 Political Identity: A Historical Look at Leaders Who Have Challenged Our Notions of Who Can Be President.
Here’s the scene – it’s 1932 – middle of the Great Depression - in the remote city of Loes Angleles. It’s hot in the outdoor stadium – lots of top hats filling the bleachers and Vice President Charles Curtis stands proud in front of 100 thousand people and a microphone:
Curtis: In the name of the president of the United States I proclaim open the Olympic games of Los Angeles.
It was an historic moment, incredible! A Native American Vice President – representing the United States of America – that had never happened before.
Only here’s the thing. Noone cared. Charles Curtis was the first and only person of color to make it to the white house and it was no big deal.
Curtis was part native and spent several years of his childhood with his grandmother on a Kaw reservation in Kansas. He believed strongly in assimilation. Once he made it to a position of power he wrote legislation that weakened and dissolved tribal governments. It was a huge blow to the autonomy of tribes – including his own. It seems hard to imagine now but Herbert Hoover chose Curtis because he didn’t stand out - he was widely accepted.
So 1932 – a barrier was broken, history was made. . But in a completely undramatic way.
And then – right after the Hoover/Curtis administration quietly made history -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt made history again – this time completely silently. FDR was the first disabled president - wheelchair bound from polio. But nearly 4 terms in office and almost noone knew. FDR would arrive early to events, lean on aides to appear to be walking. He thought his wheelchair would make him look weak. And he didn’t want to look weak. He wanted to give famous, powerful addresses like this after the attack on Pearl Harbor:
Roosevelt: No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
So Roosevelt broke a barrier but made it almost impossible for the American people to know that a barrier was broken.
So we’ve got one guy who wanted to brush aside his difference and one that kept it completely secret. Contrast that with this:
Obama: I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas.
Or this:
Palin: ….and is fitting that this trust has been given to me 88 years almost to the day after woman of America first gained the right to vote.
Here we are - 2008 – and there appears to be something of a competition going for who can be the most barrier breaking, blow out expectations. Our barrier breaking past started quietly…but then it started to shift.
When Walter Mondale chose Geraldine Ferraro as his VP in 1984 - she didn’t try to hide the fact that she was a woman, or brush it aside as unimportant. She climbed up the democratic convention stage and proclaimed chance is in the air:
Ferraro: By choosing a woman to run for our nation's second highest office, you send a powerful signal to all Americans. There are no doors we cannot unlock. We will place no limits on achievement. If we can do this, we can do anything.
Ferraro wanted to inspire with her identity as a woman. And last month when Sarah Palin joined the McCain campaign she looked back at Ferraro. And that gesture back – its key to a particular strategy used a lot in identity politics these days - its one Obama uses too. Take you difference and point to as a symbol of American progress. Frame it as part of a larger narrative of moving forward. Sarah Palin again:
Palin: It was rightly noted in Denver this week that Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest, glass ceiling in America. But it turns out the women of America aren’t finished yet and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all.
Reporter's Notebook
Chana Joffe-Walt
 I’ve been looking back at all the presidents and nominees who have broken identity barriers – the first vice president of color, first Catholic president, the oldest president – and I’ve been struck by the different ways candidates choose to deal with their difference. FDR kept his disability a secret while Geraldine Ferraro sang it from the hilltops, making it a cornerstone of her candidacy.
It’s made me curious which approach people respond to. Do you like hearing candidates speak about their backgrounds? Or would you prefer everyone quit talking about race, age and gender completely? Do these things even matter?
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Palin isn’t actually the only barrier breaker on the Republic ticket although her partner might like you to think so. John McCain would be the oldest president inaugurated to a first term. But he’s not shouting it from the rooftops. McCain uses humor to diffuse concerns about his age. Like this parody campaign ad he did for Saturday Night Live:
McCain: My friends, controlling government spending isn’t just about Republicans or Democrats. It’s about being able to look your children in the eye. Or in my case, my children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great-great grandchildren…..
McCain is borrowing from a different historical model here. Reagan ran for a second term in 1984 at 73 years old. In the first presidential debate he seemed kinda slow and tired. So in the second debate the moderator asks Reagan upfront – Is there any doubt in you’re mind that you’re for this grueling job:
Reagan: Not at all. And I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience.
For Reagan it was an incredibly effective way of deflecting attention. It remains to be seen whether it will work for McCain. Just as unclear is how Obama pointing to his racial identity as a symbol American progress strategy will work out for him.
We wanted to see how these recording hit the ears of voters. What people thought of the variety of ways leaders have dealt with personal difference.
Stan Allan is a pilot from Tacoma and an undecided voter.
Allen: I thought it was interesting that McCain and Reagan were able to so effectively disregard an issue with humor. A n issue that is of great importance can be so easily avoided.
Black: I almost disagree that it’s really that big of an issue.
Jason Black is a Seattle banker and a McCain supporter. He says McCain’s age and his health are not a big deal:
Black: You had a president who spent over 3 terms in office with polio. You had a president in JFK who had a debilitating back problem from I believe an accident in the navy. George H W bush crashed his plane fighting in the pacific. A lot of these people have backgrounds where it was physically debilitating thing and I think it speaks to their genes and their personality and perseverance that they can then make a president.
The thing that struck Esther Little Dove John listening to these recordings was how proudly candidates like Ferraro and Obama put forward their identities. How confident Obama is that talking about change and progress will work. She’s an Obama supporter, an African-American and she like to think that’s true – but:
John: I think there is something down underneath for white people they’re afraid. A real fear underneath that there’s comeuppance.
The group kept returning to one central tension – people were tired of hearing about identity politics. Everyone rejected the notion of voting for someone just because their race or gender, but noone felt it was completely irrelevant. Pepper Harding is an Obama supporter from Seattle.
Harding: Being a black American I am tickled to death to have someone who is half black running the country but I don’t consider him just a black person and that’s what we have to get away from.
In the end everyone left a lot of open questions in the room. And I’ll leave a few here with you now. If a president breaks a barrier – say the disability barrier – Is that it – now its broken and the path is wide open? Would we really elect a wheelchair bound president now? If a Native-American makes it to the vice-presidency, does it matter if he doesn’t advocate FOR native people? Did Curtis set the stage for Obama? Do Ferraro or Hillary make it possible for Palin? A list of open questions – with many more to inevitably be added this year. Chana Joffe-Walt, KPLU News.
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