Post-Thanksgiving Dinner Political Conversations

Hanging with the cousins

by j. brotherlove

I spent a late Thanksgiving evening with my cousins (first-once removed, second and third) in which we caught up on familial updates, ate a little, drank a lot and talked extensively about the upcoming Presidential election. That’s a first.

The bulk of the conversation revolved around Clinton vs. Obama. Most of us are leaning toward Clinton. However we had a lively debate regarding both including one cousin who kept shrieking "But we can’t vote for Hillary! She’ll invade Iran!"

Other hesitation over Clinton echoed some of the reasons Baratunde wrote about last week. Obama criticisms included the familiar: lack of experience, shaky platform, and an overly idealistic approach to politics. Nobody, however, mentioned fearing for Obama’s life, something with which What About Our Daughters takes strong issue:

I mean under that reasoning, Harriet Tubman would have stayed a slave because the risk of running away was great. The risk of returning repeatedly was even greater. We are not a the descendants of a bunch of shrinking violets! Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Baker, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth. Suck it up Black people! Y’all act like we ain’t ever faced perilous times and survived. Middle Passage anybody? […]

At the end of the night we agreed nothing is written in stone. Candidates change their tune all the time and we can’t afford to be mired in a decision so early in the game. Nevertheless, this is the most fascinating Presidential race in the history of our country. I can’t wait for the cornucopia of cookie-cutter debates to end and for things to really heat up.

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