I hope this post is not inappropriate for Feministing, but I thought it's content to be both relevant and pertinent. This blog was originally posted on my personal blog, and as I have virtually no readers and felt it needed attention, I felt that here it would have a louder voice.
Apparently, because Kwame Kilpatrick (the estranged, and soon-to-depart mayor of Detroit) and Barrack Obama have shared the same stage on a few occasions, exchanged political niceties, posed for a photo op, and perhaps because they did this all while both being black, they are BFF.
That's what the Freedom Defense fund would have you believe, anyhow.
According to The Detroit Free Press:
A self-described "small government conservative" political committee based in Washington, D.C., launched an attack ad against Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in Macomb County on Friday, attempting to link him to disgraced and soon-to-depart Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
The 30-second ad uses audio and video from a May 2007 appearance Obama madebefore the Detroit Economic Club at which he is introduced by Kilpatrick and, inturn, describes Kilpatrick as "your great mayor," "a friend," etc. Obama'spraise then plays over a police mug shot of the mayor as a list of the criminalcharges against him scrolls down the screen.
Tell me how a group, and I don't care how small and grass-roots funded it is, can put such blatant displays of racism on the air. I understand smear campaigns, even though I don't believe they have a place in the political process. But to link two people by nothing more than their race (first), and their political affiliation (a distant second), and then backtrack and force some commonality to use one's corruption to taint the other, as so obvioiusly done here, is fundamentally unacceptable.
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I'll agree that the ad is absurd but where do you get race? Nothing in the article suggests that they paired the two because of race - only Obama's support for a now fallen mayor.
becca,
I think is is a fair assumption b/c they aren't going around showing him with failed white politicians. (And he probably has introduced his fair share of those, as well.)
-Iz
I guess having at one point lived in Detroit for awhile, I am applying my personal experiences and my personal observations of local social attitudes to the situation.
While Detroit may be a largely Demcratic-identified city, it's social progressiveness is nearly nil. I truly belive that if either or both of them had been white, such a parallel would not have been made. I believe the fact that Kilpatrick and Obama have exchanged many more ill words than niceties, and the fact that Obama himself called for resignation of the Detroit mayor illustrates any connection between the two of them was merely partisan. The fact is, the criminal charges against Kilpatrick is a subject that resonantes with every DetroMetro voter, and there is virtually no tie between those issues and Barrack Obama. In a troubled city where racial tension is older than the riots that manifested them on prime-time news, the subliminal racism here is sure to resonate as well. If Obama were a white politician who had shared the stage with the disgraced mayor over a year ago, I find it hard to believe that the two would ever have been connected. Especially after a publicized squabble. And the goal, I believe, is to use that racism to trump whatever connect the failing auto-industry feels toward Obama in this time of a broken economy.
BTW, when I mention social progression in Detroit, I mean in terms of leaps and bounds it has made nearly none. There, of course, has been some form of progression.
And also, I don't mean to single Detroit out. Detroit's problems are similar to many post-industrial cities that at one point were substantial hubs. These cities tend to be ignored, and all problems, to include social ones, are allowed to incubate, without mitigation or solution.
I lived in Detroit for ten years. I was there both times he was elected. My family is still there. I am well aware of the troubles the city is having and its history and what this scandal with Kilpatrick has done to the city.
Detroit is a must for the democratic ticket in state and Michigan is a much needed win for Obama. I agree that the charges brought against Kilpatrick have nothing to do with Obama (and would not effect my vote one way or the other). It is however just a tactic of a smear campaign. I really believe that uf Kilpatrick was a white guy the same ad would have come out. This really has more to do with how important Detroit is in the election than a racist slap against Obama.
I have heard people use Sara Palin's original support of AK Senator Ted Steven's against her. Steven's is the longest running senator in the country makes sense, in the beginning, that she would be support him, much like Obama support Kilpatrick. She pulled her support long before he was convicted yet you never hear of that. Since its two white politicians, with inaccurate information being released by the other side can I call that racist?
Then why didn't the same ad come out when it was Spitzer?
Most racism isn't overt. In fact, subliminal racism is the most dangerous type. It propagates already thriving ideas.
Like I said before, the ad is meant to play off an already established mindset. And even if it wasn't meant to, it does. Racism, like most isms plays a role as both a cause and a symptom.
Let's not kid ourselves, the example that you gave was not a targeted ad. Tell me, why would this ad run in Macomb Co. and not Wayne Co.? Especially since Detroit is the county seat of Wayne Co? And if they were looking to target actual political issues in a smear, it would make a whole lot more sense to target Kilpatrick's actual consituents.
Looking at census records, the population of Wayne Co is 41% black. In Macomb Co, the black population makes up only 6.3% of the total population. White people make up 88% of Macomb Co. Does this make it clearer to you?
Minor thing: I just moved into Wayne county, and they're running it here, too. Pissed me off.
As a good P.S., since I just moved to Michigan with my husband, we're upping the Obama vote by 2! :-)
...and I just confirmed that both our registrations went through on their website, michigan.gov/vote, if there are any other MI residents who need to check.