Romnial

Romnial

by Lori Latrice Martin | special to NewBlackMan (in Exile)

During the 2012 presidential campaign, the term Romnesia was added to the American lexicon. President Obama came up with the term as a way to describe Governor Romney’s apparent “flip flops” on a host of issues. The term, criticized by some on the right as trivial and unbecoming, described what President Obama said was Romney’s “changing up so much, backtracking and sidestepping.” It appears that while the election may be over, and diagnoses of Romnesia are now few, and far between, that Romney, and other members of his party, are suffering from yet another condition, one that could be called Romnial.

Romnial is a condition characterized by series of political denials, which began afflicting Romney and other Republican candidates, even Republican operatives, beginning election night. First, Governor Romney was so convinced that he would win the election that he apparently did not even prepare a concession speech. Romnial. Although the state of Ohio was called for President Obama by watchers at various news outlets, including at Fox News, some on-air analysts and personalities, refused to concede defeat. Even Governor Romney took his time conceding the election, hoping, and perhaps praying that somehow, someway, everyone in the know got it wrong. Romnial.

Governor Romney’s own analysis as to why he lost the election is further proof that he has come down with a case of Romnial. On a conference call to donors and fundraisers, Governor Romney attributed his defeat to the belief that President Obama essentially dangled a host of political gifts before the eyes of selected voters. These voters, according to Romney, already see themselves as victims, who are dependent upon government. These individuals, including young people and people of color, were undoubtedly, included in the now infamous 47%. They, say Romney, believe they are owed an array of unearned and underserved entitlements. Romnial. Romnial has clearly caused some to ignore the broad-based coalition; superior voter turnout machine; and republican gaffes; that led to the downfall of Governor Romney’s presidential aspirations.

As was the case with Romnesia, Romnial also appears to be contagious. Vice President Joe Biden observed that Congressman Paul Ryan had come down with a case of Romnesia. Other Republicans have apparently come down with Romnial. For example, Representative Allen West apparently developed a case of Romnial. West was defeated by Democrat Patrick Murphy, and refused for a time to concede. Legal challenges not only failed, but revealed, according to the Daily News, that West may have garnered less support than shown in the original count. West, also suffered from an apparent case of Romnial. Even more well-known Republicans, like Arizona Senator John McCain have come down with Romnial.

The pre-emptive attack on Dr. Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., led by McCain and others, is reflective of a serious case of Romnial. Michael Tomasky of The Daily Beast, said it best, “In reality land, she’s done nothing that ought to be considered all that controversial. But again, conservatives don’t like the outcome—Democrats having the upper hand on foreign policy and national security—so they’re trying to make her controversial.”

McCain, perhaps still bitter about his loss in 2008 and embarrassed by his party’s showing in 2012, is waging a war with the administration, when there are clearly more important battles to fight. Some have even said that the attack on Susan Rice smacks of racism and sexism, both aimed at her and the nation’s first president of color. Apparently, Romnial can result in political hallucinations and paranoia.

There is hope, not all Republicans appear to be suffering from Romnial. Some Republicans have not only publically refuted comments made by Governor Romney, but they have already started placing political and physical distance between themselves and their former “golden boy”. Even the governors of New Jersey and Louisiana have denounced his comments. Some on the Hill have even expressed a willingness to work with President Obama on a number of issues, including on immigration and the so-called, fiscal cliff.

Whether those afflicted with the most serious cases Romnial will recover remains to be seen, but the mandate that President Obama and his party received on election night, may indicate that they have no choice but to take a shot of reality and a sip of a serum called, truth.

***

Lori Latrice Martin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Africana Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and author of the forthcoming, Black Asset Poverty and the Enduring Racial Divide (First Forum Press, a Division of Lynne Reinner Publishers).

What to Me is Election Day 2012?

What to Me is Election Day 2012?

by Lisa Guerrero | special to NewBlackMan (in Exile)

I remember the overwhelming excitement and feeling of sanctified purpose that the 2008 election had.  I, like all other Obama supporters in 2008, was swept up in the historical meaning of his potential win.  And when he did win, it felt like both the inevitable and astonishing event that it was.  Yes We Can.  Of course, his win didn’t bring with it the end of racism and the significance of race, no matter how many people naively, ignorantly, or deliberately clung, (and still cling) to the notion that an Obama presidency equaled a “post-racial” nation.  Neither did his election to the White House transform Barack Obama into the superhero we all desperately wanted him to be.  He remained a man; one who has had remarkable moments as Commander-in-Chief, and has also had regrettable moments as Commander-in-Chief.  He is fallible and flawed, as all humans are, but our disappointments in him seem to resonate much deeper because of the unprecedented hope he and his campaign allowed us to indulge in a manner that many of us had not dared to imagine before. 

It is four years later, and though I haven’t bought multiple t-shirts to commemorate it this time, I still have hope…in him, in my fellow citizens, and in my vote.  I still, and always will feel, that my vote is a profound privilege and responsibility.

