IOWA: THE SOUTH HAS RISEN AGAIN

First, let's be petty and shout it from the rooftop:  I told you so.  I was right. I called this.  Gay-hating Creationist Huckabee wins and the darling of HRC, Clinton looses.

Second, let's  focus on the elephant in the room since it's likely that no member of the mainstream media and no major political pundits will dare state the politically incorrect obvious.  Yes, history was made last night in the almost all white rural state of Iowa.  MTV may have to revive Celebrity Death Match.

Huckabee and Obama.   The South has risen again and it will do battle with an African American born of an interracial couple.  I can't imagine anything that better represents the extreme polarization of this nation and the tragic state of American politics. Oh, and yes, queers are fucked.

Huckabee, an ordained minister of the Southern Baptist Church, the folks who fought to the death to preserve the institution of slavery vs a black man.  Irony at its most delicious.

For those of you not up on your American history, the Southern Baptist Convention was created in 1845 when the American Baptist Church split between Christians who believed that slavery--despite being endorsed by the Bible--was an abomination and Christians who believed--supported by that same Bible--that the dark skinned races were not human and should be kept as property by the white race.  Today, the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the world and the driving force behind homophobia.  Having lost on the slavery issue, they are now recycling the same exact language and arguments for their war on queers.  And after  testing the waters with George W. Bush, they now have officially come out of the white Christian fundamentalist sexually-repressed closet with Mike Huckabee.

Some 143 years since the end of the Civil War, the South has scored it greatest victory and is closer to the White House than ever before.

Obama, a black man with a white mother and a black father, last night became the first black man in history to win a presidential primary.  It's also worth noting that in some parts of this nation Obama's parents would not have been able to legally marry as recently at 1967.  And as an interracial couple, they would have been arrested and possibly lynched in some of these United States.  Jefferson Davis is surely spinning in  his Confederate grave.

But at the end of the day, thanks to Iowa voters, at least for now, the two leading contenders for the 2009 White House are an extreme Evangelical homophobe who would send each and every one of us to hell and a man who has endorsed and campaigned with an ex-gay crusader and his supporters.

Today, January 4, 2008 may be many things in American political history but one thing it most definitely is not?  A good day for queer America.

Once again, in the words of Larry Kramer, an old gay coot:  "Where's the outrage?"   Or are you too busy planning  your outfit for Saturday night?

The Iowa primary represents a remarkable day in Black American history and as an American I am deeply moved by the prospect of our first African-American President.  But as a queer I have to come to terms with the fact that as President, an Obama will not cross his power base and any hope of equal civil rights for queers anytime in the near future was possibly run to ground last night in an Iowa cornfield.

If the Iowa results hold up,  queer voters will have a choice between a President who would send us to the gallows and a President who believes in reparative therapy.

Cocktails, anyone?  Bottoms up!

Comments

[Markpat]

You've given me a different perspective that had not occurred to me! Hmmmmmmmmmmm
Very interesting and IMHO very accurate.

As for Obama, I can’t imagine that he could be any worse to us (or better) than Mr. Clinton was.

On the Iowa caucus, Huckabee only got 36k votes! Hillary came in third and she got almost double that. (I am NO Hillary fan!) It’s a sad state of affairs when 36k people in a state with almost 3 million people in it can propel a man like Huckabee into contender status.

[MarkPat]

Addendum:

RE: Iowa Caucus

I’ve been surfing more and noticed that ALL sources are only stating percentages.
No mentions of vote totals. They are almost impossible to find.
The powers that be don’t want us to see what a SMALL percentage of people are deciding our future.

[Will]

Richard, you are wrong about Obama being the first black man to win a primary.

Jesse Jackson won several in 1984 and 1988.

Also, last night was not a primary, but a caucus. Nitpicky point, but there are real and substantial differences between a primary as we know it here in NY and the Iowa caucus in terms of voting, procedure, how delegates are apportioned, etc.

See the link to DailyKos giving the history of Jackson's wins.

[Jim Kelly]

Obama is a Kennedyesque figure and a powerful orator. However, he cannot bring himself to stand for full equality for gay men and lesbians, which leaves me with the feeling that for all of his fine talk, he's not ready to back it up with courageous stands for social justice. I have serious questions in my mind about Obama.

Richard, as usual, you've hot the nail squarley on the head. Iowa was not a good night for us fags and dykes.

Jim Kelly

[Jim Kelly]

In my inbox, Joe Solmonese, post Iowa:

"In the coming days, we'll also continue our work in
New
Hampshire and increase our involvement in the race for
president
as the election year heats up."

Working for who? Hillary? What are they going to do now that their candidate, Mrs. Clinton, has been thoroughly thrashed by Obama?

[GEORGE BROWN]

Your insights are generally right on, but insisting that Obama drop support of his ant-gay pastor friend as a condition of support is self defeating. Haven't we learned that unless we unite behind a candidate who supports 90 percent of our agenda, we'll end up with another Dubya, or in case of Huckabee, worse. His supporters wont care if he doesn't meet all of the Republican's agenda. They'll accept a tax & spend candidate as long as he bashes us. Worse, they'll go to the polls.

[Nigel]

I have my doubts about Obama sure, but really? If it comes down to it, at least he won't be actively pursing the right to hunt us down, and Hillary? Well, I would think the political wind blows strong enough, then she would say she has always been in favor of destroying us. Let's not forget it was her husband (and I do believe that the First Lady does have some sway over their husbands, enough to stop certain things from happening) that gave us DADT, instead of fighting congress and vetoing it, he went along with it. So, truly? No, there is no real candidate (perhaps Edwards, but even then shakey, he says leave it to the states, but get rid of DOMA (another Clinton era bill)) that supports gay rights, however, we must choose the one that will minimize the damage. Obama perhaps could be that canidate, not that I would vote for him, unless it was between him and either Huckabee or Mitt Romney (and few others)