Irreconcilable Differences: Campaign Edition

This week's tempest about Barack Obama's decision to tour South Carolina with "formerly gay" African-American minister Donnie McClurkin is a reminder of the irreconcilable differences facing the Democratic Party. Such divisions are also forming in the formerly monolithic Republican Party as well--between Iraq war diehards and Iraq war realists, for example.

But today let's talk about the Democrats.

Obama needs the vote of religious African-Americans in South Carolina's early primary; they tend to frown on the morality of homosexuality, while not necessarily endorsing discrimination. This is the Reverend McClurkin's stance too, according to Slate.  So he will be an effective advocate for Obama in the Palmetto State.

But Obama also needs the support (and money) of gav voters. McClurkin's conversion from gayness is not likely to impress this crowd.

How can Obama straddle this line? Will he find a way to appeal to both populations in a meaningful way, or simply resort to mouthing bromides about how he is opposed to discrimination but can't deny his love for Jesus?  The latter, I'm afraid--this is an irreconcilable difference. 

The Democratic Party has a proud tradition of supporting minority rights, but no way to resolve the tensions that emerge when the aims of different minority groups conflict. So be on the lookout for obfuscation and cliches in a Presidential campaign near you.

Comments

[Jane]

Even though you've left New York, I hope you're still reading the times. Good story in the Magazine today and also an op-ed by Frank Rich on the changing views of the "religious right" in American politics.

[Bill Cash]

Good luck, Mr. Obama. The tensions between the gay and black worlds have never been easy. Both camps fight for the loyalties of our brothers who are born both gay *and* black. Some of their relatives deny that gayness is real, and insist that it's a white thing which their sons can snap out of. Meanwhile, we seek to prise them from the grasp of their allegedly hateful families, whose psychological poisons cause such anguish, because we are serenely convinced that it is better to be out and proud than to be welcome at momma's house. Neither camp is entirely right.

We want to be as welcoming and accepting as possible, because we have a singular knowledge about what it's like to be excluded. One thing we don't accept, though, is people who claim to "get out" of homosexuality and who can "help" others do the same. They are liars. And their dangerous self-delusions, when publicized, offer gay black men a false hope that the sad tug-of-war between conflicting identities can be sidestepped.

Mr. Obama does face a choice between two camps when he associates with these people, but it's a choice forced on him by these "converts," not us. We have long memories, and while most of us don't vote on a single issue, we won't forget his choice.