Posted on 05/11/2008 10:23:07 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Hillary Clinton, down to her last straw, is making the case that she is the better candidate to run against the Republicans because, unlike Barack Obama, she can win white Democrats.
She is right. But because she is daring to touch the hot button of racial politics, she is being told to shut up or risk being charged with exploiting racial tensions for political advantage.
The facts are stubborn, however. Since his phenomenal win with 33% of the white vote in nearly all-white Iowa, Obama has been unable to get a firm grip on white Democrats. He has won a majority of these voters in only six states, the biggest of which is his home state of Illinois. Clinton has defeated Obama among white voters in key states such as California, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Exit polls show Clinton winning an overwhelming average of 57% of white Democrats since the February Super Tuesday elections.
If you think none of this is a real issue for Democrats as they try to win the White House, then listen to Republican guru Karl Rove. Citing Obama's inability to get more than 30% of Catholics or working-class white voters in a big state such as Pennsylvania, Rove recently wrote: "Defections like this elect Republicans."
And now we are heading into a general election with an even larger group of white voters in play, key independents and suburbanites in "toss-up" districts that swing between Republicans and Democrats.
So it is critical for the Democrats to focus on what it means to nominate this particular black candidate. It is critical for them to honestly assess his strengths and weaknesses, even when those are uncomfortably intertwined with his race.
In particular, being silent on race is not going to erase Obama's ties to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the preacher's fireballs of inflammatory rhetoric.
Nearly half of the voters in North Carolina and Indiana said Wright was an important issue for them. Then there is an April poll by The Associated Press that found "about 8% of whites would be uncomfortable voting for a black for President." According to a May Newsweek poll, 12% of voters said they thought most Americans would "have reservations about voting for a black candidate that they are not willing to express"; 41% said they thought some Americans would have such reservations.
To some, any reference to such numbers is desperate at best - and race-baiting at worst.
"I have much broader base to build a winning coalition on," Clinton told USA Today this week, making clear that she consistently does better among white, working-class voters. "There is a pattern emerging here."
That prompted The New York Times editorial page to write: "Yes, there is a pattern - a familiar and unpleasant one," making reference to charges that during the primary campaign the Clinton camp has used veiled racial attacks against Obama.
Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is living in similar denial. If the GOP brings up Wright during the fall campaign, Dean said recently, it will amount to "race-baiting...just like Willie Horton was race-baiting so many years ago."
Obama has run a brilliant campaign. He has won over many white voters by making them proud to vote for a supremely educated and capable man who, at his best, makes race a secondary concern. It is not inconsistent, unfair or unsavory to point out, at the same time, that Obama has been growing weaker over the months in his ability to win all but black voters. Nor am I necessarily suggesting that white voters are drifting from him because of his race - as opposed to judgments about the content of his character or candidacy.
This is about facing facts. And history will reflect poorly on Democrats if they believe it is virtuous to ignore race in the name of nominating the first black candidate for the White House - even if it means giving the Republicans a better chance to once again walk away with the big prize of the presidency.
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Williams, a political analyst with NPR and Fox, is author of "Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America - and What We Can Do About It."
She also brings high negatives.
I love how Brit looks at him sometimes. Priceless!
“obama’s got a growing problem with whites.”
yeah; it’s the problem with the growing perception that obama attracts bigots who hate whites.
The missing link is the number of Clinton votes who were/are actually true "Not-Obama" votes as opposed to pro-Hillary votes. I have been guessing at about 20%. They are the likely defectors to McCain if Obama is the 'rat nominee. That would be a couple million votes which otherwise would largly stay with the party. Big problem indeed.
It just occurred to me: Obama’s father was Muslim. We all know who ran the slave trade in Africa, as well as who did the actual slavecatching. Might be an interesting family tree to trace.
Interesting that few people realize that Obama is mostly white! He’s only 6.25% black, 50% European white and the rest African Arabic. Strange nobody is reporting this fact.
At the least, I'd say that a few years on Fox have made him more sensible. The same goes for Mara Liasson. Alone among NPR correspondents, these two understand how conservatives view the issues.
What? You mean that calling whites who won’t vote for Obama obvious racists ‘cause they won’t vote for the black guy isn’t a winning strategy? Guilt’s the way to go.
I’m not voting for anyone who calls me a European, a white, or a white European.
I have never heard this. I don't doubt it at all but do you have any thing more to support this claim.
If Obama is elected, will it become just as bad for blacks to be racists as it is for whites?
If so, it might be worth it.
Not.
Obama and his reverend opened this race talk. The Philadelphia speech will go down, if remembered, as divisive, the polar opposite of King’s dream speech.
Some whites are talking back. What HRC said this past week about her getting the white vote would have been met with the vapors in newsrooms only a few years ago.
From Dreams of My Father: ‘I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.’
