The Worst of Times
- 05.13.2008 - 8:17 AMYou would think the mainstream media would be reveling in the triumph of post-racial America. We are, it appears, on the verge of having the first African-American as a Presidential nominee. White voters have turned out in the millions to vote for him. But are pundits congratulating their fellow citizens on putting American race relations on a new footing? Not quite.
The mainstream media is now increasingly fond of tales of racism directed toward Barack Obama and fixated on the near-certainty that racist tendencies, however submerged, will consume voters in November. John Judis takes us through the psychology of Americans’ intractably racist views, so subliminal they are hard to quantify and address. Then he delivers this news:
Obama is likely to continue having trouble with white working-class voters in the Midwest–voters who tend to score high on racial resentment and implicit association tests and who, arguably, decided the 2004 election with their votes in Ohio. Obama will also have trouble with Latinos and Asians, groups that score high on both indexes, and that can be important in states like California. It’s not hard to quantify Obama’s problem: If 9 to 12 percent of Democratic primary voters in swing states have been reluctant to support him because he is black, one can assume that, in the general election, 15 to 20 percent of Democrats or Democratic-leaning Independents may not support him for the same reason.
One wonders, then, why Hillary Clinton was excoriated for making the same point in far gentler terms and without the psycho-babble. What’s more, if Judis is right, polls are useless and voters are lying in massive numbers when asked about their preferences and if race matters.
You can debate whether Judis is correct (or whether Obama’s disdain for the lives and values of working-class whites is to blame for his poor showing with certain blocs of voters–remember, it’s never his fault), but one thing is certain: the Left seems ready to bludgeon Americans, state by state, if they choose to reject the Agent of Change. It’s racism pure and simple if we don’t all embrace the great Obama.
And if it’s true that we are unredeemable racists, one wonders if the Democrats should have thought this through, paid a bit more attention to exit polls and asked themselves whether, despite her annoying tendency to sow discord, Clinton was right.
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May 13th, 2008 at 8:53 AM
WaPo: Indiana Voters a Bunch of Racist Hicks…
You can expect plenty of these stories between now and election day. The general theme will be if you don’t like Barack Obama, you’re a racist redneck….
May 13th, 2008 at 8:54 AM
Is Thomas Sowell a racist?
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MzA2OGM1MjU5YmZmMzc4MGI5NGU4Yzg0YTk1Y2ZhMWI=&w=MA==
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NWZlODViYjQ0ZDBjNTZlMjM4ZjM2MmU4MjA4ZWUyOGU=
May 13th, 2008 at 9:06 AM
Non Ivy League whites are not racists for realizing that “Barry” Obama and his ilk will most assuredly stick the proverbial knife deep into their back. They should well remember the “elites” sending their own children to private schools while the common folks’ were bussed across the other side of the city. There is also the matter of the disastrous U.S. Supreme Court decision, Griggs vs. Duke Power that really screwed the white person who did not possess a college degree.
Obama consistently deceives the non-ivy League white man and woman. Have we already forgotten his denouncement of NAFTA while campaigning in Ohio? At the same time, Obama’s so-called unofficial representative Altan Goolsbee was telling the exact opposite to officials of the Canadian government. No, BO is not to be trusted. He is inadvertently a blessing in disguise to racist David Duke. Obama will set back race relations within the United States by at least twenty years.
May 13th, 2008 at 9:13 AM
Yup, we’re all just “typical white people,” just like Barry’s granny. Barry and his minions in his campaign and media want to win through intimidating/beating us up with a guilt trip stick. I have lots of reasons to vote against Barry, the least of which is the color of his skin.
May 13th, 2008 at 9:34 AM
Count me among those who doesn’t believe Obama has a problem with white people. From all the available exit poll data, it’s Appalachia that has an Obama problem. Obama has won many states whose populations are almost entirely white - some by very large margins. The places where he hasn’t done well have been limited to those states that include or touch the Appalachia mountain range and plateau. Those regions have consistently voted a preference for Clinton over Obama.
Judis is simply incorrect in his conclusions. For example, recent polling in California indicate that Obama has actually turned around his numbers with Asians and now polls ahead of Clinton. The need of writers and editors to develop storylines can sometimes conflict with what’s actually happening on the ground.
We’re all better off ignoring the pundit class when it comes to sensitive issues like race. It’s better to just let the data speak for itself. This site spends a lot of time evaluating polling, census, and voting data to draw its conclusions. Those conclusions don’t look nearly as bleak as the picture Judis presents - except in Appalachia, but there are other possible ways to explain the data there before jumping into knee-jerk charges of racism (e.g. it could be that those voters simply prefer Clinton to Obama, or have positive memories of Bill Clinton’s terms, or think she’s more tuned into their economic hardships, etc.).
May 13th, 2008 at 10:02 AM
I’m delighted to see the poodles on the left depicting everyone else as crypto-KKKers. It will further marginalize their influence everywhere but in the MSM. The fact of the matter, and the reason BO’s support is cooling, is that he has never done anything but give a speech.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:02 AM
Just out of curiosity, does Judis have anything to say about the possible subliminal racial attitudes among the 90%+ shares of the Black vote that Obama’s been garnering?
May 13th, 2008 at 10:34 AM
On today’s BBC report on NPR a West Virginia woman said that she would not vote for Obama because he is black. The media are portraying white Americans as racist.
Let’s understand this. When 90% of blacks vote for Obama, it’s reasonable to say that they are voting on the basis of race—for the black guy and against the white guy. So it’s not just whites who have racial preferences.
Yes, some white voters prefer candidates racially similar to themselves, but back in 1990 Congressman William Gray noted that half the black Congressmen were elected by mostly non-black constituents. White people have supported black candidates for a long time and now they have given Obama’s candidacy more money than any white candidate in the history of our country. They have also given him a lot of votes, major support in his effort to become president.
The media need a story. They want to beat the white electorate with the stick of racism. They are distorting and they are being malicious.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:38 AM
The idea is for the accused white voters to buy their absolution by voting for Obama.
May 13th, 2008 at 11:47 AM
Voting for a black candidate is one thing.
Voting for a black urban left-wing elitist is an entirely different thing.
I’d bet most of those working-class white gun-clingers would vote for Colin Powell.