West Virginia Voters and the Politics of Gold-Toed Roachkillers

Some of us were taken aback by the implications of Hillary Clinton's comments during a recent USA TODAY interview where she cited evidence that ["Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states (Indiana and North Carolina) who had not completed college were supporting her."]. Some of us weren't.  The scenario that was painted and its application to West Virginia voters serves as fertile ground for the exploitation of a gold-toed roachkiller mentality that historically has been a part of southern politics, but also has root in American society.

The gold-toed roachkiller gets extraordinary pleasure from sticking it to their nemesis. In this instance, the gold-toed roachkillers are the State of West Virginia blue collar and working class white voters and the nemesis is Barack Obama who happens to be their non-white foil.  Keeping with the script, Obama doesn't get credit for having a white mother.

Gold-toed roachkiller politics defy logic or common sense. The gold-toed roachkiller doesn't care about sound economic policy, universal health care or social justice.  Sound priniciples get trumped by misguided racial motivations.  These priniciples are trumped by a mentality which says I should do better than you simply because I'm white and you're not.  It's a mentality that says I'm not doing quite as well as I should because you're taken that job from me.  It's a mentality that says that because of the color of my skin, I'm better than you are.  It's a mentality that says that there is no way in hell that I'm going to vote for a black person.

The gold-toed roachkiller is an exploitation of racial prejudices.  It's a mentality that has given us red state/blue state politics.  It's a strategy that helped Jesse Helms defeat a challenge from Harvey Gantt in the NC Senate Race with his "black hands" ad and also helped Bob Corker defeat Harold Ford in the Tennessee Senate Race by associating Ford with partying with a white woman.  And we all know the role that the Willie Horton ads played in helping George W. Bush defeat Michael Dukakis.

The gold-toed roachkiller has prevented the U.S. from fully actualizing the U.S. Constitution's pronouncement "that all men are created equal."  So many of us are not really surprised by the "revelation" that some white people will not vote for a black person regardless of that person's qualifications.  We just wonder why this historical truth is being injected into the political equation yet again by the Clinton Campaign at this time and place. Is it the pleasure that can be obtained from getting caught up in the moment and sticking it to your nemesis no matter what the consequences may be?

The gold-toed roachkiller is a strategy that can be defeated.  Call it good prevailing over evil.  The gold-toed roachkiller appeals to our worst attributes and it's not just racial in nature.  It exploits our differences in general.  As good as it might feel to do harm to a nemesis, the real pleasure or satisfaction is derived from doing good.  It's when enemies break the ice and become friends and discover that their similarities are greater than their differences.  Politically speaking, it's when Democrats and Republicans resolve to work together for the common good.

So although some white people have not voted for a black person or say they will not vote for a black person, that is not a universal truth.  Just ask Barack Obama.  Obama is the front runner because white people have voted for a black person.  So this argument that Hillary should be the Democratic nominee because she has greater appeal to white voters, should be put to rest. Just because Obama will have trouble getting some white people to vote for him is not a good enough excuse for not attempting to overcome this obstacle.  As Bill Cosby told graduating students last Saturday during his commencement address at NC A&T State University, ["they can succeed if they try"], it gives me a good feeling to know that my country is trying.