I recently had two conversations with fellow Natives about the 2008 presidential election that I thought were noteworthy. First, while on a trip to Washington, D.C. I connected with Yup’ik and Haida friends and we discussed Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Their perspective was quite clear. They feel that 1) Palin has worked against the interests of Alaska Natives throughout her career and 2) her representation of the “First Dude” Todd Palin as an Alaska Native during the GOP National Convention was troubling. On this later point, they shared that Todd Palin’s connections to Native peoples is paper thin and that, tellingly, Governor Palin had never discussed her husband’s Native ancestry publicly prior to the GOP National Convention. Previously, she had merely referenced that her “children’s grandmother is part Yup’ik” which is quite different than saying “my children are Yup’ik” or “my husband is “Yup’ik”.
The second conversation was with a friend who shared that she has noticed a lot of members of the Indian Tribe on the reservation where she lives are supporting the McCain-Palin campaign because McCain is a veteran and Palin’s husband is “Native”. I find this rationale for American Indian voter support troubling. To be sure, Native people are extremely supportive of their veterans and veterans of all nations. However, to think that a politician is going to support tribes and Indian issues simply because they are a decorated veteran is naïve. Furthermore, because McCain is a long-time Arizona policy maker and AZ is a state with many tribal nations inside and straddling its borders, voters do not have to look hard to track down McCain’s record on American Indian policy. McCain and his chosen running mate both represent states heavily populated by Native people, yet neither has proven themselves supporters of Indian Country during their time in office.
I ask two things of anyone who may read this blog. First, please vote in the 2008 presidential election and encourage/help others to do the same. Second, before making your decisions about the upcoming election, look into the voting records and public comments of the candidates. There are plenty of places to find policy statements and voting records, including:
http://www.votesmart.org/election_president.php
or
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/
If you are Indian or supportive of Indian people, you can also look to see how various candidates are referencing and interacting with tribes during their campaigns to get a sense for how supportive they will be to Indians if elected. I’ve been tracking how McCain’s work impacts Indians since the mid 1990’s and in the last month have studied up on Palin’s record with Alaska Natives. I saw a bumper sticker recently that referred to the McCain-Palin ticket as a “bridge to nowhere”. One thing is for certain in my mind; McCain and Palin will not help to build a “bridge to sovereignty” or a “bridge to prosperity” in Indian Country. However, they could likely build a time portal that takes American Indian policy back to the 19th Century.
Turtle Talk 
Those are some good observations that need to be considered along with all other available sources of information and personal experience.
It is important to reach out to Alaska Natives for their experiences with Palin and to AZ Natives for their experiences with McCain. I personally (Mohawk from Akwesasne) had a chance to hear McCain two years ago during the Mid-Winter Executive Session of NCAI. His messages to NDN Country were stern and promoting of sticter regs on issues of Land Into Trust and Gaming. NDN economic development and land resource expansion. For one of the fastest growing minority groups in the U.S. or if you prefer (as do I) nation’s rebuilding ourselves to restrict land re-possession and our economies that simply sounds the death-nell for our efforts now and in the future.
Can a democrat do any better? Well, Obama says he will “respect all Indian treaties.” Really? How can the U.S. afford to do that? And how can the U.S. policy makers be convinced to return our illegally disposessed lands? Those sort of remarks are as unbelievable and naive as McCains stauch support of more restrictive regs on all things Indian is believable.
What a dilema.
The McCain will set Indians back a hundred years. Palin’s husband didn’t even acknowledge they were part indian.
Ray-
Thanks for the comments, and I agree that tribes won’t get the respect they deserve from either ticket. I am excited about Obama-Biden in many ways, but not because I think they will do right by tribes. I believe they will do LESS harm to tribal sovereignty and the well-being of Indian people than their competition and perhaps give us some of the political space we need to move things forward incrementally.
