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Experts Predict Race Will Dominate Campaign Narrative Going Forward
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For much of the Democratic primary season, Sen. Barack Obama has strategically avoided race by attempting to transcend it.
In his ambitious speech responding to criticism of his affiliation with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr., Obama took the issue head on and placed it at the center of political conversation. The candidate of unity laid bare fundamentals of the deepest division of our society.
Now that race is on the table, however, experts say it will undoubtedly affect voter behavior and campaign strategy in the coming weeks, remaining a central campaign issue.
"The divide in America with respect to race is a deep one, an enduring one," said Vincent Hutchings, a political scientist specializing in voter behavior, campaigns and African-American politics at the University of Michigan.
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It will be an ISSUE because the media will MAKE it one. The economy is in chaos. The war is never ending we should be UNITING to solve our challenges that is Obama's message NOT that we should be divided by race. Stop making his message what its NOT and try making it what it IS.
Carol
Hillary and Bill got their wish and I might add only hope - the race card is on the table for good!
They have played it and pushed it from the beginning.
They recognized back in 2006 that if Obama got traction, he would be the one that would be a challenge for them. Well he got traction!
From the early days when Bill referred to him as a 'kid' then sang the praises of all the other democratic candidates in the running, omitting Obama - the fight has been on.
When treating him in a dismissive way, suggesting he was no one, nor any where close to being ready to even be a candidate failed, all they had left was the race card.
I would not be assuming that the "Muslim smear" or those carefully selected Rev. Wright video's are just the work of Conservative swift boaters? They would save their fire for an election. The only one who benefits right now from this kind of race baiting is the Clinton camp.
That's reality! Conservative swift boaters are just the convenient dumping ground for the blame!
Obama is a good man, he just thinks that white people can be "typical" sometimes.
Isn't that fair?
No it isn't, so where are the experts in the press on this one?
What's been infuriating about this is watching cable talking heads asking what effect race will have on the campaign narrative, and what effect the rev. wright will have.
They all give their best answers AS IF THEY WERE NOT THE SOLE ARBITERS OF THE WHOLE THING. It's such a joke: Pat Buchanan goes "oh, I think race is probably going to define him until the election.." and then give reasons having to do with whatever's on his mind. One hour later, Buchanan will answer an unrelated question by taking the topic back to race.
And then Wolf plays the Reverend Wright for another 30 minutes.
race is never off the table in politics, sometimes its just harder for us to bury our heads than others. The Republican party is so white and so christian with only occasional hispanic subgroups and token blacks to break the monotony. It is not representative of America and it only represents one interest, the global corporations that seek hegemony over nation states.
Democrats have been allies across racial boundaries, but haven't yet gotten to be color blind.
Younger americans seems to have made the most progress. This is their election. That seems to be the news the media fights the hardest. Change is coming, and maybe this time it will be more lasting change than the street fights of the boomers who sold out in large part. Maybe they will reject government policy that poisons our minds and bodies and destroys the economy to produce the 1% who have and the rest of us.
The "experts" would love for the rest of the campaign to be about race, so of course that's what they're predicting. Why does anyone pay attention to these cynical manipulators any more?
The media and the Clintons made it about race. They boxed Obama into a corner . He had to reply. It was not his initiative.
Bill Richardson's Obama Endorsement is hypocritical at best. He says and did as recent as last night after his endorsement that He thinks that superdelegates should "vote ccording to the will of the populatr vote, New Mexico popular vote went for Clinton; who does he think he's representing? or perhaps this is shot all to hell as long as Obama promises him VP....what a hypocrit who is he kidding!
This is about "Obama Rules" not "Democratic Party Rules". Anything to win is "Obama Rules".
The votes in Michigan and Florida that went to Clinton do not count, "Obama Rules".
Caucuses where Obama supporters strong-armed Clinton supporters are "Obama Rules".
http://campus.queens.edu/depts/english/youth%20vote.htm
The kids you spent your retirement money on so they could compete in this global economy are turning on you and forcing you to vote against your own interests. Adults of the world, UNITE.
