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The
Michigan Socialist | Features | In-Depth -
Election 2004
Dissecting the
Doctor
Howard
Dean and the 'Southern Strategy'
By MARTIN
SCHREADER
Editor, The Michigan
Socialist
IN THE MONTHS prior to the first primaries
taking place, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean seems to
have catapulted himself into the pole position for the
upcoming Democratic presidential nomination campaign.
With an aggressive campaigning style,
effective (and relatively unprecedented) use of Internet
technology, and a well-staged range of emotions, Dean has
captured the imagination and attention of millions of
Democratic voters.
Of the nine candidates for the Democratic
nomination, Dean regularly outpaces his rivals in fundraising
and media coverage -- both positive and negative. Even his
fellow candidates have commented on the unevenness of this
coverage.
But Gov. Dean is not without his "skeletons."
Over the last six months, questions regarding his son's
criminal record, his service (or lack thereof) during Vietnam
and his verbal gaffes have from time to time caused storm
clouds to briefly gather over him.
And yet, he seems to parry these media-driven
thrusts with the skill shown by previous "Teflon" presidents:
Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.
Of the aforementioned verbal gaffes, perhaps
the one that has shown the greatest longevity was his comment
on the need to appeal to "poor whites that have Confederate
flag stickers on the back of their trucks."
This statement repelled many people, including
some of his more adamant supporters. It looked like Gov. Dean
was pandering to the base backwardness of racial chauvinism
and white supremacy in America.
However, a recent speech by Dean in Columbia,
South Carolina, has allowed people to find a new context for
those statements.
At a supporters rally in the S.C. capital,
Dean sought to appeal to the similarities in position found
among poor whites and African Americans in order to win some
of the former to his banner.
Liberal commentators from all corners lined up
to praise Dean's carefully crafted comments. Many called it
"inspiring," "uplifting" and even "historic."
Among those subscribing to the latter are the
editors of Black Commentator, a weekly newsletter and
Internet website.
The BC editors boldly proclaimed that
Dean made "racial-political history" with his comments. His
speech in Columbia was "the most important statement on race
in American politics by a mainstream white politician in
nearly 40 years."
HOWARD DEAN'S SPEECH in Columbia was, in fact,
historic -- not necessarily because of any kind of positive
program he put forward, but rather for the topic that framed
his statement.
Instead of attempting to paraphrase, here is
how Gov. Dean opened his comments:
In 1968, Richard Nixon won the White House.
He did it in a shameful way -- by dividing Americans against
one another, stirring up racial prejudices and bringing out
the worst in people.
They called it the "Southern Strategy," and
the Republicans have been using it ever since. Nixon
pioneered it, and Ronald Reagan perfected it, using phrases
like "racial quotas" and "welfare queens" to convince white
Americans that minorities were to blame for all of America's
problems. ("Restoring the American Community," Howard
Dean's Blog for America -- http://blog.deanforamerica.com/archives/002565.html)
Commenting on this statement, the Black
Commentator wrote:
For four decades, the primary political
project of the Republican Party has been to transform itself
into the White Man's Party. Not only in the Deep South, but
also nationally, the GOP seeks to secure a majority popular
base for corporate governance through coded appeals to white
racism. The success of this GOP project has been the central
fact of American politics for two generations -- reaching
its fullest expression in the Bush presidency. Yet a
corporate covenant with both political parties has
prohibited the mere mention of America's core contemporary
political reality: the constant, routine mobilization of
white voters through the imagery and language of race.
Last Sunday, Howard Dean broke that
covenant. ("Dean Makes Racial-Political History," Black
Commentator -- http://www.blackcommentator.com/68/68_cover_dean.html)
Unquestionably, this is a strong vote of
confidence from one of the better-known voices of the
African-American press. But is such praise deserved?
We can find the answer to that in the columns
of the BC article itself, when the editors compare
Dean's Dec. 7 speech to the remarks of former President Lyndon
Johnson at Howard University in June 1965.
Johnson's speech is considered one of the
landmark statements by an American president on the question
of civil rights -- and arguably one of the strongest and most
comprehensive of such statements since the days of
Reconstruction.
Freedom is not enough. You do not wipe away
the scars of centuries by saying: Now you are free to go
where you want, and do as you desire, and choose the leaders
you please.... Thus it is not enough just to open the gates
of opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to
walk through those gates.
This is the next and more profound stage of
the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but
opportunity. We seek not just legal equity but human
ability, not just equality as a right and a theory but
equality as a fact and equality as a result....
