Today's linkage: Refreshing thoughts about the (U.S.) Democratic primaries

This post at the Unapologetic Mexican is a good read. Refreshing, too!

An introductory quote:
THERE IS misogyny among both supporters of Clinton and Obama. And there is racism in both camps, too. Some people will not vote for a woman, no matter what. And guess what, some people will not vote for a man who looks like Obama. Some people who harbor a good amount of sexism will still vote for a woman, given the right person. And some people who generally think in terms of whiteness being of most value will still vote for a non-white, given the right person. There are many reasons to be for and against all the candidates, and I'm betting it's very rarely as simple as Racists for Clinton! And Misogynists For Obama! And Pallbearers for McCain!

There are certain Livejournal communities, of late, that I can not read when there is a post about the U.S. Democratic primaries. People have become so polarized and given themselves such strong tunnel vision that there is no point discussing the role of racism and sexism in the elections and campaigns because they are convinced that "their" candidate is infallible and the other is evil. A question has been raised many times during these discussions: "If 'your' candidate does not win the primaries, what will you do? Vote for McCain? Just not vote??" And the response is sometimes that they will vote for the other Democratic candidate anyway, but I get a little worried when their response is, "Well, I don't know." Or they just don't respond. I mean, yeah, you know, I prefer Obama over Clinton, but there is no way in hell I'd vote for McCain. And I still have this little voice in my head that is telling me, even if my vote doesn't count (it sure as hell didn't help in 2000 or 2004), do it anyway, because then at least you can say you tried.

The real trick now is, wondering whether it's worth trying.

I still think it is.