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Obama Backers Use Race as Alibi for Ebbing Support
Townhall ^ | June 25, 2012 | Michael Barone

Posted on 06/25/2012 1:10:05 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

As Barack Obama's lead over Mitt Romney in the polls narrows, and his presumed fundraising advantage seems about to become a disadvantage, it's alibi time for some of his backers.

His problem, they say, is that some voters don't like him because he's black. Or they don't like his policies because they don't like having a black president.

So, you see, if you don't like Obamacare, it's not because it threatens to take away your health insurance, or to deny coverage for some treatments. It's because you don't like black people.

This sort of thing seems to be getting more frequent, or at least more open. As White House Dossier writer Keith Koffler notes, HBO host Bill Maher accused Internet tyro Matt Drudge of being animated by racism because he highlights anti-Obama stories.

MSNBC's Chris Matthews asked former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown if House Chairman Darrell Issa's treatment of Attorney General Eric Holder was "ethnic." Brown agreed, and Matthews said some Republicans "talk down to the president and his friends."

There's an obvious problem with the racism alibi. Barack Obama has run for president before, and he won. Voters in 2008 knew he was black. Most of them voted for him. He carried 28 states and won 365 electoral votes.

Nationwide, he won 53 percent of the popular vote. That may not sound like a landslide, but it's a higher percentage than any Democratic nominee except Andrew Jackson, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson.

Democratic national conventions have selected nominees 45 times since 1832. In seven cases, they won more than 53 percent of the vote. In 37 cases, they won less.

That means President Obama won a larger percentage of the vote than Martin Van Buren, James K. Polk, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and (though you probably don't want to bring this up in conversation with him) Bill Clinton.

Now it is true that you can go out in America and find people who would just never vote for a black person. But it's a lot harder than it was a generation or two ago, when most voters admitted to pollsters they would never vote for a black president.

And you can probably find some people who usually vote for Democrats but would not vote for a black Democrat. But not very many of them, and they're likely to be pretty advanced in age, and so there are likely fewer of them around than there were four years ago.

My own view is that such voters were more than counterbalanced by voters who felt that, as an abstract proposition in the light of our history, it would be a good thing for Americans to elect a black president.

In 2008, Obama, who came to national attention by decrying the polarization of Red-state and Blue-state America, had obvious appeal to voters. I think there is a similar, and similarly unquantifiable, factor working for Obama this year: Many voters feel, as an abstract proposition, that it would be a bad thing for American voters to reject the first black president.

Some conservatives complain that there is a double standard, that whites who vote against Obama are accused of racial motives, while blacks, 95 percent of whom voted for him, are not.

I think that's unfair. Members of an identifiable group that has been in some way excluded from full recognition as citizens will naturally tend to support a candidate who could be the first president from that group. In 1960, Gallup reported that 78 percent of American Catholics voted for John Kennedy.

American blacks have suffered exclusion and discrimination more than any other group. And very large percentages of them regularly vote for candidates who share Obama's views on issues.

What's remarkable about our politics in 2008 and today is that most voters seem to be making their decisions based on their assessment of the issues and the character of the candidates.

The fact that some have, at least for the moment, moved away from supporting Obama to opposing him, or remain unsure, reflects not an increasing racism, but the fact that we simply have more information than we had four years ago.

Most of us are disappointed when our candidates don't win. But that's no excuse for phony alibis.


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2012; blacks; obama; obamacare; polls; racecard; racism
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Expect to see much more of this as the election nears.
1 posted on 06/25/2012 1:10:21 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’m thinking this crap will now backfire on the Obama team. People are sick to death of Blacks and Liberals (like Chris Matthews) pulling the Race Card. I say it will backfire on them. Whaddya think?


2 posted on 06/25/2012 1:15:03 AM PDT by pistolpackinpapa (Why is it that you never see any Obama bumper stickers on cars going to work in the mornings?)
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To: pistolpackinpapa

If it didn’t work, would they have been using it since Reconstruction? There’s a whole industry dedicated to not much more than this. See: Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Barack Obama, Jesse Jackson Junior, Marcus Garvey, Louis Farakhan, Jeremiah Wright, Ben Crump, etc., etc...


3 posted on 06/25/2012 1:19:57 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (In honor of my late father, GunnerySgt/Commo Chief, USMC 1943-65)
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To: pistolpackinpapa

It’s going to backfire on the Left. It makes Obama look like a weak loser. There are only about twenty percent of voters who eat leftist race bait. The closer they get to the election, if he is behind to a degree they can not overcome with voter fraud, they will totally melt down into spit.


4 posted on 06/25/2012 1:21:11 AM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

But, the only people who give any credence to those clowns are Blacks and white Race baiters who are already in the Democrat’s corner.


5 posted on 06/25/2012 1:23:35 AM PDT by pistolpackinpapa (Why is it that you never see any Obama bumper stickers on cars going to work in the mornings?)
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To: pistolpackinpapa

If that were only true. Do you work for a corporation, government agency, non-profit or other similar organization? Go to your Facebook, Twitter or other social media site and post something that can even remotely be construed as racist, homophobic, sexist or against Islam. See how long it takes for you to get fired.


