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Blogs by George W Graham
Race and Gender in the U.S. Elections 1/16/2008 6:41:53 AM
It is difficult to divorce race and gender from the issues that matter in this year's Democratic primaries. But we must try. This year's Democratic Party nomination will probably be historic. Hillary Clinton would be the first woman nominated to run for the U.S. presidency. Barack Obama would be the first African-American.
Many women might feel it would be disloyal to vote against one of their own. On the other hand, many African-Americans might feel obliged to support Obama.
But to do our duty as citizens, we must set aside these considerations when we enter the ballot box. It would be disastrous to elect a woman merely because of her gender, and it would be equally disastrous to elect a black man because of his race.
(It goes without saying that it would be churlish to vote against a candidate merely because of his or her race or gender.)
We must try to isolate the assets and liabilities of each candidate, and ask ourselves whom we would trust to lead the most powerful nation in the world. To do otherwise would be an act of disloyalty to our country.
