issues around race former President Clinton would attempt to be savvier.

The former president should know that there are unresolved issues concerning race in the United Sates. The demand for a more "traditional" candidate and offering hints that help develop racial tension will not help the country move forward.

The reality is that politics are ugly. They have always been ugly. The suggested split in support for Clinton and Obama shows that there are still strong allegiances towards one’s own race in our society.

We should expect to be exposed to an increase in both gender and racial bias. Regardless of how the Clintons attack Obama, or how the media attacks Clinton, the way their criticisms will be internalized helps perpetuate discrimination.

These things are tricky. The Clinton’s argument about Obama’s experience may be quite true. He has spent a little over three years in his current seat. However, from the growing excitement and grassroots support towards Obama across the nation, one could deduct that the American people , at least the one’s who have voted so far, simply don’t care about that kind of experience.

Everyone knows that the reality of an African-American president would be historic for many reasons. The same goes if Clinton gains the nomination.

What strikes us as funny is for all Bill Clinton’s discussing of who has experience and his criticism of Obama, when running in 1992 former President Clinton had very little experience himself. Even Hillary Clinton describes former President Clinton as inexperienced in her 2003 book Living History.

In debates with former President George H. W. Bush, then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton made the case between good experience and bad experience. Former President Clinton made references to a new type of experience, one that comes from working with people in communities and for change. It seems former President Clinton is being critical of someone who resembles himself in more ways than he is willing to accept.

Nevertheless, history has brought us to this point. It appears the Democrats have this thing in the bag. Yet, losing this election seems within their capabilities. This division combined with hundreds of years of competition could result in immense disunity within the Democratic base.

White women and African-Americans have historically been exploited for labor, denied rights and assumed to be property at one point or another. There is more at stake here than just the Presidency.

There is a reality that can be achieved to help us take steps to bridge gaps in society. The shared history as servants and people with limited access to decent wages should help each group to see the other as an ally.

A Hillary-Obama or Obama-Hillary ticket in 2008 would convince us to quit our day job and start knocking on doors.

There are many ways to make history.