The U.S. can afford to make transformational changes in Indian policy; it’s just not a priority. I’ll give a “radical” example of what we could be done with a reconfiguration of spending: we could half our foreign aid expenditures for 5-10 years and have enough money to restore tribal ownership to a huge amount of non-Indian owned fee lands within reservation boundaries. We could also commit to spending the type of funds we have on Iraq reconstruction on Indian Country reconstruction once we are through contributing to Iraq rebuilding efforts. How would we justify paying non-Indians for their land in reservations and perhaps forcing them to sell? Think about how much land has been taken over for damming projects under the banner of eminent domain. Flip that idea on its head and use it to restore Indian land, paying fair market value to those whose homes stand in the way of progress. What do you think? It’s a “modest proposal”, eh.
Let me offer an edited version of your post, with a slight twist:
The second conversation was with a friend who shared that she has noticed a lot of members of the Indian Tribe on the reservation where she lives are supporting the [Obama-Biden] campaign because [Obama] is a [community organizer] and [Biden’s a long time Senator.] I find this rationale for American Indian voter support troubling. To be sure, Native people are extremely supportive of [their community organizers] and [community organizers] of all nations. However, to think that a politician is going to support tribes and Indian issues simply because they are a [community organizer] is naïve. Furthermore, because [Obama] is a [short]-time [Illinois] policy maker and [IL] is a state with [few] tribal nations [inside] its borders, voters [DO] have to look hard to track down [Obama’s] record on American Indian policy. [Obama] and his chosen running mate both represent states [NOT] heavily populated by Native people, [AND] neither has proven themselves supporters of Indian Country during their time in office.
I ask two things of anyone who may read this blog. First, please vote in the 2008 presidential election and encourage/help others to do the same. Second, before making your decisions about the upcoming election, look into the voting records [TO SEE WHAT THEY HAVE DONE TO HELP INDIAN TRIBES AND TRIBAL MEMBERS] and [IGNORE] public comments of the candidates. There are plenty of places to find … voting records, including: ….
If you are Indian or supportive of Indian people, you [CANNOT TRUST] how various candidates are referencing and interacting with tribes during their campaigns to get a sense for how supportive they will be to Indians if elected. I’ve been tracking how [OBAMA’s] work impacts Indians since the mid [2007] and in the last month have studied up on [BIDEN’S] record with [TRIBES AND TRIBAL MEMBERS.] … One thing is for certain in my mind; [OBAMA AND BIDEN] [HAVE DONE LITTLE THAT HAS] help[ED] to build a “bridge to sovereignty” or a “bridge to prosperity” in Indian Country.
I believe statements like accusing McCain of taking Indian tribes back to the 19th century add little to the debate. You demean the work of Sen. McCain who has done much in behalf of tribes and tribal members throughout his political career. Also, you demean Tribes and tribal advocates to imply that we would let that happen. Certainly Sen. McCain does not have a perfect “Indian record.” Then again, how many times have we disagreed with our own tribal governments and leaders? However, he at least has a record of supporting tribes and tribal members. Please compare the record of both candidates on Indian issues, and let us decide for ourselves. I am quite certain Self Determination and Sovereignty will survive and even thrive during a McCain and/or Obama Presidency. If it doesn’t, we only have ourselves to blame.
EZ
Clever edits EZ, and I can respect what you are saying- especially knowing that you are an federal Indian law prof and an Omaha- and considering that McCain has done both good and bad for Indian Country over the decades. However, McCain has worked against Indians and tribal nations on way too many important issues in my judgment. Palin’s public service record is far shorter than her running mate’s, and far more frightening. She could easily become the CIC. If McCain had picked a more moderate running mate, I would be less concerned about the prospect of him as CIC.
And let’s not minimize Obama’s professional experiences. Community organizer is but one line on his CV, and community organizers have been critical in the evolution of the United States and the success/survival of tribal nations. Plus, Obama has a JD from Harvard and editor of the Harvard Law Review credentials- on top of his state and federal legislative experience. Considering all your support for McCain and animosity for Obama- are you sure you’re not an Osage? Just kidding. Best,
nick
Hey Nick,
Appreciate the good words. I just want to make clear that I don’t have any animosity toward BO. I certainly respect what he has accomplished in a short period of time. Can’t take anything away from him for what he has done. My point is that he has done scarcely little in Indian country. I stated in a different post that as General Counsel to 2 tribes, I have been lied to by Democratic and Republican politicians. I have learned over the years that their actions and not their words count. I’m just not ready to support someone who has only words for me.