This has been a long, arduous election season; the most taxing one I’ve experienced since I have been old enough to vote.  And throughout this seemingly endless election season there's been a lot of talk about how there isn't the same enthusiasm, the same "being on the cusp of history" feeling for people, especially those who supported Obama in 2008. And that is certainly true.  But elections like that come around once in a lifetime…if you’re lucky.  And while I am happy to have been a part of that rare moment four years ago, for me, and many others, this election in 2012 is more important in many ways than the historic election in 2008.

To me this election is about women's equality, my equality; it is about keeping safe women's ability, my ability, to be able to give voice to our experiences, to determine what we do with our own bodies, and to have access to safe and affordable healthcare when we make those choices; it is about affordable healthcare for everyone; it is about supporting the right for people to love whoever they want, and to have that love be recognized as "valid" and "equal," as if those words should ever have anything to do with love; it is about saving, improving, and believing in the promise of exemplary public education and future generations' chances at having access to it; it is about taking climate change seriously; it is about being our brothers’ and our sisters’ keepers. It's about the people I love…my grandmother, my disabled mother, my friends whose weddings I want to attend, my fellow teachers who are constantly being told to bail out the ocean with a teaspoon, my students who are given less and less each year while paying more and more, my goddaughter, my best friends, and the people who struggle to live a good life amidst daily challenges whose names I will never know.  All of that is worth my vote.

My vote also says, “Obama, you must do more.” Drones, immigration, mandatory minimums, mass incarceration, gun violence, voter suppression, systemic poverty.  “You can do better.  We want you to do better….we alldeserve better.”

But even if I didn't care about any of these things I would vote anyway...because while I recognize many things in our system are flawed, and will likely continue to be flawed after this and many other elections, I’m not convinced that the flaw is yet fatal.  Who am I, in all of my privilege, to stop believing, when so many with so fewer reasons to believe than I, did not stop, have not stopped?   People have fought, been jailed and beaten, died, and still die, for the singular right to check a box and say: "My voice counts too;" their battles mean that I am lucky enough today to sit in the comfort of my house, unmolested, unchallenged, fill out a ballot, and drop it in a mailbox, even as people are still being suppressed TODAY just for trying to exercise this singular right. 

As James Baldwin once said, “Words like ‘freedom,’ ‘justice,’ ‘democracy’ are not common concepts; on the contrary, they are rare. People are not born knowing what these are. It takes enormous and, above all, individual effort to arrive at the respect for other people that these words imply.”Part of that individual effort is to vote. I will alwaysvote because my vote is not mine alone, but also belongs to those I love, to those who need help, to those who, like me, still have faith that we can love our neighbors like we love ourselves. I will always vote because it is the very least I can do to say thank you to those who came before me losing battles and winning wars, and those who continue to fight many of those same battles today both here and around the world.  I will always vote because it is also the most I can do to say I will always believe we can be better tomorrow than we are today.  Yes We Can…be bold. Be hopeful.  Be unwilling to give up fighting for change.  I’m one voice among many, and I approve this message.

***

Lisa Guerrero is Associate Professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies at Washington State University Pullman, editor of Teaching Race in the 21st Century: College Professors Talk About Their Fears, Risks, and Rewards (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) and author of  the forthcoming Satiric Subjectivities: Double Conscious Satire in Contemporary Black Culture (Temple University Press).

The Stream: Are Memes Overtaking the 2012 US Presidential Election?

AlJazeeraEnglish

Are memes overtaking the 2012 US presidential election and replacing substance with the silly?

Keli Goff & James Braxton Peterson Discuss 2012 Election on 'Our Voices with Black Enterprise'

BEMultiMedia

 

This week, we showcase a Reporter's Roundtable examining the up-coming 2012 presidential election. Panelists include Tara Wall, Media Strategist and Senior Adviser to the Romney Campaign; James Braxton Peterson, Director of Africana Studies and Associate Professor at Lehigh University; and Keli Goff, Political Analyst for The Root.com.

William 'Sandy' Darity Discusses 2012 Presidential Race in North Carolina on PBS NewsHour

PBS NewsHour

In 2008, North Carolina went blue for the first time since 1976, in large part due to a high turnout of African-American voters. But with enthusiasm ebbing over the down economy and unmet expectations among key voting blocs, turnout may be too unpredictable to know which way the state will swing in 2012. Jeffrey Brown reports.

"Democratic Womanism": Poet and Activist Alice Walker on Women Rising, Obama & the 2012 Election

Democracy Now 

With less than 40 days to go before the 2012 presidential election, poet and activist Alice Walker reads her new poem, "Democratic Womanism," and discusses her thoughts on President Obama's legacy, including his use of drone strikes. "You ask me why I smile when you tell me you intend in the coming national elections to hold your nose and vote for the lesser of two evils," reads Walker. "There are more than two evils out there, is one reason I smile."

"Wake the F**k Up": An Election PSA Courtesy of Samuel L. Jackson

SchlepLabs | http://WTFU2012.com
 

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson
Directed by: Boaz Yakin and Kitao Sakurai
Written by: Adam Mansbach
Produced by: Jesse Schiller
Executive Producer: Mik Moore

HuffPost Live: Reverend Jesse Jackson Shares His Concerns For The Upcoming Election

HuffPostLive

 

Josh, Alicia and Reverend Jesse Jackson discuss what concerns the Reverend has entering the 2012 election.