Racism is an issue

Race keeps coming up in the campaign for the Presidency. But it is not Republicans discussing Senator Obama's race, it is the Obama campaign calling the McCain campaign racist. I don't see how reminding those white voters that are reluctant to vote for a black man that Obama is half-African is a winner. And calling the campaign that never mentions race racist is certainly a loser.

Ruth Ann Dailey has a more detailed discussion in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette.

"American History X"

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Racism emerging

Bonnie Erbe spends some time analyzing her thoughts on race and the 2008 Presidential race. Her opinion is much the same as mine.

Racism and the election

Here is my prediction for the November election; McCain in a landslide. The reason; pure and simple racism.

If this election breaks down like 2000 and 2004, then the margins are very tight. Democrats will vote for Obama, Republicans will vote for McCain and swing-voters will vote against Obama for one or all of three reasons. He is very liberal, he is black and he has a Muslim name. The first of those reasons is the only one that should count, but I don't believe that will be the case.

While overt racism is not rampant in this country anymore, there are certainly many people, especially older voters, who still have strong racist tendencies. And as I noted in my previous post, we are all symbolic racists unless we are black.

Whether we admit it or not, and most have no problem admitting it, the past 20+ years of Islamist terrorism have given us a distrust of Muslims. Having the name Barack Hussein Obama is certainly not a plus for a candidate at this point in U.S. history.

In the past two Presidential elections a movement of one percent in many states would have created overwhelming electoral majorities. It is my opinion, based on nothing but having lived in this country all my life, that there is much more than one percent that will vote against Senator Obama out of racist feelings.

This is my opinion, and everyone is welcome to point out how wrong I was if Obama wins in November.

Women don't vote monolithically

Kathleen Parker has an interesting take on the feminists position on Senator Clinton's nomination. It is her opinion that:

What they clearly don't want is a woman president just because she's a woman. If Clinton loses, it won't be because women betrayed her.

She even makes the odd statement that, "Obama is, for certain, the more feminine of the two." It is hard to imagine that Senator Obama would find that a complimentary assessment.

I would like the progressives to remember these comments when people vote for McCain rather than Obama. It may just be that many people consider him to be a better candidate, not because of racism.

I read one waggish comment to the effect that "I have no problem voting for a black man for President, but Colin Powell is not running."

Let's not pile on Michelle Obama

It was suggested that I comment on Michelle Obama's college thesis. There is an email circulating that has some fairly inflammatory comments ascribed to her.

I read (so you don't have to, though it's not bad writing for an undergraduate) her undergraduate thesis from Princeton entitled "Princeton Educated Blacks and the Black Community." There is nothing remarkable about her thesis. She was doing an analysis of the affect that being black at Princeton might have as you relate to the Black community. The quotes cited in the email do exist but they are pulled wholly out of context. The most outrageous quote is "...Blacks must join in solidarity to combat a White oppressor." The context is important, she is referring to the Black Power Movement of the 1970's and the entire quote is; "It is possible that Black individuals chose to or felt pressured to come together with other Blacks on campus because of the belief that Blacks must join in solidarity to combat a White oppressor." She goes on to state that the situation (in 1985) is different and Black students are more integrated into campus life.

She clearly identifies with the "Black" community in preference to the "White" community, but who can blame her for that. She was a minority student at an Ivy League University.

Rev. Wright is a racist, pure and simple

The Reverend Wright and Senator Obama have to deal with being black in American in very different ways. The Rev. Wright can very comfortably remain within his black identity and preach black isolation and hatred for whites. Sen. Obama must find a way to reconcile his identification with American blacks and the other 88% of the country who he needs in order to be elected.

I do not envy the Senator his position. He, no doubt, aligned himself with Trinity Church and the Rev. Wright in order to fit in his community and further his political career in Chicago. This served him well when he was a local politician and state senator, but now that he is running for a national office what benefitted him then is now a detriment. He has had to distance himself strongly from the Rev. Wright, but this has alienated some of the black community who supported him.

There is perhaps a positive in this brouhaha in that the discussion of race in America will now not be one sided. The past few decades have seen a racial discussion that basically devolved to “it is all whiteys fault and we have no responsibility for division.” Now the discussion has fallen down to the black community to sort out. Anyone who argues that the Rev. Wright’s views are not racist is promoting an agenda that does not hold up to argument. Making statements that the U.S. government is responsible for AIDS in order to kill blacks, that we are a terrorist nation, and that Louis Farrakhan is one of the great voices of the 20^th and 21^st century is just crazy. Then top that with the whole commentary about black brain physiology being different from Caucasians and Asians and you have certifiable bigotry.

This man is speaking from a place that is just not acceptable, and that he got cheers from the crowd at the National Press Club is disturbing. I am not saying that there is not racism in this country, clearly there is, but we rarely here it so openly displayed as we do when the Rev. Wright speaks. His speech sounded like the black version of a KKK rally. I know racist individuals, but I cannot think of ever encountering a single racial institution or having ever heard racism expressed in an open forum. I guess that makes the redneck Texan less of a bigot than the good Dr. of Divinity from Chicago.

I only hope that this is an opportunity for a real discussion about race in America.

End of rant.