Posted on 09/07/2008 6:09:13 AM PDT by Presbyterian Reporter
Let us swing the door ajar and invite the elephant into the room. One big reason Barack Obama is locked in a tight race, rather than easily outdistancing his opponent, is because he is black.
That factor is rarely discussed in polite political conversation. People tend to dance around it, talking instead about Obama's perceived inexperience, or his youth, or his perceived airs, or his liberal voting record. And racist sentiment rarely shows up in the polls, because a lot of people don't want to share their baser instincts with the pollsters; they'll save that instead for the privacy of the voting booth.
But the incremental evidence - anecdotal and even statistical - has become impossible to ignore.
Union organizers in the key state of Michigan complain in the press that, as one puts it, "we're all struggling to some extent with the problem of white workers who will not vote for Obama because of his color." An aging mine electrician from Kentucky is quoted as saying, "I won't vote for a colored man. He'll put too many coloreds in jobs." An elderly woman in a New Jersey hair salon is overheard complaining about Barack and Michelle Obama the other day, about how blacks supposedly have larger bones than whites, and about how she's fleeing America if Obama wins.
Jimmy Carter, while attending the Democratic convention, cited race as a "subterranean issue," yet at times this year it has been bared for all to see. Case in point, Pennsylvania. On the day of the Democratic presidential primary, 12 percent of the white Democratic voters told the exit pollsters that race mattered in their choice of candidate; of those whites, 76 percent chose Hillary Rodham Clinton over Obama. The same pattern surfaced in other states, including the key autumn state of Ohio.
This is worth pondering a moment longer. If 12 percent of Democratic voters are willing to tell exit pollsters, eye to eye, that race was an important factor, to Obama's detriment, isn't it fair to assume that the real percentage (including those who kept their sentiments private) was actually higher? And what might this portend for the general election, when the white electorate will be broader, and hence significantly less liberal, than in Democratic contests?
Here's one hint. Last June, the Washington Post-ABC News poll devised a "racial sensitivity index," based on a series of nuanced questions that were designed to measure the varying levels of racial prejudice in the white electorate. The pollsters came up with three categories, ranging from most to least enlightened. The key finding: Whites in the least-enlightened category - roughly 30 percent of the white electorate - favored John McCain over Obama by a ratio of 2-1.
A few prominent Democrats did broach this sensitive topic at the Denver convention. Dee Dee Myers, the former Bill Clinton aide, shared her concerns at one political forum, and with good reason. She worked for Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley in the 1980s, when it appeared that Bradley was a cinch to win his U.S. Senate contest despite his race. The final round of polls showed him winning comfortably. He lost.
"I lived through that," Myers said. "We're whistling past the graveyard if we think that race was not a factor in the Democratic primaries. Today's young voters will get us past these attitudes," but it will take time. As for millions of older voters, "they talk about having 'culture' problems [with Obama], but to separate culture from race is impossible."
And Markos Moulitsas, who runs the liberal Daily Kos blog, said: "It's human nature. A lot of people want to cling to the comfortable world that they've always lived in. The Obamas don't look like what First Families have always looked like. This will be one of the factors in the fall, because a lot of people simply want to stick with what they've known in the past."
The race obstacle is not necessarily fatal, of course, because in the end it may be trumped by other factors - such as McCain's age, or nagging concerns about handing the nuclear football in an emergency to a "hockey mom" as GOP vice presidential candidate whose chief national security credential is the proximity of Alaska to Russia.
But clearly Obama needs to tread carefully, arguably by stressing lunch-pail economic issues and continuing to present himself as a "post-racial" candidate. He will need to dispel these white suspicions, if only because whites will continue to dominate the electorate - they constituted 77 percent of all voters in 2004 - even if he manages to inspire an historic black turnout. He has to bond somehow with blue-collar whites, yet he cannot show too much passion, because, as Democratic strategist Joe Trippi explained to me, "those whites don't like to see a black guy getting angry, it's a dangerous thing for an African American candidate to do."
I'm not suggesting that racism would be the sole explanation for an Obama loss. Nor am I seeking to insult those who object to Obama purely on the issues. But if Obama winds up losing after having posted a seemingly solid polling lead on election eve, we may well find ourselves pondering the words of Henry David Thoreau, who wrote in 1854 that "public opinion is a weak tyrant, compared with our own private opinion."
Of course, Obama's loss has nothing to do with his leftist political views, his leftist political friends, and his thin resume of experiences that MSM will not look into.
One big reason Barack Obama is locked in a tight race, rather than easily outdistancing his opponent, is because he is a Marxist.
Little discussed? It’s always discussed! And it’s always discussed and brought up by him or his race card throwing supporters.
Bingo!
It couldn't have had anything to do with he's a flaming liberal empty suite with zero experience running anything other than his perpetual campaign of self promotion.
And why do "union organizers" care how workers vote in the Presidential election? (/s)
No, Dick, you are merely proactively insulting everyone who will vote for anyone other than Obama/Biden for any reason whatsoever.
Philadelphia Inquirer... from the city “More dangerous than Baghdad”...
WHICH one? Black or White half? LOL
I have ancestors = French, Scottish, Irish, Dutch, English, Cherokee, German, Black, etc. BUT I AM AMERICAN and which race am I?
THE HUMAN RACE!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t stand Obama and it has nothing to do with how dark or light his skin is. We think he is the ANTI CHRIST
And he may win for the exact same reason; the color of his skin.
That voting demographic is just as shallow and narrow minded as those who would not vote for him because he's black................errr, half black.
There are more white female voters than anyone else.
How could the ‘Rats be so sexist and insensitive?
Ive been saying this all along. The supreme irony is that it’s the white racist Democrats that won’t support him!!
Horsecrap.
When Obama loses the election (provided dead voters don't win it for him) the charge of RACISM will be heard far and wide. The good news is that the vast majority of voters will know better.
Actually, it’s because he’s an idiot. Has anybody heard him talk? He stumbles and grunts and he clearly has no idea what he’s talking about (on any subject, including himself). I’d be surprised if anybody in their right mind votes for him.
Even if Obama is black, and he’s no son of the ghetto by any means, I’m still not going to vote for him. I have the right to measure Obama by the same standards I would measure ANY Presidential candidate.
For what it’s worth (probably nothing)Obama IS half caucasian. How come that doesn’t come in to play? It seems his life experience hasn’t really included anything which speaks to an Afro-American in the USA.
But, because he looks more black than white he has all the blacks in the USA beating his drum.
I notice with interest that this nitwit forgot to mention the numerous examples of Blacks who will vote for him, simply BECAUSE he's Black.
Not exactly. Racism is an issue, as in Michelle's clear "hate Whitey" attitude, the Wright church, Obama's frequent playing of the race-card guilt trip, and so on.
And there you have it.
Should I vote for Palin/McCain I am a racist.
If I wasn't a racist before this election, I will be after it.
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