Posted on 03/09/2007 4:56:34 AM PST by jmaroneps37
With the increasing fanfare over Barack Obama’s candidacy for president, we’ve heard much of what an exciting and articulate candidate he is. But we’ve heard precious few seasoned discussions regarding America’s willingness to elect a black president.
Superficially, this seems like a foregone conclusion. And, after all, since the 1940s, polls have been saying that a majority of Americans would be willing to vote for a black president. But, when it gets right down to it, will Americans really .....?
The truth is that the answer to this question is not a simple yes or no. It appears that many Americans do have a problem with race and sometimes in the most unlikely of places. In this past election cycle, there were at least 5 high-profile US Senate and gubernatorial contests featuring an African-American Democrat or Republican: Kenneth Blackwell in Ohio, Lynn Swan in Pennsylvania, Harold Ford in Tennessee, Michael Steele in Maryland and Deval Patrick in Massachusetts. While all of these candidates were initially believed to have an excellent chance of winning, only one emerged victorious on Election Day.
Contrary to what some people seem to think, racism is not the only reason for the American voter’s malaise over electing a non-white candidate. In 2004, I tried to convince a Republican friend of mine to choose a Hispanic candidate in her state’s GOP Senate primary, but she told me she was hesitant because she thought that a non-white would try to impose a racial agenda if elected. People also feel pressure to vote for their own kind. Census statistics show that 2 of 3 Americans are non-Hispanic white, compared to only 13% of Americans who are black. When the actual eligible electorate is factored in, whites constitute a whopping 80% of the voters and blacks a mere 10%.
(Excerpt) Read more at collinsreport.net ...
Uh, Condi is liberal, in case you didn't get the memo.
After all, for all their talk about muliticultural blah blah, the Democrats WANT to keep the status quo - which is the powerful rich whites running the party, and the poor unsophisticated blacks blindly voting for every Democrat in sight, no matter how connected to racism or the Klan they've been (Byrd, Morran, Fulbright, etc.)
Oh, Hildebeast MIGHT pay lip service to O-bomb-a, but you've GOT to know she is gnashing her teeth right now in utter disgust.
By the way, did anyone hear that tape of Bill Clinton's brother... spewing the n-word all over the place.
THAT has to be the ultimate coverup of all time, especially considering the way the lamestream media goes after all relatives of GOP officials.
I don't think Colin Powell is exactly a liberal - any more than Bush is, anyway. But I agree that his moment has passed.
You've got that right!
"By the way, did anyone hear that tape of Bill Clinton's brother... spewing the n-word all over the place".
What? You mean the first black president's brother used the "n" word?
Two:
Bill Clinton (self-proclaimed)
Abraham Lincoln (so-called by "mean-spirited" critics of his day)
At one time, i considered Powell...
I might consider Honore,,,maybe
Steele or Blackwell in 2012...
But Obama? I don't like what i'm
hearing about his voting record,
and quite frankly, he seems to be
singularly unqualified to be CinC.
The POTUS is the most demanding
management job in the world.
The Senate is really no kind of
training to be a POTUS...they
are distinctly different in their
quaifications. Congresscritters are
debaters..hemmers and hawers..
the the POTUS, HAS TO ACT, AND ACT
WITH DECICIVENESS, TO IMMINENT CRISES.
Obama has a Seenate tie, a firm
handshake, a sudden look in the
eye, and an easy smile...but how
long will that smile last, when
the crap hits the fan, and all
the weight the world rests on
his shoulders..day in and day
out???
He's never even had to deal with
a garbagemens strike.
This Obama thing really IS scary. He could not possibly be elected, but he could be setting the stage for someone else as an "at least I'm not as bad as Obama" alternative. And race is irrelevant here.
There is serious manipulation going on 20 months before the election. I suspect an exotic chess move is being set up and Obama is merely one of the "thrusting pawns".
"It's not a question of race, it's question of integrity and policy, just like everyone else."
The point of the above story is to point out that there are many Americans who obviously aren't ready to elect a black president. Historically speaking, it doesn't look particularly promising . . .
