Barack Obama: Why White Folk Just Don't Get It

Two articles. Two White men. Two folk who just don't get it.

Ready Aim Fire

The End of the Obama Revolution

Now before you keep reading this post you need to read those articles.

No I'm serious.

- (me doing a jig while you read) -

Alright. The first piece is a problem for two reasons

1. It doesn't fully call Clinton on his racist bullshit. He refers to their tactics as their "war room." As if their attacks are completely above board and par for the course. He does admit that their attacks have the potential to alienaate specific groups (Blacks and youth) that could cost her in the genral election.

2. He expects Obama to "rise above the fray." Yeah. About that rising above the fray. How'd that work for Kerry? And Obama is in an even more precarious position because of his color.

The Clintons are trying to turn him into the Black guy who is running fro president and if Obama doesn't fight back then he gets tarnished with the Black brush and voters will start to wonder if what the Clintons are saying is true since he didn't take the time to defend himself.

Swiftboating anyone?

The second article is a problem becomes it asumes that only the Hispanic voting bloc is racist:

Among Hispanics, who in some states make up a larger contingent of voters than African-Americans, Obama has encountered strident resistance. Sergio Bendixen, a pollster working with the Clinton campaign, recently told the New Yorker: "The Hispanic voter -- and I want to say this very carefully -- has not shown a lot of willingness or affinity to support black candidates." Based on this logic, an Obama victory in South Carolina, where every second Democratic voter is black, would be more than offset by an Obama defeat in California, a much larger state that is dominated by whites and Hispanics. Staffers within the Clinton campaign are referring to the Hispanics as their firewall.

What he doesn't note when referring to other groups that he says aren't warming to Obama, women, blue collar workers and older people there is a race component as well. Obama has been polling well among blacks in most of those demographics (those without a high school diploma notwithstanding). So the idea that he's on the outs with ALL of these groups is misleading. It's mainly White people in these demographics he's not polling well against.

So making Hispanics (who are also White) the racist bogeyman is telling and misleading. The article reads as if Hilary has tapped into these groups and race (or gender) isn't a factor at all in making the decision on who to vote for. Coming away from this article you'd think Blacks voted strictly because Obama's Black. Hispanics vote for Hilary because Obama's Black. And everyone else (including women) vote Hillary based on the issues.

Like I said. They just don't get it.