It appears this years Democratic Primary will do more than simply elect a candidate. Due to the nature of how votes are tallied, and the potential for the race to reflect the 2000 Presidential election, with the winner of the nomination not recieving the majority vote, the likelihood of the Democratic party being split into two factions is very real. At the beginning of the primary season Democrats were breaking their own arms to pat themselves on the back for having their two frontrunners being an African-American and a woman. They continually highlighted how their party was taking a giant step forward in the civil rights movement, with no attention being paid to the 3 steps back they have taken since.

For the last several months we have heard very little about the issues from both campaigns, with the majority of the stories revolving around race and gender. Hillary supporters have been more forthright with their willingness to play identity politics, but as we learn today, Obama’s supporters are not much better. Politico.com has a story this morning regarding the treatment of black superdelegates who support Clinton:

African-American superdelegates said Thursday that they’ll stand up against threats, intimidation and “Uncle Tom” smears rather than switch their support from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to Sen. Barack Obama.

“African-American superdelegates are being targeted, harassed and threatened,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.), a superdelegate who has supported Clinton since August. Cleaver said black superdelegates are receiving “nasty letters, phone calls, threats they’ll get an opponent, being called an Uncle Tom.

“This is the politics of the 1950s,” he complained. “A lot of members are experiencing a lot of ugly stuff. They’re not going to talk about it, but it’s happening.”

The fact is this happens more than anyone would care to think. Of course being that it is the Democratic party it is somewhat accepted because of the widespread misbelief that they have done so much for women and minorities in the past. It is also largely ignored because it is predominantly African Americans making the “Uncle-Tom” accusations, and as we have learned in the past, it is only racism if whitey mentions race.

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Dumb Dems, Election 2008, Features, Hillary Clinton, Liberals, Politics