Originally posted at Conservative Review
One of the most encouraging outcomes from the midterm elections was the failure of identity politics.
Despite the best attempts by Democrats to drive blacks and women to the polls with outrageous claims about Republican candidates, their desperate gambit failed.
For example, the race-baiting and accusations of sexism campaign message points from Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) were insufficient for her to get fifty percent of the vote. Now she must face challenger Representative Bill Cassidy (R-LA) in a runoff race that will be decided December 6.
Landrieu made national news during an interview with NBC News correspondent Chuck Todd, Landrieu, a three-term Senator, suggested President Obama’s unpopularity in her state was because he is black.
“I’ll be very, very honest with you. The South has not always been the friendliest place for African-Americans,” Landrieu said in the interview. “It’s been a difficult time for the president to present himself in a very positive light as a leader.”
Landrieu also complained about the difficulties of being a female politician in the south.
It’s not always been a good place for women to present ourselves. It’s more of a conservative place. So we’ve had to work a little bit harder on that, but you know, the people trust me, I believe. Really they do. Trust me to do the right thing for the state.”
Needless to say, Landrieu’s comments about race and sexism were baseless but that’s what liberals do when they fear losing power and control.
Judging by the election outcomes in the South, the Democrat’s identity politics antics went down in flames.
Race-baiting tactics fell on deaf ears in South Carolina.
South Carolina Republican Tim Scott became the first black elected Senator in the south since Reconstruction. Appointed by Gov. Nikki Haley in 2012 after former Senator Jim DeMint resigned, Scott won the trust of South Carolina voters.
Disappointingly, instead of congratulating Scott’s success, some black liberal politicians took the opportunity to express their thoughts about southern racism.
Ignoring Scott’s election success, Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) continued to promote the race-baiting theme when he said, “I’m just saying that it’s unfortunate America doesn’t deal with the problem of racism,” Rangel continued. “Until we acknowledge that it exists and fight hard to eradicate it, then we still have to be frustrated by people. They all come from the south and they all have these feelings about superiority and that’s true whether you’re picking cotton or you’re president of the United States.”
Race card politics also failed in Texas and Utah.
Will Hurd was elected Texas’ first black Republican congressman since Reconstruction. Hurd, who unsuccessfully ran for the same seat in 2010, won his race in a district comprised mostly of Hispanic citizens.
In Utah, former Mayor of Saratoga Springs, Mia Love, was elected the first black female Republican to Congress. The daughter of Haitian immigrants, Love’s victory speech should serve as a reminder to all who try to divide and indoctrinate our country with identity politics. “Let this be a lesson to the nation that we’re not interested in dividing Americans based on gender, race, social status. We are more interested in the integrity and honesty of a candidate, someone who is going to return power back to the people and away from Washington.”
Clearly, it’s sound policies not scare tactics that will win the day.
Americans are seeing beyond identity politics and are voting for candidate’s based on character and principles.
As the influence of identity politics fails to deliver political gain, hopefully content of character will dominate our evaluation of political candidates.
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Originally posted at Conservative Review.
It should be noted that as Conservative Review tracks members with our “Liberty Score,” Senator Tim Scott is at the top tier of our Liberty Score at 84 percent.
All politicians need to be held accountable and that’s where voters can play a role.
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