Dem Party line; whites are too racist to vote Obama
Hillary made the comment the other day that Obama can’t carry the working white vote according to this Associated Press report;
In an interview with USA TODAY published Thursday, Clinton noted that the coalition of voters that supported her in the Democratic nominating contest had eluded Obama and would pose problems for him in the general election.
Senator Obama’s support among working, hardworking Americans, white Americans, is weakening again. . . . There’s a pattern here,” Clinton was quoted as saying.
So that has generated a discussion that only allows Democrats because Republicans aren’t allowed to discuss race. Paul Begala, whose head most closely resembles an egg than anyone else in politics and Hillary supporter, told Donna Brazile and CNN (as reported in Salon);
We cannot win with egg heads and African-Americans. OK, that is the Dukakis Coalition, which carried ten states and gave us four years of the first George Bush. President Clinton — reached across to get a whole lot of Republicans and Independents to come.
The India Daily completely missed the point and called Hillary a racist because supposedly what she really meant was that brown people are lazy;
The non-whites not only include blacks but also Asians and others. She implied that white blue collar workers are hard working and other races are not.
How’s it feel to be treated like a Republican, Hillary?
The upshot is that there’s an inherent racism among working whites that would prevent them from accepting a black president. In today’s Washington Post, Alan Abramowitz puts words to the thoughts Obama supporters have delusioned themselves with since last year;
Obama continues to have particular difficulty with one segment of the Democratic electorate: white working-class voters. In the most recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, for example, white Democrats with a college degree preferred Obama to Clinton, 59 to 37 percent. But white Democrats without a college degree preferred Clinton to Obama by a 55 to 36 percent margin.
To some extent, Obama’s problems here stem from Clinton’s special appeal to one segment of this group, white working-class women. And Democratic candidates have been having problems with lunch-bucket whites for a long time. (Just ask John Kerry.) But there is another reason — one that many discuss delicately — why Obama is having difficulty with white working-class voters: race.
Racial attitudes have changed dramatically in the United States over the past several decades, of course, and overtly racist beliefs are much less prevalent among white Americans of all classes today. But a more subtle form of prejudice, which social scientists sometimes call symbolic racism, is still out there — especially among working-class whites.
The reason we won’t vote for Obama is because we’re racist. It’s not because we don’t know anything about him, or that he won’t answer questions, or the questions that he has answered scare the beejezus out of us, or his juvenile views on foreign policy – it’s because we’re not educated enough to vote for a black man.
When I was in college, back in 1994, I was having an informal discussion with a PoliSci professor about Hillary Clinton. I told him that there’s no way I’d ever vote for Hillary. Before I could get another word out, a buttinsky female student asked me, in a very indignant tone “Why? Because she’s a woman?” I replied that I wouldn’t vote for her because she’s a socialist, but that didn’t convince the youngster, it was my underlying misogyny that kept me from being Hillaryista.
It’s that same identity politics that has insinuated itself into the November elections. The only racism that will have any influence in the elections is that racist influence that will drive 90% of Blacks to pull the lever for Obama merely because he’s Black and the guilt-ridden politics of the rich white class who can’t bring themselves to vote against a black man despite his lack of experience or qualifications to be a leader.
The same racism that put Ray Nagin in office after his lethal failures after Katrina. The same racism that returned Marion Berry to office after his stint in prison. The same racism that has perpetuated the culture of poverty and dependence in our inner cities for the last thirty years.
Jonn- Again you’re confusing multiple issues.
90% of black voters will not “pull the lever for Obama merely because he’s black”. They will do it because he’s a Democrat. That is not racism.
If the choice was Alan Keyes or fill-in-the blank Democrat blacks would still choose the Democrat. If anything it is Party-ism.
It also isn’t racism if Washington DC residents, (60% of whom are black, and an even greater % of whom are Democratic) vote for a black democratic candidate in Marion Barry. Ditto on Ray Nagin- who by the way was a minor figure in comparison to the bigger failures of FEMA and the Federal Govt.
You are also jumping to conclusions and exaggerating what people is these articles are saying about the race issue and Obama. It can’t be denied that most people in the US have prejudices and that it might affect the way some Democrats might vote. But for you to jump to the conclusion that you are labeled a racist for not supporting Obama is a stretch to say the least.
Stop playing the victim.