"Until a candidate the likes of Dennis Haysbert (24) ( The Unit ) comes along it will never happen in my lifetime"
Exactly. The only problem is that the Democrats have no such candidate. When I watch Barack Obama, I think he looks young and green. We don't need a callow and that's how I think he'll look when he stands toe to toe with our nominee in 2008 (should he be nominated, of course).
NO
"This Obama thing really IS scary. He could not possibly be elected, but he could be setting the stage for someone else as an "at least I'm not as bad as Obama" alternative. And race is irrelevant here."
Most people here say that race is irrelevant. I don't think that's true. I think that many Americans are still concerned that deep inside black candidates have a little Jesse Jackson living in them. Obama, if nominated would have a terrible time living that one down. Every time he got mad, he'd have to watch out for coming off like an angry black man - white voters run from those types.
Like the story says, don't forget Harold Ford, Michael Steele (not an angry black man), Kenneth Blackwell and others. I think there's a lot of voters that will be hesitant on the race issue.
I didn't really make myself very clear. When I said race really isn't the issue here, what I meant was that I think that there is nobody in either party that seriously thinks a black man (or woman) can be president, in spite of all the black presidents in modern fiction. ;)
Whoever is REALLY anointed to be a late front runner (when it matters) is almost certainly not black.
Exellent as well.
My philosophical heroes are Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele and Walter Williams, and I find the breathtakingly eloquent oratory of the oft maligned Alan Keyes thrilling. With that established, I wish to state that the idea of a Fabian Socialist like Barack Obama as president is not only singularly unappealing but one that I regard as positively counter productive. The Black community is an instructive victim of the dangers of liberalism and the Welfare State. The Great Society spawned by the socialist tendencies of liberalism (together with all the other counter cultural rot from the sixties) was the single most important factor in the destruction of the 2 parent black family. The corresponding fallout from this unfortunate development directly affects nearly EVERY single negative aspect of behavior and culture that so prevails in many segments of the black community.
I believe that modern day liberalism, with it's near unqualified support of the culture of death, i.e. abortion at any stage of fetal development, homosexuality as a normative value, sex education without moral guidelines, and condoms as a cure for AIDS is a grotesque tumor. Barack Obama is the pretty boy mask intended to hide the real Dorian Gray face that liberalism must conceal so that it may realize a '60's style renaissance. Barack Obama is actually to the LEFT OF Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton on abortion, something that I wouldn't think possible for anyone. He has voted for nearly every socialist entitlement that has come before him as both a US and State Senator.
I recall an instructive moment during the US Senatorial debates between Alan Keyes and Barack Obama. (Should anyone care to review those debates, it is obvious that Obama has no answer to the perspectives of an intellectually rigorous conservative) They were speaking to the issue of school choice, and Obama was disclosing his satisfaction with a private schooling program at an elite educational institution in Hyde Park that his children attended. Alan Keyes riposted by saying that is precisely why he favors school choice, he wanted all parents to have Obama's option and satisfaction about school choice for THEIR children. Obama looked slightly stunned, and stammered out an inadequate response. My impression of him was that of a liberal elitist beholden to the Teacher's Unions and unwilling to give or to trust people with viable educational options to improve their childrens lives.
Liberals seem to imply that we are supposed to be ready for a black man for prez just 'cause it is time for a black man. I hope that we never elect a socialist liberal for president whether it be Clinton or Edwards or Gore or yes even Obama. If you can show me a black presidential candidate who does not believe that the US constitution is "a living document," who believes that we are endowed with inalienable rights that come from our creator and not from government, who believes that National Defense is a higher priority than government endowed health care, who believes that the color of one's skin should not be considered by the government for advantage or disadvantage, who believes that taxation is only appropriate for the constitutionally mandated functions of government and not every utopian scheme that can be concocted by stretching the Constitution's welfare clause beyond all recognition than I will sing his or her praises to high heaven. Failing that than I will vote for the candidate that best comports with that philosophical temperament whether he or she be black or white.
I thought liberals were supposed to believe in the "content of the character and not the color of the skin." If that is true than I definitely got the message. I am therefore NOT ready to vote for Barack Obama!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.