ELECTION 2012: RACE OR THE ECONOMY -- DEPENDS ON WHO YOU ASK...

"It's race, stupid!"

Mike Lupica unabashedly proclaimed this at the top of his New York Daily News column, recently.

I agree with Mike and lots of others. Race is not the elephant in the room -- it is the room itself. The obvious analogy to the GOP is no coincidence. It is the stage that  America has set for itself by ignoring and exploiting race since the end of the 1970s. 

Since then the veiled messages and phrases: Welfare, immigration, "I want my country back," Obama is a Muslim, Obama is not a citizen, "You lie" said a Congressman. (afterwards his coffers were filled with tens of thousands of unsolicited contributions for his rude, crude, two words.)

Thank you, Ronald Reagan, with the benign, your-kindly-uncle demeanor., for putting the smiley face on the worst of the far right and its religious and racial demagoguery and their plans to "retake America." This the same Reagan who Republicans have since canonized into their own "Camelot."  Reagan got eight years, JFK? A thousand days. Don't let anyone ever tell you history is fair.  

This is the Reagan that kicked off his Presidential bid in Philadelphia, Mississippi. You know what else its known for? The place where three civil rights workers -- two black, one white -- were beaten, mutilated and dumped for helping people register to vote in those perilous times. 

That's right Reagan fans, Philadelphia, Mississippi,  where Reagan announced his candidacy and gave his first nod and wink to the racists of the far right. And  they took over the Republican party (and really the entire country) and have held it since. 

They have the Democrats so scared that a bunch of them call themselves "Blue Dogs" to escape the stigma of being a part of any traditional Democratic agenda. You know like reproductive rights, sane gun control laws, the right to marry who you wish, and -- oh yeah health care reform. Even with subsequent victories by Clinton and Obama in the post-Reagan era, the Democratic party has managed little more than field goals. 

How do the  Republicans do it? The social agenda and the virulent rhetoric that goes with it: Abortion - baby killing. Gay marriage - sodomy, perversion, and on. And all wrapped up in the "Christian" bible. Amen.

So the race messages were subtle last time in 2008. Not so now.

Ask Juan Williams. They almost ran the FOX-TV commentator out of the studio, and he is about as militant as Tiger Woods.  

      
But Juan stepped up to the plate during a recent Republican debate  between white men with money and asked some piercing questions about their comments and stances on race. About the disparages on wealth and poverty and unemployment between whites and blacks. About the "food stamp president" label and on.  He was snubbed, ignored or -- in Newt's case -- swatted down and patronized. 

Was Juan being too uppity? 

The audience booed him relentlessly.  For being a journalist asking tough questions? Or for being Black and stepping out of line and daring to confront white power?

I'm certain Juan left with his personal integrity in tact -- but he was also as stunned by the reaction as I'll bet Obama was when he realized John Boenner really didn't want to play with him in the schoolyard.

Either way, with this awakening, Juan earns his "hangout card" in my book. He had also said that NPR (his previous employer before FOX-TV) was "too white." Liberals get no free pass from me on race. Maybe Juan gets it now.

It's time someone in the GOP says: "This race thing is not good for us or good for the country." Maybe they could show some ethical courage.

But the fact is that this race thing  has worked well for them. So well that people are willing to blame the economy on the Black, brown and poor more so than Reagan and Bushes I&II. Or Wall Street. Or the mortgage brokers, or the banks. 

So they feel safe putting a team on the field which is, as Lupica also said, "as white as the National Hockey League." The Republicans can so shamelessly parade a host of white millionaire men (minus a Palin-lite female and a buffoon Black) in front of people who have either lost or are in fear of losing their jobs and houses. The fat cats say: "You're hungry? Feed us more and we'll help you out -- just make sure we're full first."

These are perilous times. This time it is more than the rhetoric. It is voter suppression. Suppression of one of the most precious and fundamental of rights. According to the NAACP, there are over 40 states that require photo voter ID, request voter photo ID, or are proposing voter ID through current legislation.  And that's just one possible restriction. Many states have banned voter registration on Sundays -- when many Blacks, especially in the south, aer gathered in churches and often go together afterwards to register. Imagine!

The NAACP has been all over the voter repression issue. The civil rights giant that many had feared (or in some cases, hoped) was sleeping is up with a roar and chapters all over the country are fighting against these restrictions as well as registering and encourage people to vote.

At a recent NAACP "Civic Engagement Forum" that I moderated, an esteemed and experienced panel discussed the significance of the 2012 elections in its many aspects.

Daa'iya Sansusi, a radio commentator and journalist, spoke of how the voting rights laws that were enacted in the civil rights movement in the 1960s after fierce and bloody struggles, are being side stepped, ignored and in real danger of being overturned. Many find this hard to believe. But the evidence is clear. So clear that US Attorney General Eric Holder has been actively involved in following cases around the country seeking violations of federal law.

Another participant, Herb Boyd, veteran journalist, author, and Black Studies professor, said that "They are trying to run the clock back to 1950....We have to turn it back to the time of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement of the sixties as well as the Black Liberation struggle of the seventies. It will take that kind of effort in this environment to meet the Republican threat."

Widely-respected, sometimes controversial veteran journalist, Dominic Carter, said that it is "in the hands of the Black./Brown community to get active like that last election...If you don't Obama can lose -- don't get complacent..."

Bertha Lewis, former CEO of ACORN, an effective organization in organizing and advocacy,  that was wiped out after allegations of fraud of various types, spoke passionately. Lewis said this was all "part of an all-out war by the far right to stop any viable political social force opposed to them." She now runs her own organization, The Black Institute. Her take on 2012: "Listen, right now its 40% Democrats and 40% Republicans -- split down the middle. What's left is 20% of undecided. We have to get those votes. Last time Obama won North Carolina (first time for a Democrat since the early 60s) . They registered 300,000 new voters. He won the state by 14,000. He needed every vote!"  

She also warned about the Right going after Planned Parenthood -- this two weeks before the Susan G. Komen bungled attempt to stop funding it. So embarrassingly loud and hard was the reaction that Komen's "race for the cure" was a distant second to its race to cover their asses. They booted their top communications officer -- unbelievably hired despite her past in trying to destroy Planned Parenthood. Yet they may never quite recover. Too bad. A fine organization with a history of good works for women's health.

So is Planned Parenthood.   

Now the Right's front runner is Santorum, with eyes like a trooper who'll shoot you and plant a gun on your body. He leads the GOP pack ("pack" is a good word for them no?)

A Black woman on radio said that this would be the true election - Obama v. Santorum, the true culture war about abortion, gay marriage, contraception and race. Pick your order.

We'll see if this gets in the way of the economy.

We'll see if women, young people, independents and the Occupy folks realize what is at stake here.  

Not a time to be neutral folks -- you can't sit this one out. This could be as close to a "winner-take-all" brawl as this there has been in our lifetimes.