From Dreams of My Father: ‘I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother’s race.’
From Dreams of My Father: ‘There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.’
From Dreams of My Father: ; ‘It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.’
From Dreams of My Father: ‘I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, Dubois and Mandela.’
From Audacity of Hope: ‘I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.’
... and he’s not “African-American” like a large part of his constituency ...
I don’t think Williams is getting more conservative. He realizes an Obama loss in the general election because of the Bradley effect would have repercussions for years for potential black candidates.
The Dems would be in clover if Obama had run a good race without coming close to unseating Hillary. If she went on to win with him as a V-Pres then he would have been a shoo-in for the Dem nomination in his turn—and the country would have been conditioned to ignore race as a factor.
What does it say about blacks that they vote 90% for the black candidate? At least 40% of White Democrats vote for a black man. For white democrats it’s not so much about race, for black democrats it apparently is.
Obama has a color problem. He’s a R-E-D.
It says that 90 percent of blacks are morons...typical libs who vote based on color instead of platform...
Obama has the black Vote.
He will select Richardson as VP to get the Brown Vote
He’s got the egg head liberal/commie vote
He’s Got the adoring socker moms Vote
McCain has the independent thinking Vote.
The country Club vote
The Poor white vote
The military Vote
and (reluctantly) the conservative Vote
The Asian Vote
and the illegal Alien Vote.
Lastly McCain has the Anti-Obama Vote.
Sum: McCain Wins it as long as he doesn’t stumble.
Arabic is a language—not all Muslims speak it. Iranians, for example, speak Persian—they are not Arabs. BTW where did you get the 6.25%? I thought he was 50% white American and 50% black African-—which makes him just as American as I am at 100% Irish.
Um, this is his dad:
Conservative? Probably not.
Intellectually honest? Yes.
Pretty revealing!
Note: he said “Democrats.”
I do hope when Obama loses in November they remember to blame it on the fact that Democrats didn’t vote for him.
Juan has a very good book out.
That’s rich! Would make a great bumper sticker.
So my voting choices are:
1) I am racist if I don't vote for Obama
2) I'm a moron if I do vote for Obama
OK! That was clear as mud...
He's so well educated that he doesn't know how many states there are in the U.S.
And so capable that even now none of his supporters can name a single accomplishment of his.
Whites, Jews, and Catholics can no more vote for Obama than African-Americans (and also decent white people) can be expected to vote for a candidate who poses arm in arm with Ku Klux Klansmen at a cross burning.
I am a white Jewish person. Why does Obama even think that, after promoting and endorsing Al Sharpton, who uses terminology like "white interlopers" while those under his leadership and supervision spew "bloodsucking Jews," "cracker lover," and "don't give the Jew a dime," there is the slightest chance I will vote for him?
I have a lot of Catholic neighbors. Does Obama really expect their votes after his reluctance to distance himself from Louis "the Pope is the Antichrist" Farrakhan while soliciting and accepting the endorsement of MoveOn.org, which publishes anti-Catholic hate material including a derogatory photomanipulation of the Pope?
(Please COPY and don't LINK, as linking uses my bandwidth. This needs to be circulated as widely as possible.) Obama's "race problems" are entirely of his own making, which is true of most racists. And Obama's use of the term "racial credentials" in "Dreams from My Father" suggest that he might in fact be one, because only racists talk about their "racial credentials." P.S. Is that 2nd Marine Division? That was my father's division.
Juan, did you mean to say...
Barack has a growing problem with intelligent informed Americans who see him for the socialist government he seeks and culture of black on white racism he embraces which are distictly unamerican.
...and Juan, by identifying the above as a whites only group, aren’t you being racist toward the black community implying they are majority racist and only vote skin color?
I am sick and tired of the race arguement in America. It is a fraud and a scam.
You are right about at least one thing: Oprah’s Obama has stolen away the clueless “soccer moms”.
“...and Juan, by identifying the above as a whites only group, aren’t you being racist toward the black community implying they are majority racist and only vote skin color?”
Obama’s appearance with and endorsement of Al Sharpton suggests that Blacks are indeed racists and anti-Semites as well, because that is the constituency to which Al Sharpton appeals.
Suppose a candidate appeared with the Grand Wizard of the KKK. Wouldn’t he be implying that most whites are the dregs of society, because that is the class of whites to whom the KKK appeals? Well, Obama’s appearance with Sharpton says the same thing about Blacks. Hopefully enough Blacks will be sufficiently insulted to vote for McCain.
That’s right there is no phrase associated with Oprah’s Obama except “change we can believe in”, and the American people don’t understand what that means. They hope it means lowered fuel prices and “free” health care.
I agree and it is good to see. Juan always struck me as a good, decent, if misguided man. So good for him and good for our nation.
