Posted by
Sean Engmann on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 1:34:34 AM
I've had it, there's an 800 pound gorilla in the room (and no I don't mean that in a racial way), and it's race. Everyone's tiptoeing around it in the mainstream media and almost everyone is predisposed to the position that it is an obstacle for Barack Obama. It isn't. Additionally, the prevailing wisdom is that there remains an air of racism in white America, that many whites would not vote for Obama simply because he's black. Don't forget, that was the same prevailing wisdom that the same people had during the Democratic primaries, and the so-called "Bradley effect" never transpired. The fact of the matter is that, among white Americans, race will not matter for the vast majority of voters, and for those whose vote is impacted by race, they are extreme outliers on each side, with some voters voting against Obama because he's black, and others voting for him to elect the first black President. The fact that the race issue is being brought up as a reason Obama could lose is the height of media condescention towards the American people, as well as a slight to McCain as it implies that the only reason Obama would lose is because he's black, which is simply false.
What set me off about this topic is this week's Time Magazine, which examines race in detail. On the cover, it states "Why the Economy is Trumping Race: How Worried White Voters are Turning Toward Obama." That cover implies that the only reason any white voter would vote for a black guy is because they are too scared to do otherwise." Let's consider the facts, about 50% of whites will vote for Obama, maybe 5-10% of whom were swayed by economic concerns or other policy issues. So realistically, at a minimum 40% of white people will vote for Obama. Now consider another article previewed on the cover of Time entitled, "How Black Voters Will Feel if Obama Loses." In the article, Ta-Nehisi Coates says, "(When he bought an Obama t-shirt in Harlem) is when I knew, for the first time in my life, it would be a good year to be black," and follows that by saying that blacks would greet an Obama loss as "More of the same." Now consider that in polls among blacks, Obama carries the black vote at a clip of around 95%.
The media has, at its core, the belief that we are still living in a racist country. If nothing else, the success of the Obama campaign should put to rest those doubts. If white people, though, are labeled racist for being reluctant to vote for someone who happens to be black, shouldn't scrutiny be aimed at a black community that is voting for the black guy at a 95% clip? To those who say that blacks vote Democratic anyhow, consider that in North Carolina's primary, the black vote went to Obama over Clinton at a 91% clip. It seems to me that there is a double standard in play here in the popular wisdom. Race supposedly hurts Obama when a few white people vote against him, but there is no examination of the trends of upwards of 90% of blacks going for Obama primarily because he's black.
If there's any mistrust or racism in this country, it is among the black community much more so than the white community and the numbers bear that out. It is why black leaders have stepped out and condemned as racist any attack on Obama in this election. This election will be decided on the issues, not on race and saying otherwise is seeking to stir up trouble if McCain wins. The Obama campaign itself proves that the American Dream is alive, but like many Democrats, Obama seeks to bury that dream and the hope that his campaign supposedly emmbodies, in a sea of entitlements. Let's leave race out of the final analysis, it's far too overblown right now.