Not so easy. Digby this morning presents a fair and thoughtful presentation of the Tom Frank dilemma:
I had one of those Tom Friedmanesque taxicab moments today on my way to the airport in Austin. My driver was a very talkative African American guy from New Orleans who had no idea I was in town for a political event and just started talking about the plight of the African American family, church leaders’ inclination toward rewarding themselves at the expense of their parishoners, the government failure of Katrina, the need for people to be given a fair shot early in life so they don’t have to catch up etc. He used a lot of Bible verses to illustrate his points, was obviously very religious, well educated and concerned. He was just a lovely guy, open, passionate, friendly — the kind of person who has really thought about these issues and really works at trying to figure out ways to change the status quo.
Anyway, he talked a mile a minute and I didn’t say much until we were almost there when I asked him if he was excited about Barack. He smiled broadly and said, “Oh it’s so wonderful to see. I never thought I would see the day. But I don’t know what to do because he isn’t pro-life and he believes that marriage isn’t just for a man and a woman. And I’m afraid that if he gets in he’s going to put Hillary Clinton on the Supreme Court and she’s going to outlaw everything I believe in.”
I don’t really have a moral to this story. We parted ways smiling and laughing and I wandered into the terminal to cough and sniffle for a while before I got on the plane. Clearly the vast, vast majority of black Americans are thrilled with Obama’s candidacy (as was this guy)and are very excited to vote for him. But for the social conservatives among them, he presents a dilemma, just as the Democrats do in general for all social conservatives. Our big tent doesn’t require that you have abortions or be gay, but it does require that you do not believe the government should make laws prohibiting others from doing so. And it’s pretty fundamental, definitional stuff — civil liberties and equal rights are matters of moral belief and principles. Social conservatives just can’t sign on that. Can these beliefs be reconciled under one political party?
No tiime this morning, but maybe more thoughts on this later. The solution lies in separating out concerns that belong in the cultural sphere from concerns that belong in the political sphere. (See my post “Religion and Politics” for more on that.) For that reason, I think abortion is a bigger obstacle than gay issues in preventing the Democrats from becoming once again the New Deal center left coalition of Middle Americans it was until the sixties. It’s tragic on so many levels.
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