You’re comments here are misleading and border-line inappropriate.
I’ve been accused of being a racist because I’m a white guy who’s a political conservative and I live in the suburbs. Nobody is playing the victim, just relating reality.
Obama’s Pastor subscribes to Black Liberation Theology and here’s what Rev. Wright’s mentor, Rev. James Cone had to say:
“Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill gods who do not belong to the black community
… Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love.”
The above quotes are about a racist as it gets. We know that not all black people believe the rants of Rev. Wright and Louis Farrakhan, but there are enough people that do to keep corrupt and incompetent people in office, and that includes the corrupt Marion Barry and the incompetent Ray “School Bus” Nagin.
I have a friend who’s a black conservative and he’s been labeled an “Uncle Tom” and a turncoat for stating his beliefs, by people with that attitude that John spoke about in his post. Racism is not just in the domain of white people, black people can be racist as well. I agree with John that “the same racism that has perpetuated the culture of poverty and dependence in our inner cities for the last thirty years.” My family and I experienced that racism when we lived in a city neighborhood that went into decline.
Rochester Veteran-
Neither Jonn nor I mentioned anything about Rev Wright. You addressed nothing either one of us said.
“Rochester Veteran-
Neither Jonn nor I mentioned anything about Rev Wright. You addressed nothing either one of us said.”
Rooney, I apparently also missed the reference to Alan Keyes prior to the one in which you introduced him to this thread.
The point is that anythiong can be said by those in the favor of the media without consequence but some of us are held liable for what may be the exact same statements. Some are truly more equal than others.
The Keyes reference was an illustration of the flaw in Jonn’s statement that blacks vote solely on race.
I agree with your last statement- “The media bias” conspiracy is another good example of conservatives playing the victim.
What really IS the difference between “they’re bitter and cling to guns and religion” so they aren’t sharp enough to vote for me…..
And….
They’re all gonna be down on the corner around the burning trash barrels sucking down on their 40s on election day so they won’t be voting at all…
?????????????????????????????????
Which statement would get somebody condemned in the media?????
I read Jonn’s statements above more as “if we are NOT in favor of Obama, it is ASSUMED that it is because we are racist”, no other motive fits with their worldview.
I don’t see much above (in what Jonn himself says) that feels like “”they” vote for him solely because of his/their race”.
“I don’t see much above (in what Jonn himself says) that feels like “”they” vote for him solely because of his/their race”.
Here you go:
The only racism that will have any influence in the elections is that racist influence that will drive 90% of Blacks to pull the lever for Obama merely because he’s Black.
“I don’t see much above (in what Jonn himself says) that feels like “”they” vote for him solely because of his/their race”.
Here you go:
“The only racism that will have any influence in the elections is that racist influence that will drive 90% of Blacks to pull the lever for Obama merely because he’s Black.”
I didn’t say “nothing above”, rather “(not) much above”. The other points raised are entirely real.
That statement is a small part of the posting but to ignore its validity is foolish.
But good luck ….
90% may be a bit high……..
See you down at the trash barrel in November but PLEASE bring your own 40.
Ziggy, Here are two more:
“The same racism that put Ray Nagin in office after his lethal failures after Katrina.
The same racism that returned Marion Berry to office after his stint in prison.”
Fish in a barrel…
K, so Nagin got re-elected because of his organizational skills, “chocolate city” had nothing to do with it
and Berry only LOOKED bad because “the bitch set me up” and “cocaine’s a hell of a drug” and “you gonna believe ME or that lying videotape???”.
Got it.
Ziggy- Wow the more you comment the more you amaze me!
Rooney,
I can honestly say that it could not be NEARLY to the extent that YOU amaze ME !!!!!
Rooney,
In all honesty, it could not be NEARLY to the extent that you amaze ME.
Them there innernut tubes musta been clogged up..
It seems that if white guys talk of racial relations and point out controversial issues and things that we’ve experienced and observe, we’re automatically labeled as racists.
The root of the matter is people are keeping their own people down by spreading a gospel of racial hatred, rage, inferiority and entitlement. That’s what I was addressing and speak with personal experience. That’s the attitude that John was speaking of when he stated:
“The same racism that has perpetuated the culture of poverty and dependence in our inner cities for the last thirty years.”
We need to face these issues and it can’t be a one-sided conversation.