Sunday, June 15, 2008
Obama should understand Appalachia
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FRANK KILGORE
Kilgore, is a lifelong advocate for better health care, natural resource conservation and improved educational opportunities in Central Appalachia. He practices law in St. Paul and is the founding chair of the University of Appalachia. His views do not reflect those of the university.
The snobbish national media have made a great deal out of the fabled oddities and presumed racism of the Appalachian people during the recent Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses.
First of all, exit polling showed that race was a significant factor in how votes were cast in several non-Appalachian states, regions and cities. More importantly, who can deny that race was an issue when Obama pulled 90 percent of the black vote as his nomination gained steam? And this overwhelming one-sided support came at the expense of Hillary Clinton, whose husband has been touted as America's "first" black president. He was also, in many ways, seen as the Appalachian president, just as Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy struck a chord here in much tougher times.
The recent lop-sided primary votes tallied in the deeper portions of Appalachia were not particularly anti-Obama; they were loyalty votes to the Clintons and a protest of what many rural Americans see as an ultra-liberal and anti-gun political record on the part of Obama. That is not to say that the hills are devoid of racism -- it is everywhere in the world and flourishes among all races -- but we have made many great strides to overcome it in America and the mountains.
Just as Appalachians mostly favored anti-slavery and pro-Union policies leading up to and during the Civil War, loyalty and the independence to exercise it is intense. Doug Wilder, the nation's first black governor, did very well in the Appalachian portion of Virginia two decades ago, but his policies and positions were moderate for the times and would be conservative by Barack Obama standards; therein is the rub. Critics can call it racism if it makes them feel superior, but it is about policy and visceral issues that any astute politician can easily research. It is not like we have hidden our support for guns, God and nationalism here in the hills.
Since the Battle of King's Mountain when a rag-tag band of Scots-Irish, lower-class English and religiously persecuted German descendents whipped a thousand Loyalists and shot British Major Patrick Ferguson eight times for threatening their lives and freedom, there is no doubt that guns, and the ability to defend one's self and family from criminals and tyrants alike, are still key issues in the mountains.
President Bill Clinton did not threaten that basic tenet that harkens back to the fighting spirit of Appalachians that prevails even today. Al Gore and John Kerry ignored this Second Amendment tradition, and we know how that strategy turned out in West Virginia and other Appalachian states. One might make the case that issue alone pivoted mountain swing states to George Bush, not a pleasant thought in retrospect for sure.
When Appalachians were starving during the Great Depression, the region's men made up the backbone of the Civilian Conservation Corps and later signed up for battle during World War II in record numbers compared with other, more populous regions of the nation. What these hard-boiled subsistence farmers, coal miners and loggers may have lacked in education they made up for in understanding the lay of the land, innovative tactics and tenacity. This patriotic Appalachian tradition prevailed in all our nation's wars and is still alive and well.
The point is, what Obama ran into in deeper Appalachia was loyalty to Bill Clinton, who many mountain people respect for his rural roots and his push toward including people of modest means in the American Dream. Obama's Chicago liberalism and association with persons with anti-American attitudes also hurt him severely. Obama's remarks about our kind clinging to guns and religion instead of hope and enlightenment have not helped his cause either. The sustained business and educational achievements of "our kind" would surprise and apparently baffle the nation's elitists who apparently have no intention of reflecting upon their own bigotry.
Obama, however, was wise to come to Appalachia soon after his nomination was a sure thing. He is a very bright politician and obviously has the confidence to go where he feels unwelcome. That boldness alone will garner respect. If he fails to carry Appalachia it will not be because he is black, it will be because of his lack of understanding of what is important to us as a culture just as we cannot pretend to truly know what is important to his black, urban culture.
While many mountain people will be drawn to John McCain's independent streak and his valor and courage in Vietnam, where he refused to be released from torture and captivity until his comrades could join him, Obama will gain a respectable share of mountain votes as he articulates his vision for better jobs, health care and educational opportunities. He will gain votes here, most of all, if he shows a little respect for an independent and fiercely loyal culture that has been ridiculed by the Andrea Mitchells and other media elites of the world for way too long. But Obama cannot blame racism with the fact that his very liberal political positions are way out of sync with much of rural America, including the mountains.
We Appalachians also have the good humor to laugh about ourselves while maintaining a sense of pride and security about our land and culture. We have never collectively condemned the cultural bias and bigotry we endure. Maybe it is time for all that to happen. If Obama can touch upon what we have in common with other marginalized cultures in America, he could do very well indeed. After all, Obama now has Hillary's blessing and if he can persuade Hillary and Bill to come to the mountains often and ask us to vote for him, and mean it, it just might be the smartest thing he ever did.