Negro poverty is not white poverty. Many of
its causes and many of its cures are the same. But there are
differences -- deep, corrosive, obstinate differences --
radiating painful roots into the community, and into the
family, and the nature of the individual.
These differences are not racial
differences. They are solely and simply the consequence of
ancient brutality, past injustice, and present prejudice.
They are anguishing to observe. For the Negro they are a
constant reminder of oppression. ("To Fulfill These Rights,"
Official Website: Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and
Museum -- www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/speeches.hom/650604.asp)
In 1965, Johnson was the highest
representative of mainstream American liberalism, taking over
from the recently assassinated John F. Kennedy. Thus his
speech represented what was then the bedrock upon which the
liberal wing of the capitalist class rested and ruled.
 |
| Eight of the nine Democratic candidates for their
presidential nomination (from left to right): Rep. Dick
Gephardt; Sen. Joe Lieberman; Rev. Al Sharpton; former
Amb. Carol Moseley-Braun; Rep. Dennis Kucinich; Sen.
John Edwards; former Gov. Howard Dean; Sen. John Kerry.
Not pictured: retired Gen. Wesley
Clark. |
IN COMPARING THE words of Johnson to those of
Dean, however, we find that the coupling of these two
high-profile Democratic politicians as like minds is
unwarranted -- and potentially dangerous.
More to the point, while Johnson was certainly
a mainstream liberal, arguably even a moderate, in his day,
when his remarks are put side-by-side with those of Dean, the
former president sounds like a wild-eyed idealist.
We see this difference in what each of these
men emphasized in their appeal for racial unity.
For Johnson, it was not enough to simply
guarantee equality; it was necessary to understand the basis
for the existing inequality, and to come together to overcome
it through united efforts.
Whatever one can say about his subsequent
actions (and, believe me, there is plenty to say) on this and
many other issues, the liberal vision laid out by Johnson not
only acknowledged the inequality between Black and white, but
also sought to change the existing material situation that
fostered the inequality.
This is the meaning behind Johnson's
admonition that he seeks "not just equality as a right and a
theory, but equality as a fact and equality as a result."
And Gov. Dean? Here is his vision and appeal
for unity:
There are no black concerns or white
concerns or Hispanic concerns in America. There are only
human concerns.... It's time we had a new politics in
America -- a politics that refuses to pander to our lowest
prejudices. (ibid.)
What an incredibly ignorant and narrow-minded
statement to make!
In Johnson's day, the road to unity was paved
by an understanding that it was necessary to recognize how
racism and white supremacy made the formal, legal equality
guaranteed by the Constitution and federal law a sham.
For Dean, however, the road to unity is to be
laid in silence, by papering over differences and ignoring the
very real inequality between Black and white.
But it does not end here. We can also note a
fundamental difference between Johnson and Dean on the role
that whites have in creating this unity.
In his speech, Johnson stressed the need for
whites, especially Southern whites, to "accept responsibility"
for the "centuries of oppression and persecution" of African
Americans.
That is, the rights of the oppressed can only
be secured when the actions of the oppressor are changed.
On the other hand, Dean stressed the need for
whites to ... do nothing, in regards to their role as
oppressor. In fact, Dean consciously avoids many of the basic
issues that Johnson addressed directly 38 years before.
Counterposed to Johnson's appeal for
oppressors to recognize and address their problems, as part of
a united effort to end discrimination and prejudice, Dean
appeals to the oppressed to put aside their "concerns" and
come together in a united effort to ... put him in the White
House.
Only a movement of citizens of every color,
every income level, and every background that can change
this country and once again make it live up to the promise
of America. (ibid.)
FOR THE EDITORS of Black Commentator,
Gov. Dean's comments are a "straightforward, anti-corporate
message that does not pander to white racism." Nothing could
be further from the truth.
In fact, looking at Dean's comments, it is
clear that, far from being "anti-corporate," he calls on
capitalism to take on the role of benevolent patriarch of the
poor and subscribe to an agenda "that says we're all in this
together."
(For the moment, I will leave aside the issue
of his call for Black, Brown and white workers to join hands
with their exploiters and oppressors in the capitalist class.)
Moreover, far from promoting a "message that
does not pander to white racism," Dean's comments alibi this
very same white racism by not challenging the institutional
and ideological practices that have kept African Americans,
Latinos and every other oppressed race and nationality in the
United States from achieving any measure of meaningful
equality.
