Commentary: New, Diverse Democratic Party Emerging

August 26th, 2008 Tony Robinson Posted in Commentary, Hillary Clinton |

Jesse Jackson Jr. electrified the Democratic Convention Monday night claiming that there are moments when history and fate meet at a single time and place to change the destiny of a nation. To understand the forces of history and fate that are coming together in Denver, we have to look where the real news is being made.

The real news today was not in the street, and not in the Denver Convention Center, where a new Democratic party, reflective of a diversifying America, revealed itself for the upcoming 2008 election.
The delegates to this convention are the most diverse in history, in terms of race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. This diversity was in full display at the packed caucuses inside the convention hall.

At the Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgendered caucus, a ballroom was energized and full to overflowing. In 1972, five delegates at the DNC were openly Gay. Today, 275 are open, and LGBT is an officially recognized caucus of the Democratic Party. Every state but two has openly gay members as part of their delegation.

It wasn’t always this way. Back in 1982, the Democratic Party designed LGBT as an official caucus, but by 1984 the party decertified the LGBT caucus and other race/ethnic groups, calling them “special interests” that didn’t deserve unique status. The party back then was worried about their increasing loss of the vast American white vote to Reagan’s heartland coalition.

But today, the country has become more diverse, and it is the Democratic Party that is celebrating its diversity. The Democratic Party has certified a Native American caucus, Asian caucus, black, Latino, youth, and LGBT caucus, among others.

At the Hispanic caucus on Monday, a packed crowd filled a massive ballroom to overflowing and celebrated the rising political power of Latinos—jumping to their feet with claims that a Latino would soon be President.

It is suiting that a mixed race, cosmopolitan candidate like Obama has been elevated at this historic moment to lead the most diverse party and diverse nation in American history. But will he be able to unite these disparate groups, and ethnicities, into a single party to govern America’s future?

For a long time now, we haven’t even known if he could unite the Democrats. White, elderly Democrats especially—the heart of the Clinton vote—have seemed a bit unwilling to face the new forces rising in their party and nation. And it’s not just the elderly whites. A majority of Latino voters during this primary season also did not support Barack Obama.

And so it was portentous this Monday as the Hispanic caucus met to celebrate Latino power when Hillary Clinton herself strode into the room, to thunderous applause. In front of that audience of thrilled Hispanics, Hillary Clinton made it clear—this party was behind Obama and Clinton was calling on all her delegates, and all Latinos to put aside their differences and unite behind Obama. The audience responded with thunderous applause—and right there in that room you could see a party coming together, and an undeniable Democratic power on the rise.

There is real news unfolding in Denver—a national party has embraced the rising force of Latinos, gays, and youth—and they are all coming together around the nation’s first serious black candidate for president. The forces of profound demographic transformation are uniting behind a candidacy destined to change America’s understanding of itself—and that is real news.

KGNU’s national politics analyst, Tony Robinson, is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Colorado Denver. You can find more at http://mypoliticscampaignblog.wordpress.com/