BHO's problems are three fold. He is a marxist. He is a muzzie sympathizer. He truly believes what Wright preaches. He is as unfit to be president as he is to be a senator. And the majority of this nation knows it.
90% of blacks vote for the Dem canddiate in any election. I’m not surprised Obama’s black vote has continued to increse to the 90% level. To some extent, I think it should be expected. We are a race/ethnicity/religion conscious society. I’d be willing to be that 90% of Mormons voted for Romney. And, if historical records are available, probably 90% of Catholics voted for Smith and then Kennedy.
Obama may not be our cup of tea, but he is the first ‘clean articulate’ black candidate that had a real shot at the nomination that blacks could vote for. He’s not Sharpton or Jackson. And, after Bill Clinton started shooting off his mouth, the pro-Obama vote among blacks only increased. It wasn’t likely Hillary would get the black vote after SC.
Interesting that few people realize that Obama is mostly white! He’s only 6.25% black, 50% European white and the rest African Arabic. Strange nobody is reporting this fact.”
There is no advantage for him to use his white or Arabic blood.
Arabic is a term like Hispanic — the original Hispanics were white Spanish and Portugese peoples but as they colonized they took brides and concubines of other races. Therefore, most Mexicans consider themselves white yet most of these are Mestizo (mixed Indian/white blood) and so you can have Mexicans with red hair and blue eyes with siblings who are olive skinned and with black hair.
The same is true of Africa. Arabs ran the slave trade on the east coast and many stayed and interbred with the local women. The term Arab can be someone who ranges from light skinned and blue eyed (like Adad of Syria) to most Sudanese who are quite dark yet the lighter Mulatto-looking ones strongly identify with being Arab, not African. You can have the same thing in Kenya.
Whatever growing problem obama may have with whites is nothing compared with the problem he has with patriots.
No, 2nd United States Infantry Division. It is, however, the only Army division ever commanded by a Marine: Twice during “The Great War” (WWI) the division was commanded by Marine Corps generals, Brigadier General Charles A. Doyen and Major General John A. Lejeune, marking one of the only times in U.S. Military history when Marine Corps officers commanded an Army division.
My late father was also a Marine. He retired after twenty years service as a Gunnery Sergeant.
Mormons and Catholics do not represent an ethnicity or race. So if I can sum it up: Whites are the least likely to vote based on race; blacks are most likely to vote based on race. Who is racist in that equation?
eh, yer just a typical white person...
I thought his father was 100 percent black and his mother 100 percent white. Is that not right?
Momma is 100% white...BUT:
I've seen articles that say his father's family had a lot of non-black Arabs in its immediate past, which made Daddy only 1/8 black.
I don't know how true this is; nor do I know how many, if any, of the Arabs were black AND Arab.
Supposedly researched by somebody with access to Kenyan records.
REPEAT: I do NOT know whether this is true or not.
“So it is critical for the Democrats to focus on what it means to nominate this particular black candidate. “
This particular black man is an ultra-liberal elitist with friends and a wife (and possibly himself clandestinely) steeped in the stew of racial identity.
And lets not fall for the pro-Obama chant that this is about race. It isnt. Colin Powell could win 60% of the white vote because he was/is a statesmanlike moderate Republican that most Americans could trust with the country.
Its about Obama’s liberal elitist mindset, values and interests.
Obama doesnt share the mindset, values and interests of small-town down-scale gun-toting bible-believing America. He has NOTHING in common with them and offers NOTHING to them except same-old corporate-bashing and a socialist agenda.
That dog dont hunt.
Obama will get the same voters Dukakis did and didnt get in 1988, if this plays out accordingly. Conversely, if McCain runs a weak campaign that doesnt expose Obama’s elitist liberal core under that shiny mocha exterior, then Obama might yet win.
“90% of blacks vote for the Dem canddiate in any election. “
That’s not surprising. What is surprising is to see blacks vote 90% for Democrats even when the Republicans run a black Republican. 3 blacks are running in Texas as Republicans, we shall see how they fare in the general election.
you missed this part of the paragraph you recited from my earlier post: We are a race/ethnicity/religion conscious society. Catholics and Mormons are religions.
Religious (as well as racial and ethnic) minorities (as Catholics were in Al Smith’s day) tend to vote for someone who’s “one of us.” Not that Jews don’t alrady vote like blacks, 90% Dem, but having a Jew on the ticket would increase their favoring whichever ticket would have a Jew. There was huge excitement in the Italian community when Scalia was nominated for the SCOTUS. It’s just the way we are.
To date, every POTUS has been white. So, I would expect blacks to vote really heavily for another black who has a shot at the presidency.
Yes, I believe many blacks are far more racists than are whites, but voting for someone of your own ‘clan,’ in and of itself, is more “ID politics” than racist imo.
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