I am an adult and I am a supporter of Senator Obama. Can you supporters of Senator Clinton give those kids a break? You have called them (and me) delusional and every other thing you can think of. You claim that these enthusiastic smart involved young people are breaking rules. Then, you turn around and claim that Senator Obama made the rules about Florida and Michigan. Really? Senator Clinton has campaign advisers NOW who actually made the rules about Florida and Michigan; Senator Obama had nothing to do with it.
I am tired of this nastiness. I am tired of people being insulted, demeaned and belittled simply because the chose to support a candidate you did not and the candidate they chose is winning. Enough of this!
You don't get to define what slice of the electorate Richardson represents. He represents the American people. The american people have chosen Obama with their votes, and he's voting right in line with that.
End of discussion.
The New Mexico CAUCUSES went to Senator Clinton by .08 percent -- this is hardly a mandate. The caucuses occurred on February 5, 2008 and they weren't done counting until March 14, 2008. They had numerous provisional ballots. I have been trying to find out when these provisional ballots will be counted -- b/c then we will know for certain who won New Mexico, but cannot seem to find the answer.
If you need proof about the provisional ballots in New Mexico (it was very odd, an elected Democrat official in New Mexico found his name not on the voting lists and had to vote provisionally) go to the below link:
http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_8360501
He never said that, he said according to the vote as reflected in delegate counts!
He also said earlier that the role of super delegates is to look at the over all total of delegates not a per state total!
In New Mexico, it was a hair thin difference between Obama and Clinton and had to go to a recount, hardly a decisive vote for Clinton!
To single Bill Richardson out because he chose Obama is a tad selective, what about the Clinton endorsers in states where Obama clearly won?
This is going to be an end race issue, where we are at when the last big states have been counted.
That's reality.
Clinton is trying to freeze the super delegates while she spins her game out, so understandably she is angry because Richardson broke that freeze.
Right--Because God forbid it's about policies.
GREAT LIES BY NOT SO GREAT POLITICAL LEADERS:
BUSH: "I'm a uniter, not a divider."
OBAMA: "This election is not about race."
BUSH: "Read my lips, no new taxes."
OBAMA: "I am not an affirmative action candidate."
So you're just spamming stories with the same racist post?
Do you think if you copy and paste enough times you'll make your comment true or valid?
In this post, Bush quotes are actually quotes. Obama quotes are made up. That's all that needs to be said.
starrianna ...
On Obama:
RUSSERT: When we talked back in November of "04, after your election, I said, "There's been enormous speculation about your political future. Will you serve your full six-year term as a United States senator from Illinois?"
Obama: "Absolutely."
OMG...
Obama, LIES!
No! NO! NoooooOOO! Say it isn't so...
There is one for Obama supporters, an Obama Documented LIE........ Taken from a Russert Transcript...
You cannot lie about the future since it has not occurred. Just thought you might like to know.
There are several Obama lies. He wants the delegates to support the vote of the people, which if were really true, he would have politely declined Mr Richardson (or as my friend calls him, the bad wig guy). Plus I am so sick of the lies and hypocrisy in the democratic party, are they trying to catch up to the republicans? What about Murtha? They threw him to the side when the dems got in, and Nancy Pelosi's first act was to take impeachment off the table. What a sleazy politician. I am also sick of Obama's insta smile, while the media heads mock Hillary's true laugh. Further men had the vote fifty years before woman and if anyone thinks woman get any breaks in the workforce or any other public venue I can tell you they are dead wrong!
Sorry you feel that way starrianna. Last I checked though, only Hillary Clinton was asking people to vote for her because she's a woman; most recently at the Ohio debate. It was her closing argument. What do you call that?
By the same token (no pun intended), it's a historical fact that Affirmative Action has benefitted white women more than any other group. Middle class African Americans are a distant second.
But either way, you and Hillary Clinton do a disservice to both of the candidates. They're both good - they've both run great campaigns. Obama has just run his a little bit better, and that's all it took.
Maybe the shallow talking heads and their obsession with race will start out that way. But, people are frankly sick and tired of this stupid obsession of theirs and wish they would just stop. Maybe be a little more obsessed about issues and real life stuff.