I also believe that it is not productive to the debate to lob bombs like a McCain presidency would take “American Indian policy back to the 19th Century” without anything of substance to back up that argument. Does the author of that statement REALLY believe that McCain is going to propose, and Congress would pass, a return to Removal, Allotment and/or Termination policy?
If tribal sovereignty is the primary issue for Indian voters, lets take a look at a few examples from BO’s position statement on Indian affairs:
He touts his support of raising the minimum wage. Is this not an attack on tribal sovereignty? The federal government is telling tribal enterprises what they have to pay their employees. Shouldn’t the tribe be responsible for figuring out what it should pay its tribal members? If the pay is too low, wouldn’t the tribal members say and do something about it at the next council meeting or at least the next tribal council election?
One of the biggest treats to tribal sovereignty is the NLRB’s decision that allows Union’s to organize at tribal enterprises/casinos. Once again, shouldn’t the tribe decide this issue themselves, rather than be told that they have to comply? This decision could have been “fixed” by legislation. However, a Democratic Congress is not going to take on the Union lobby. Tribes v. Union? Tribes lose with Democrats every time in that battle.
I also realize that McCain is not perfect. However, I believe he provides the best option for tribes and tribal members, based on track record.
Once again, I have enjoyed the debate, without the name calling that usually comes with these types of comment boards. Bring it on!
EZ
Love your comments EZ.
Isleta Pueblo
I’m not an American Indian but have always felt an affinity for Indians and do my best to be an advocate.
I’ve called on a few Native Alaskan villages. I did not like what I heard. One village, very politely, told me that they could not talk to me for fear of retribution from Sarah Palin.
That just seems so utterly frightening to me.
I spoke with another tribal village, and the picture that was painted for me was dark and grim. I was told the only time that they could remember when things were good was under Alaska’s last Democratic governor.
It seems that Republicans care more about corporate welfare and Democrats more for the people and the environment.
According to the League of Conservative Voters, a respected organization that rates lawmakers on their environmental records by their votes in the House and Senate, scores: McCain: 24% Obama: 86%.
I haven’t investigated this (just found it yesterday), but if this is true it’s very disturbing: http://www.cain2008.org and http://www.acsa.net/cain2004.org/Dine-Navajo-PressRelease.htm
This is some other information I’ve collected.
On the votesmart.org website, besides having the candidates voting records, they display ratings from other organizations. Below are a couple of these.
From environmentamerica.org: “Environment America is a federation of state-based, citizen-funded environmental advocacy organizations. Our professional staff in 23 states and Washington, D.C., combines independent research, practical ideas and tough-minded advocacy to overcome the opposition of powerful special interests and win real results for the environment. Environment America, the new home of U.S. PIRG’s environmental work, draws on 30 years of success in tackling environmental problems.”
John McCain received a big fat 0%. Barack Obama received a 90%.
From globalsolutions.org: “Citizens for Global Solutions envisions a future in which nations work together to abolish war, protect our rights and freedoms, and solve the problems facing humanity that no nation can solve alone. This vision requires effective democratic global institutions that will apply the rule of law while respecting the diversity and autonomy of national and local communities.”
John McCain received a big fat F. Barack Obama received an A.
Also, I feel nauseous when I hear the McCain-Palin camp stating things such as Alaska provides 20% of the United States energy. In actuality it’s 3.5%. Also the McCain-Palin campaign continues to state that Obama will raise taxes on electricity, life savings, and home heating oil. Obama will do none of the above. Only if you earn above $250,000 as a couple or over $200,000 as a single will you see an increase in taxes. Barack Obama will give 95% of Americans tax cuts.
Barack Obama’s and Joe Biden’s track records show that they truly care about people. Even as far as supporting veterans, McCain’s record is abysmal compared to Obama’s.
Obama and Biden are men of honor. They walk their talk.
Thank you for your time.
Warmest regards,
Sue