If Truth Be Told...or...Not-So-Veiled Racism In America

Why is it racism is always used to denote white people? Are black voters, giving Obama their vote because he truly is the best man, black or white, to lead this country?
If Barack Obama were white would he deserve your vote? If John McCain were black would the vote go for him?
Racism is not a trait identifiable only to Caucasians. Look deep into your heart and ask yourself if Barack Obama laid claim only to the "white" side of his racial makeup, would you still push to get this man elected?

Wow, you just disacovered the Atlantic Ocean!!

Of course black people can be racist. Black people are human too.

I also see this behavior too often for it to be co-incidence.

You're obviously about to make a racially charged comment when you have to first say " now I'm not racist ".

It isn't. There are plenty of people of all races who know that people of any race can be racist.

if truth be told: racism exists all across the world, buddy

To answer your first question, yes there are black racists.

As to whether we TRULY believe Obama is the best man running, incredible as it may seem, ABSOLUTELY. Many (if not most) of his supporters (black AND white) believe that.

If he were white would he deserve our vote?? We've BEEN voting for them, eh??

As to your question regarding would we support McCain if he were black. Some might. But no, I (and I suspect many blacks) would not be voting for a black man who supported a conservative agenda. In fact he'd probably garner even greater contempt.

And for your final question...what's the point of it? Are you asking if Obama only recognized his white heritage and denied his black one what would we think??

a. What would anyone think?
b. Why would he do that??
c. Would you think better of him if he did??

Knee jerk reaction - Barak Obama is NOT black, he is multiracial. He has NEVER defined himself as a Black candidate simply because he is not. Get it right.

He was born from a white mother and a Kenyan father. His father abandoned the family when he was a child and he was raised in Hawaii and Indonesia by his white mother and white grandmother outside of any Black community. He is NOT ethnically BLACK. The only thing he shares with people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton is the color of his skin.

It is too bad many many people can't see past skin color including the people on the Left. The only connection he has with the Black community is with his wife who IS ethnically Black and grew up in a Black community on the South Side of Chicago.

and Rev Wright

hahaha. How incongruous.

Well, the underlying ASSumption behind the questions is that:

a) Obama wouldn't be anywhere in the running if he were not black and

b) we are not supporting the best man for the job (the assumption also being that Obama isn't), but we're supporting the man because he is black...equally erroneous.

Of course the question can be turned around on the poser by asking, "Would Obama be having as hard a time as he is if he were NOT black," however I wouldn't bother to ask him such a question because

a) we already know the answer to that, and

b) I'd be accused of playing some "race card" for asking essentially the same question.

Obama is the only viable alternative*, that opposed Iraq... at least in speech.
The other was Richardsen, who was only a governor, so did not vote on it, but opposed it.

The people want their fucking voice back. Its the war, stupid. We know the war is fucking us in the ass, (not in the good way, boyth) economically, and geopolitically.

No more of this Kerry vs Bush shit, both of whom made no announcement whatsoever to draw down troops from Iraq. that was our choice in 2004, and we are fucking sick of one choice.

That is why Obama got hundreds of thousands of $200 donations. It isn't because he is black, its because the people want a choice this time, and we want out of Iraq.


*Kucinich was not viable, and all the rest voted for the war in Iraq.

I don't think it's entirely racial. McCain has been around for a long time and he's run for president before. He's a known commodity to some degree. Obama is very new on the national scene and upset the established candidate-apparent. His rise is comparatively meteoric and he's seen as challenging the incumbent party. I think it natural for people to scrutinize him more regardless of his race.

I'm willing to entertain that idea but Hillary is the same is McCain, only around 30 threads. As for McCain being known well he's changed to much from his so called 'maverick' days do we really know who he is anymore? Like Hillary both seemed to waiver on their ideals during the campaign and sometimes to outright bend them. Obama did as well. But McCain has had a sex-change operation by comparision for his reversals. Do we really know him? Reformer, fiscal hawk, outsider, insider, values candidate, wartime leader -- he has tried on each of these.

Talking Points:

The other point that again goes almost totally undiscussed is McCain's two reinventions of himself over the last decade. From a mainline conservative Republican to progressive reform candidate to Bush Republican. The reporters who have been covering him for the last decade know that there is virtually no public policy issue of note which McCain hasn't made a 180 degree change of position on in the last half dozen years. An ideological shift of that magnitude is far from unprecedented. And such turnabouts or transformations can be a product of searching insights into the changing terrain of American governance. But two such shifts in the course of a decade strongly suggest either instability or opportunism.

Talking Points Memo | What About the Curve?

So I don't think we really know what kind of president he will be no more so than Obama. But it sure isn't being discussed half as much.

All this against the backdrop of most of the developed world being for Obama by a wide margin. What is up with the US? Now this was true for Kerry and Gore as well. That's another thread.