For months the pundits have been trying to brand Obama as 'the black candidate'.
They seem to forget this is a man who walks in two worlds and is biracial.
For the excuse they dwell on how blue collars won't vote for 'the black candidate'. If they knew about the real world, they would know that blue collars are very similar to seniors and they vote with brand name.
duh.
But, that doesn't fit into the press pre narrative so they ignore this.
It WAS a matter of time, but that doesn't mean I don't hold Hillary and Bill responsible for doing all they could to make it happen as quickly as they could.
You idiot do you think the Clinton campaign wanted Murtha's endorsement all but ignored for that fat bad wig guys endorsement? Yeah sure. New Mexico voted for Hillary, she won New Mexico if bad wig guy cared in the least bit about his constituents rather than his own political goals he would have followed the will of the people! END OF STORY!
That's what you call a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The media sets the agenda and rehashes the same emotion-driven points over and over. So much easier than, you know, covering the candidates and the real issues.
I think Obama is going to find a way to change this boring and divisive media mantra, however. And we'll all learn a lot in the process.
Hillary Clinton makes the case that race is more socially limiting than gender:
If she thought her gender would hurt her, she'd stop bringing it up.
If she though Barack's race would help him, she'd stop bringing it up.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/251820
You are 100% correct.
You are 100% wrong. Obama brought race into this time and time again. All is frilly words can't change the truth. I swear if I weren't an atheist I'd think he was the anti Christ.
You noticed that to?
Especially in the early debates, every chance she could she'd say "this is a historical race, I am the first.... and he is the first...." and the look on Obama's face was so classic, like "I know exactly what you're doing and I will make you pay if it is within my power".
"Yuk, uh Jesse Jackson won South Carolahna!"
I can only assume that the bloggers on Huff Post do not understand the definition of racism, or the simple fact that it is a much more than a one way street...Obama is the candidate that catergorizes people by race...'my grandmother is a typical white person...', really? The white people in your family were the only ones responsible enough to raise you, Barak, are 'white people' more 'typically' responsible than black, brown, red or yellow people? For an educated man, you are surely ignorant of your own racial biases! That's hardly the makings of a unity platform! I'll bet you use the term 'cracker' when nobody's around to quote you....
GoldCanyonGal - I notice you bring this up a lot. Are you ashamed of being a typical white person? If so, I'm sorry that you feel that way.
As a typical white person myself, I feel just fine about it.
Now, when Senator Obama said a typical white person did not have racial animosities, but only some stereotypical fears, I wasn't offended. I didn't hear a racial bias. Also, since he is 1/2 white he is by the way part of the white community, unless you buy into the old rules in Louisiana that if you even had a drop of African blood you were under the law less equal and considered black....
I have never heard Senator Obama denigrate anyone the way you just denigrated him and for absolutely nothing. Apparently, the support you feel for a particular candidate is overriding your own sense of decency. You might want to check this out because it doesn't make you a very effective advocate for anything.
Get a grip, GoldCanyonGal!
Quit spinning this like he was derogatory toward his grandmother because he was anything but. He spoke truth and showed, not surprisingly, that he understood the stumbling blocks and grievances from both sides on the issue of race. He is after all, white and black.
He has clearly stated he did not think his grandmother was racist, just as he clearly stated he did not believe Geraldine Ferraro was racist.
He has clearly addressed the fault lines along the racial divide of being one of failed communication and lack of understanding.
Your selective use of his address on the issues of race over the last few weeks, that you spin to damn Obama as 'playing the race card' does not change the fact that prior to all this nonsense forcing him to address the issue of race, he never played the race card nor wanted to.
The same cannot be said of others however.
I think this is wishful thinking on the part of the "experts." Race is an easy topic to sound off about without really understanding the issue. Obama's speech showed a genuine desire for people to discuss race in order to create more understanding and unity. The punditry, on the other hand, use race as a hot button issue to lure eyeballs to the television screen. They'd be delighted to have the typical, unproductive racial bantering to go on for months. It's good for ratings.
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