It's About Whiteness
The GOP's last best hope remains identity politics. In a year when the
Democrats have an African American presidential nominee, the Republicans
now more than ever are the white folks' party, the party that delays the
advent of our multicultural future, the party of the American past.
Republican conventions have long been bastions of de facto Caucasian
exclusivity, but coming right after the diversity of Denver, this year's
GOP convention is almost shockingly -- un-Americanly -- white. Long
term, this whiteness is a huge problem. This year, however, whiteness is
the only way Republicans cling to power. If the election is about the
economy, they're cooked -- and their silence this week on nearly all
things economic means that they know it.
--Harold Meyerson
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