Comments on: The Politics of Race, American Style http://www.ethnography.com/2008/01/the-politics-of-race-american-style/ A group blog on a wide variety of topics realted to anthropology Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:06:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Donna http://www.ethnography.com/2008/01/the-politics-of-race-american-style/comment-page-1/#comment-177 Donna Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:09:24 +0000 http://www.ethnography.com/2008/01/the-politics-of-race-american-style/#comment-177 I am interested in this rhetoric of change on the Democratic side, and how the personal identities of the two front-runners play into this. I read (in washingtonpost.com, I believe) a columnist discussing Obama's candidacy, and he made the point that Obama's skin color is a perfect signifier for just how much of a change his election to the presidency would be. What about Senator Clinton's signifiers? For me, and perhaps for other Democrats in the country, her female signifiers compete with her Clinton signifiers. Her argument that she would be the candidate of change appears true in that it would be a change from the Bush administration, but does not appear to be true regarding change within the Democratic Party. The media coverage of both Democratic front-runners is shocking in its reliance on cliches and stereotypes. "Hilary cries!" "Obama is cool!" Glad the voters seem to be taking the issues seriously, at least for now. I am interested in this rhetoric of change on the Democratic side, and how the personal identities of the two front-runners play into this. I read (in washingtonpost.com, I believe) a columnist discussing Obama’s candidacy, and he made the point that Obama’s skin color is a perfect signifier for just how much of a change his election to the presidency would be. What about Senator Clinton’s signifiers? For me, and perhaps for other Democrats in the country, her female signifiers compete with her Clinton signifiers. Her argument that she would be the candidate of change appears true in that it would be a change from the Bush administration, but does not appear to be true regarding change within the Democratic Party.
The media coverage of both Democratic front-runners is shocking in its reliance on cliches and stereotypes. “Hilary cries!” “Obama is cool!”
Glad the voters seem to be taking the issues seriously, at least for now.

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