In fact, Dean's comments are peppered with the
anecdotal comments that often fuel racist stereotypes and
demagoguery. For example, Dean says:
Every time a politician complains about
affirmative action in our universities, it's because he'd
[sic] rather not talk about the real problems with education
in America -- like the fact that here in South Carolina,
only 15 percent of African Americans have a post-high school
degree.
When education is suffering in lower-income
areas, it means that we will all pay for more prisons and
face more crime in the future. (ibid.; emphasis
mine)
The implication here should not be lost on
anyone: because African Americans are poorly educated, they
thus commit more crime and will be a financial burden on "us
all".
This variant on "white man's burden" -- the
belief that the oppressors must lift up and civilize
("educate") those "less fortunate" -- fits well with the
current colonialist ideology of the capitalist class. After
all, more than once has the Bush regime referred to its
occupation of Iraq as a "civilizing mission."
That the editors of BC cannot recognize
the political agenda and ideology guiding Gov. Dean's comments
is a testament to the desperation (and bankruptcy) of the
pro-capitalist "official" voices of the African American
community.
Gov. Dean's statements, far from being a
"clear and definitive break" from the policies of the ruling
class (either in the form of the Republican or Democratic
party leaderships), are little more than a tactical shift from
the more overt paeans to white racism that have motivated
figures from both main political parties since the 1970s.
Instead of obvious appeals to media-driven
racist oppression, Dean prefers a "liberal" racism that shuts
its eyes to the reality of American capitalism (which is in
many ways predicated on racism and national chauvinism) and,
in turn, does nothing to resolve those problems.
To be "color blind" in a racist society is to
capitulate to racism, if not aid in its continuance.
In an ideal world, it would be nice to be able
to place the societal constructs of race and nationality
behind us and go forward.
But we do not live in an ideal world; we live
in a world where race and nationality are maintained by
capitalism in order to keep workers from uniting in a common
struggle to end exploitation and oppression.
 |
| Former Vice President Al Gore (left) endorsed
Dean for the Democratic presidential nomination. Both
Dean and Gore represent a re-emerging populist wing of
the Democratic Party. |
IN THE FINAL analysis, Gov. Dean's Columbia
speech represents little more than a tactical shift away from
the more overt racism that has been the hallmark of the
American government since the days of Nixon and the rise of
the "Southern Strategy."
The same prejudices, stereotypes and ignorance
continue to dominate the agenda. The only difference is on the
extent to which those racist tendencies are moderated for the
sake of the "community" (no, not the Black community; the
"American community").
At this point, another hallmark of Dean's
politics must be addressed. Much is made about his appeals to
poor whites, and his view that programs like affirmative
action should be based on "class," not race, nationality or
gender.
Many have seen this as proof of Dean's
left-liberal "credentials." Again, nothing could be further
from the truth.
While it is, unfortunately, outside of the
scope of this article to expand on this point further, it
should be pointed out that there is a re-emerging populist
wing of the Democratic Party, acting in opposition to both the
pro-capitalist "moderates" of the DLC and the
social-democratic "Progressive" wing.
In 2000, this wing began to show signs of
renewed life in the form of former Vice President Al Gore.
This renewed movement has since grown into a
powerful "swing" faction in the Democratic Party, capable of
influencing the direction of the organization (though not by
very much) through mobilizing the voter base.
The populists now occupy a "center" position,
between the liberals/social democrats (which operate as a
bloc) and "moderate" pro-capitalists, and are able to use that
position as a way to play both ends against each other.
In turn, this populist wing is developing its
own "Southern Strategy" to counter the "moderates," pacify the
liberal/social-democratic coalition and steal the thunder of
the Republicans.
The crux of this new "strategy" is an
economistic appeal to poor whites as a "class" ("pleading the
pocketbook"), combined with a "color blind" liberalism that
papers over the reality of racism in America while formally
criticizing it.
It may be arguable that, in today's context,
the editors of the Black Commentator are formally
correct when they say that Gov. Dean's speech is the "most
important statement on race" since Johnson's 1965 speech.
However, it is apparent that even the "most
important statement" of the idealistic populist Howard Dean
cannot hold a candle to the sober, tempered liberalism of
Lyndon Johnson.
No one should be fooled: Gov. Howard Dean's
Columbia speech does not represent any kind of fundamental
break with the pro-capitalist program of today's DLC-run
Democratic Party.
Instead, it is the statement of a vacillating
populist seeking to appeal to both wings of his party to
ignore and/or bury their differences and unite behind a new
"Southern Strategy," which will preserve the basis of racism
while modifying its
presence. | 