6 posted on 06/25/2012 1:26:53 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (In honor of my late father, GunnerySgt/Commo Chief, USMC 1943-65)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Don't you think it better to use race as an excuse for Obama’s incredibly maladroit performance instead of his being sick stupid and wrong?
7 posted on 06/25/2012 1:30:13 AM PDT by Happy Rain ("You may call me a racist but I insist Obama is not God.")
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To: Happy Rain

Is that what you got from my comments? Really?


8 posted on 06/25/2012 1:31:14 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (In honor of my late father, GunnerySgt/Commo Chief, USMC 1943-65)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Go to your Facebook, Twitter or other social media site and post something that can even remotely be construed as racist, homophobic, sexist or against Islam. See how long it takes for you to get fired.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

But, it’s not people like you and me committing acts of Racism or any other act of bigotry. Your average American is not committing acts of Racism. It’s just in the minds of the Race baiters. That’s why it’s gonna backfire. Sure if you went on facebook and used the “N” word or discriminated against a Hispanic or Black in the workplace; you’d be in deep doo doo. But, you’re comparing apples and oranges. I’m telling you, it will backfire because they (the clowns you named in your Post #3) are accusing White Americans of being Racist when they’re NOT!!! Bust me for something I did; I’ll suffer the consequences in silence. Accuse me of something I didn’t do, we’re gonna fight. People like Al Sharpton, Louie Farrakhan and Chris Matthews are gonna keep running their mouths until they plunge this nation into an all-out Race War. And it will NOT be pretty.


9 posted on 06/25/2012 1:40:55 AM PDT by pistolpackinpapa (Why is it that you never see any Obama bumper stickers on cars going to work in the mornings?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’m totally rtacist.. I hate liberals, progressives, socialist and communist.


10 posted on 06/25/2012 2:18:11 AM PDT by maddog55 (OBAMA: Why stupid people shouldn't vote.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The can use all the race cards they want, but the fact is Obama ain't black so their argument is moot. Like Obama, actor Wentworth Miller had a black father and a white mother. Is he "black" as well?


11 posted on 06/25/2012 2:21:36 AM PDT by GrandJediMasterYoda (Some day our schools will teach the difference between "lose" and "loose")
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To: pistolpackinpapa
There is another class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs—partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs…

There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who do not want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public.

-Booker T. Washington

12 posted on 06/25/2012 2:23:58 AM PDT by GeorgiaDawg32 (This tagline for rent. Contact GeorgiaDawg32 for pricing and excellent financing options.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Soetoro is a loser, period. He sucks no matter what race the race baiters claim he is.


13 posted on 06/25/2012 2:24:43 AM PDT by VRWC For Truth (Throw the bums out who vote yes on the bailout)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Nope. just commenting on the headline.
14 posted on 06/25/2012 2:29:34 AM PDT by Happy Rain ("You may call me a racist but I insist Obama is not God.")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"Don't you think it better to use race as an excuse for Obama’s incredibly maladroit performance instead of his being sick stupid and wrong? "

I think what she means here is, Oblunder can't run on his record, what else is left?

Stack the deck with the race card.

15 posted on 06/25/2012 2:35:47 AM PDT by Wizdum (My job is to get you to shoot soda out your nose)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
So the same people who put Obama into office in 2008 are now racists because they've had their eyes opened about his policies?

Got it.

16 posted on 06/25/2012 2:54:06 AM PDT by Timber Rattler (Just say NO! to RINOS and the GOP-E)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"Expect to see much more of this as the election nears."

But of course. . . . (007's famous line)
He has no record to run on.
Well he does have a record - - - - - - a very BAD record. . .

17 posted on 06/25/2012 2:55:59 AM PDT by DeaconRed (My vote in Nov will be dictated by my extreme hatred for ZERO and what he is doing to our country.)
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To: Wizdum
You got it...

in fact a good counter would be for Republicans to play the race card too.

“So you liberals say the reason we Conservatives point out that Obama is the worse president since Woodrow Wilson is because he's BLACK? Why you racists!—being incompetent is colorblind you Jim Crow bigots!”

18 posted on 06/25/2012 2:57:04 AM PDT by Happy Rain ("You may call me a racist but I insist Obama is not God.")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

how much of that 53% was fraudulent/acorn? The only thing soetoro has left is the race card, but the fast & furious has placed him in the criminal card category. The next few weeks will expose even more of the commie fraud with 1] sheriff arpaio conference mid-july 2] professor kengor book early july 3] the dick holder in contempt of congress this week 4]supremes tell soetoro to bend over with verdict on commiecare and arizona, etc etc.


19 posted on 06/25/2012 3:13:54 AM PDT by biggredd1
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

It was race that got him elected so it is right that race takes him out.

Blacks were racist in their 90+% vote. Whites were “non-racist” in voting for him because he was black. (Which makes their choice racist.) Both accomplished the same thing. A lazy child who did not like the whole premise behind the USA became president because he was black.

Correcting that error is not racist. I would not vote for him not matter what race, sex, or creed he was.


20 posted on 06/25/2012 3:22:26 AM PDT by Right Wing Assault (Dick Obama is more inexperienced now than he was before he was elected.)
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