There’s increasing talk of race in the race for the Democratic nomination. A number of times lately I’ve heard and read that working, middle class white men won’t vote for Senator Obama. If that’s true, I’d say the significant issue isn’t race; it’s a perception that Obama is both inexperienced and way left of the electorate.
Obama owes his delegate lead in this campaign to the caucuses he won. Each caucus was heavily attended by college students.
I understand Obama’s appeal for young people. He’s young, too. And his stump speech packs an emotional wallop without actually saying much except that he’s for change.
Kids are all about change. They haven’t lived long enough that, like Solomon, they realize there’s not now and never going to be anything new under the sun. Each generation flies off the nest believing that it’s going to make the world over to be different and better.
Each generation at least briefly experiences contempt for it’s parents and the bad old mess they made. For college-aged people, the word “change" is magical. Many working class eighteen and nineteen-year-olds right now feel that it’s them and Obama versus daddy and momma.
They feel this way because Daddy isn’t impressed with the Senator from Chicago. Daddy has a lot to worry about. He wonders if he’ll still have his job a year from now. He’s noticed that his paycheck doesn’t go as far as it used to. Pressure to hang onto his job and his home, to feed, clothe, and educate his family…all this makes him cautious. He wants the election to leave a grown-up in charge. He may not much like either Senators McCain or Clinton, but he’s pretty sure that he doesn’t want to place his problems in the hands of Senator Obama.
So does that make Daddy a racist? No. It means that life and his responsibilities have made him careful.
In my opinion, those most likely to vote along racial lines are working, middle class blacks who have the same concerns as working, middle class whites. However, so far, in each primary, American blacks have overwhelmingly voted for Obama. To me this means that they so urgently want a black president that they're willing to risk Obama's inexperience and his ultra-liberal tendencies. They've got to be telling themselves, "Congress, his cabinet and other advisors won't let him go wrong. We just can't let this chance get away. It's time for a black president."
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Thought For Deepelm
Yes, it's sad. But it marks the beginning of your adult life, whatever the age that it occurs...the moment when you realize you can't chnge the world. Of course,the good news is that you can change yourself. Also, by being a model of positive behavior, by speaking on behalf of right causes, you can sometimes inspire others to want to change themselves, too.
You say that you have faith. That's great. I just hope it's faith in your own personal determination to live a good and inspiring life. If you have faith that you or any combination of people is going to remake the human heart and mind...lotsa luck with that. Today all around the world people are thinking the same thoughts and feeling the same feelings that were typical of life for Adam and Eve. Our toys look different nowadays but we're the same people we've always been.
White guy burning down Florida
I’ve often tried to sympathize with those blacks that complain that every time there’s a criminal mug shot plastered on the television news it’s a black face, but I never quite got there. First, I’ve often seen white mug shots, yet never felt that cringe that this was somehow symbolically representing me. I get the argument, but could never actually “feel” the pain. So why do all blacks feel that we see all black faces as one-in-the-same? It finally came to me with the latest mug shot of this arsonist running around setting Florida ablaze – The Mullet. Black culture needs to establish its version of the Mullet. See – you show a guy with a mullet and I feel no identification whatsoever - he might as well be from another planet. I’m sure there are really great guys sporting mullets, but they’ve consciously decided to join that team, and can quit anytime they like with just a few snips. Whether it be the Doo Rag, or something else, Black culture needs their own cultural “mullet” distinction and this entire identity crisis in the media will be put to rest.
Simpler question
Why is there this national gasp at the mere mention that whites might want to vote for a white candidate over a black – what the heck have the blacks been doing all year? I've got no problem either way, but the double standards are getting a little old.
Its Sad
When people give up the belief that the world cannot be changed. I wonder, is that the reason that we are in the mess we are in. No, I am not a fresh faced college graduate, I am middle of the road, if allowed independent. I have faith, maybe if more people did the world would be a better place.
Race in The Race
If I say that Obama is white, then I am just as correct as those who say he is black. I am not voting for him in either case. McCain will be getting my vote no matter what degree of skindedness (sic) he has achieved by election time.
Promises?
Ii do not believe any of the three major candidates.
My vote will still go for Ron Paul. He is the only candidate who has a proven track record for voting the way he talks.
WOW!
Wow Ahno, couldn't have said it better myself!