It sounds like a funny question, to ask it so starkly, but I don’t think it is funny at all. A lot of Greek-Americans supported Dukakis because he was Greek. There was pride that one of our own had finally made it (well, almost). And we knew that it would help our community, break a few glass ceilings as it were, if a dark Mediterranean made his way to the Oval Office. So why not the same logic for African-Americans and women?
Sometimes, it really does seem that if you’re not Caucasian, you’re ipso facto part of a minority bloc, and therefore under some sort of nebulous obligation to vote for the candidate of your color or gender. The problem with this theory, of course, is that it completely ignores the right of individuals to vote their interests, their pocketbook, or whatever else trips their trigger. The candidate a “member” of a “minority bloc” ultimate votes for may have nothing to do with their color, their gender, or their ethnicity…and this is exactly how it should be.
Should African-Americans be expected to vote for Barack Obama? Should women be expected to vote for Hillary Clinton? Should Martians be expected to vote for Tom Tancredo, Sam Brownback, or Duncan Hunter? Of course not…unless that’s the choice an individual makes. Of course, I can understand how ethnic or other minority groups may have voting records that trend in a particular direction, but to assume that African-Americans will vote for Obama simply because of shared skin color is the height of absurdity and over-simplification. I vote for a candidate because he, she, or it is the person or thing I feel, based on my own criteria, is the best candidate for the position in question. I would hope that most Americans would take a similar approach.
While it’s a wonderful thing that no longer can all Presidential candidates be filed under “Well-fed White Guy”, political pundits still seem to assume that everyone except White Males will vote for someone who shares the same skin color or gender. This, of course, raises this thorny question: whatever is one to do if a candidate is an African-American Female?? Hmm….
