The MSM is all caught up on Barack Obama's lack of traction with "blue collar white workers", an angle which will undoubtedly be echoed repeatedly in the next week after his ethering in West Virginia last night[1]. This strikes me as a total crock, mainly because the past few Democratic candidates have had marginal levels of success without winning a majority of the white vote, let alone the suddenly coveted category of blue collar (read: poor) rural white men. Clinton didn't carry the white vote in 96'. Gore didn't have it in 2000, but he won the popular vote, although you could argue that did him about as much good as a truckload of Gregory Abbott's Greatest Hits LPs.
But since that dingbat Campbell Brown (seriously, how'd she get that job?) and the fellow talkin' monkeys at CNN need something to talk about, we'll be hearing this same flawed analysis in the weeks to come. Sheesh, isn't it about time they start focusing on Cotton Hill McCain already?
Nonetheless, while you've got the historic racial dynamic of a serious black candidate making a run for The Number One Spot, I've yet to see the MSM go in on any level to try and explore the psychology of the many whites who simply will not evar vote for a black man under any circumstances. You and I know this segment of the population does indeed exist, but you sure as hell wouldn't know it by watching MSNBC, CNN, or Fox News. My hometown Washington Post is just as complicit in not bothering to peel this onion, but Tuesday's story on the racial slights experienced by Obama supporters in Pennsylvania was about as close to a serious examination as I've read this year.
I hate cut-and-pasting this extensively, but the article really is a must-read, and I didn't want to omit anything.
For all the hope and excitement Obama's candidacy is generating, some of his field workers, phone-bank volunteers and campaign surrogates are encountering a raw racism and hostility that have gone largely unnoticed -- and unreported -- this election season. Doors have been slammed in their faces. They've been called racially derogatory names (including the white volunteers). And they've endured malicious rants and ugly stereotyping from people who can't fathom that the senator from Illinois could become the first African American president.And there you have it. For all the bullcrap about this campaign being "post-racial", reality is, anytime there's a black man involved in anything in America, there's gonna be a racial element. The question is, are these folks so dogged in their distrust in the intentions of a black man that they'd seriously consider signing up for another 4 years of the same administration that cost them their precious jobs, homes, and genteel ways of life in the first place? That's some pretty bassackwards thinking if you ask me, but hey, what do I know?
The contrast between the large, adoring crowds Obama draws at public events and the gritty street-level work to win votes is stark. The candidate is largely insulated from the mean-spiritedness that some of his foot soldiers deal with away from the media spotlight.
Victoria Switzer, a retired social studies teacher, was on phone-bank duty one night during the Pennsylvania primary campaign. One night was all she could take: "It wasn't pretty." She made 60 calls to prospective voters in Susquehanna County, her home county, which is 98 percent white. The responses were dispiriting. One caller, Switzer remembers, said he couldn't possibly vote for Obama and concluded: "Hang that darky from a tree!"
Documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy, the daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, said she, too, came across "a lot of racism" when campaigning for Obama in Pennsylvania. One Pittsburgh union organizer told her he would not vote for Obama because he is black, and a white voter, she said, offered this frank reason for not backing Obama: "White people look out for white people, and black people look out for black people."
On Election Day in Kokomo, a group of black high school students were holding up Obama signs along U.S. 31, a major thoroughfare. As drivers cruised by, a number of them rolled down their windows and yelled out a common racial slur for African Americans, according to Obama campaign staffers.
The bigotry has gone beyond words. In Vincennes, the Obama campaign office was vandalized at 2 a.m. on the eve of the primary, according to police. A large plate-glass window was smashed, an American flag stolen. Other windows were spray-painted with references to Obama's controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and other political messages: "Hamas votes BHO" and "We don't cling to guns or religion. Goddamn Wright."
In a letter to the editor published in a local paper, Tunkhannock Borough Mayor Norm Ball explained his support of Hillary Clinton this way: "Barack Hussein Obama and all of his talk will do nothing for our country. There is so much that people don't know about his upbringing in the Muslim world. His stepfather was a radical Muslim and the ranting of his minister against the white America, you can't convince me that some of that didn't rub off on him.
"No, I want a president that will salute our flag, and put their hand on the Bible when they take the oath of office."
Karen Seifert, a volunteer from New York, was outside of the largest polling location in Lackawanna County, Pa., on primary day when she was pressed by a Clinton volunteer to explain her backing of Obama. "I trust him," Seifert replied. According to Seifert, the woman pointed to Obama's face on Seifert's T-shirt and said: "He's a half-breed and he's a Muslim. How can you trust that?"
He opened the grill and peeked at the kebabs. "It's not his race, because I got real good friends and all that," Cox continued. "If anything would keep him from getting elected, it would be his name. It might turn off some older people."
Pollsters have found it difficult to accurately measure racial attitudes, as some voters are unwilling to acknowledge the role that race plays in their thinking. But some are not. Susan Dzimian, a Clinton supporter who owns residential properties, said outside a polling location in Kokomo that race was a factor in how she viewed Obama. "I think if it was somebody other than him, I'd accept it," she said of a black candidate. "If Colin Powell had run, I would be willing to accept him."
The question isn't how Obama appeals to voters who hold this sentiment, because reality is, he could find each of these folks a job that pays them 3 times their current salary tomorrow and they still wouldn't pull the lever for him in the Fall. People with this sorta mentality can't be campaigned, pandered, or appealed to. Reality is, these folks made of their minds about Barry Obama 46 years ago, and there ain't a damn thing he can do about it.
I know I'm obviously about to ask a redundant question, but why in the hell hasn't the mainstream media focused on this aspect of race in this year's campaign? There was a big brouhaha about women in South Carolina voting gender vs race, there were some major race related flareups during the Democratic campaign, and let's not forget Rebb'n Wright. But in 95% of the cases, the discussions about race in America have all been very superficial, usually cloaked in the guise of patriotism and "values". I know networks are hesitant to explore true investigative journalism that could potentially offend wide swaths of their viewership, but if they're even remotely serious about the state of race in this country, you'd think someone would have explored the sentiments many white voters hold on some deeper level.
Instead of continually asking "why doesn't Barack Obama appeal to these voters", perhaps someone should ask "why aren't these voters open to considering Obama?" Seems like the seriously journalistic thing to ponder if you ask me.
Aww hell, who am I kidding? This is all about ratings.
Question: Do you think Obama can win in the Fall without capturing a majority of the white vote? What, if anything, can he do to convince voters that hold the above sentiments to consider pulling the lever for him?
Racist Incidents Give Some Obama Campaigners Pause [WaPost]
[1] John Edwards got nearly 10% of the vote. He hasn't been in the race since January. What kinda inbred hicks vote for a guy who's been outta the race for nearly six months? Some folks deserve to be systematically disenfranchised.
