Welcome to Buster's Blog

Irregular commentary on whatever's on my mind -- politics, sports, current events, and life in general. After twenty years of writing business and community newsletters, fifteen years of fantasy baseball newsletters, and two years of email "columns", this is, I suppose, the inevitable result: the awful conceit that someone might actually care to read what I have to say. Posts may be added often, rarely, or never again. As always, my mood and motivation are unpredictable.

Buster Gammons















Monday, October 29, 2012

The Unbreakable Whiteness Of Being [Mitt Romney]

The presidential race is tighter than the regulars at my favorite watering hole, and Ohio is the swingiest of the swing states, so we're getting mucho attencione from both sides.  They're so entrenched here in the Buckeye Land, they may owe us state taxes.  (If so, Kasich will give Mitt a waiver.)

We're seeing plenty of photos and video from their Ohio campaign stops.  I've been to a few Obama events and have been pleased to see crowds that are a broad mixture of all sorts of people.  It's an across-the-spectrum demographic representation of our future.

 
 
In contrast, I can't help but notice that the turnout for Romney is blindingly white, heavily male, and old.
 
 
No surprise at all.  The guy's a Mormon (totally white), went to BYU (all white except for few jocks), ran a vulture capital company (white guys in suits), and has lived his life at country clubs and dressage competitions (fuckin' white-out!). 
 
Now Ol' Buster's a white guy too -- I'm a pasty Dane who can't dance and can't jump.  I enjoy casseroles, Wonder Bread and mayonnaise.  But I can't appreciate the current brand of white-person politics as embodied by the Republican party.  It's divisive, greedy, incredibly mean, and just plain wrong.
 
Four years ago, most Americans could see that Dubya had been a terrifically destructive dolt, and they could see that the McCain-Palin ticket was a bad joke.  Enough were able to properly disregard race and we elected the clearly superior candidate.  We made history and it made me proud.  But since then, I'm afraid we've taken a step backward.  The simple fact of a black president -- his mere existence -- has rekindled some of the bigotry and ugliness I haven't seen since I was a kid.  The right wing has fanned the flames by shamelessly playing the race card non-stop, and I'm afraid that this time it just might work.
 
Gawd, I hope not!  We may not be "post-racial" just yet, but for our own benefit and the sake of the future, please let us be "post-old-white-Republicans."    


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