What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review? What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class? What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said "I do" to? What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization? What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard? What if Obama were a member of the "Keating 5"? What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.
How racism works— Kelvin LaFond, Fort Worth
4 comments:
Can everyone PLEASE get off the racial kick?!?! Most people will vote for McCain over Obama simply based on political experience, NOT THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN! Get over it and stick to the issues!
a. earls
It is true that “most” who vote for McCain over Obama will do so for reasons other than race, but race is still a factor. The polls show it. I know some people personally who will not vote for a black man. Racist emails about Obama would not be circulating if they appealed to no one. To say it’s not a factor is naive or, at best, wishful thinking.
Those who vote for McCain will for the most part do it because they are loyal Republicans or they just don’t like Obama for whatever reason. McCain’s “experience” is unimpressive. If he honestly believes that Sarah Palin should be next in line for the presidency when the president is a 72 year old cancer survivor, he certainly hasn’t learned much from his experience. He’s been a fighter pilot and has served in the United States Senate primarily voting along party lines. On those few issues where he voted his conscience, he has caved. He has no economic expertise. His foreign policy is shaped by a cold war world view which coincides with that of Bush and he could be even worse than Bush.
I don't put much stock in polls. And, yes, I might be a tad naive, but now days, those circulating racist emails are very small in number, and they are ususally contained within themselves. People today, for the most part, are smarter than that, and they do not let ignorance influence their decisions. For example, I caught the tail end of an interview on NPR, where the guy said that he was a pro-choice, life long Republican who was planning on voting for McCain until he picked Palin as his VP. Now he is "throwing his vote for Obama." See! People can be rational. Don't take a small minority of racists, and project their views on the rest of us! If Obama loses the election, it won't be because of his skin color.
a. earls
I hope A. Earls is right, but I've talked to two thirty-something professional women yesterday who will not vote for Obama because he is black. That they were that open, knowing my views and my family ties, makes me wonder how many are out there who will express their prejudice only in the voting booth.
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