The trouble with identity politics

After another round of primaries and a caucus, it is time to comment on what seems to be the one consistent emerging theme: identity politics. While many in the press can't seem to give any Republican a chance to succeed W, we may be witnessing the disintegration of the various factions within the Democratic Party that are supposedly united in anyone but a Republican for President.

While New Hampshire was a harbinger of things to come, the Nevada caucuses and the barbs traded by the Obama and Clinton camps in the lead up to it have just deepened the divide. The latest casualty in this debate is Oprah Winfrey. Apparently, a good number of her fans feel she is traitor because she endorsed a black man and not the woman in the race. Feelings similar to this likely led to the large turnout of women voters that propelled Hillary to victory in Nevada. I guess it is just Obama's bad luck that he was born black (12% of the population), instead of a women (50%+ of the nation). This lack of focus on issues, combined with continual, counterproductive sniping by Hillary's husband, has led Obama to correctly question the Clinton campaign's strategy on Monday's Good Morning America. The question, which aggrieved minority group within the Democratic Party will win?

Contrast this with McCain's win in South Carolina. While he is no darling of the evangelical movement that has made up a good portion of the Republican party over the last several decades, he was able to piece together a coalition of conservatives and independents in South Carolina. Perhaps most encouraging is that McCain has been able to weather attacks from the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Tom DeLay, who are incensed that he doesn't bow to their dogmatic beliefs of old-school conservatism, and still won in South Carolina. To listen to DeLay is to listen to a man who is angry that his hand got caught in the Abramoff cookie jar - an issue championed by John McCain. Limbaugh is probably angry that if McCain gets elected president, he won't be able to do his usual backslapping, propaganda filled "interviews" with a VP like Dick Cheney - that's because McCain would NEVER allow his administration to be associated with such a bombastic partisan as Limbaugh. The biggest sin by McCain, it seems, is his ability to appeal to more than one interest group. He thinks for himself, doesn't kowtow to party orthodoxy, and can find compromises that work for both parties involved. How dare he?!?!?!

While there are many primaries to go, it seems that identity and single issue groups may determine the course of the election. On the Democratic side, it may tear the party apart with two powerful groups - women and African Americans - doing battle. In the Republican Party, John McCain may have found a way to transcend the divisions within the party of the last 20+ years. We'll see which strategy fairs better once the primaries are done and the general election begins.