Southern Democrats Worried That Obama Will Be Reelected

Southern Democrats Worried That Obama Will Be Reelected

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

In the Southern States of the US, there are still a vast number of conservative democrats.  I know.  I was raised with them, went to school and church with them, dated with them (as a teenager) – in other words—I lived with them.  And I still do.

My US Congressman is a conservative democrat … a “blue dog” democrat.

I make this point because -- knowing I am a conservative republican – they know I am greatly interested in seeing that Obama does get a second term, and they are so embarrassed by the man, and so angry with him, that they, too, want him out of the Oval Office --  and they want me to know they are going to do all they can to see that he does not get his coveted second term as President of the United States.

See, in the South many voters inherited their membership in the Democratic Party.  No.  I am NOT kidding.  They are democrats because their parents and grandparents and great-grandparents were democrats.  Until the Nixon Administration, it was southern tradition to be a democrat.

As far back as pre-Civil War, the democrats controlled everything in the southern states.  Yeah, these were the folks in charge when slavery was in full force in the south.  Of course, they’d rather you did not know that, just as they would rather you not know that the Ku Klux Klan was a sort of enforcement arm of the southern   Democratic Party.

The South was a fiefdom of the Democratic Party until Nixon changed all that with his southern strategy.  It was only then that southerners realized that being a Republican did not mean you were consigned to Hell upon your death. 

See, Republicans were placed into southern governments by the occupying forces of the United States of America during Reconstruction immediately following the Civil War.  Many republican officials were former slaves who, in many instances could not read and write.  It happened in my home state of South Carolina.  In Wilmington, NC it finally boiled over and riots (known as the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898, also known as the Wilmington Massacre ... or the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898) ensued in which a number of republicans were killed and others run out of town. This event is the only instance of a municipal government being overthrown in US history.  In the Wilmington Insurrection, Democratic white supremacists illegally seized power from an elected government, running officials out of the city, and killing many blacks in widespread attacks.  (SOURCE) 

The whole Reconstruction mess left an enduring bad taste in the mouths of southerners for well over a hundred years.  We have very long memories.

As a result, even though many southern voters actually believed in the platform of the Republican Party, they felt they must honor their families by registering and voting as democrats.  A rather large portion of the southern population still believes that.  But they are no longer in the majority.

However, a huge portion of southerners, beginning in the 1960’s, began to realize they had much more in common with conservative republicans than with the democrats.  LBJ was a huge boost to the Republican Party in the South.  Jimmy Carter came along and embarrassed all of us -- both southern democrats and republicans alike. Mr. Carter made the GOP much more appealing to southern democrats than before.

Then, of course, came Bill Clinton and southerners were aghast at his sexual hijinks. Once again Southern conservative democrats were embarrassed and infuriated at the same time.  Again, the Republican Party in the south was the recipient of a host of democrats who changed their party affiliation saying enough was enough.

Now, southern conservative democrats have been hit with a socialist President sailing under the colors of the Democratic Party. 

Southern conservative democrats are, many for the first time, noticing that the party of their parents and grandparents has, itself, been slowly adopting much of the socialist philosophy and even a bit from the communists, as well.  Obama has been a rude awakening for them.

Now, southern conservative democrats are just as worried as southern conservative republicans that Obama will be reelected.  The very thought is abhorrent to them.

Many of them have expressed to me their disappointment at the stable of Republican candidates for President.   When they do, which is often, I commiserate with them and tell them I am just as disappointed as they are. In truth, I am far more disappointed in my own party than they. 

At a time in US history, when the table is set for a Republican take-over of the US government, we have to choose between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich?

I get the feeling that the GOP believes Americans are so fed-up with Obama that they are willing to vote for anybody but Obama.  I, on the other hand, am not so sure.  In fact, I think the GOP is making a terrible mistake and, as a result, will make possible a second term for Mr. Obama.

I think Americans will look at Romney and say why vote for an imitation when they can vote for the real thing … Obama.  I think the same American voters will look at Newt, and Newt’s baggage, and decide Newt represents too large a risk to chance placing him in the White House.   Either scenario will hand the Democrats and Obama a second term and, I am afraid, hand over control of the US House of Representatives to the democrats – and -- solidify the democrat’s control of the US Senate.

Many southern conservative democrats would vote for a conservative republican candidate they respected.  Problem is, there’s not one running!  And to be truthful, many southern conservative republicans feel the very same way.

I am very concerned that, come November of 2012, once again, the GOP will have managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

J. D. Longstreet