Obama, The New Majority, And The Race (Card) Ahead
Last night Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination with grace and poise, a history-making achievement that neither John McCain or Hillary Clinton could bring themselves to recognize.
One hundred thirty six years after Frederick Douglass became the first African American on a presidential ticket (as vice presidential candidate for the Equal Rights Party) and 36 years after Shirley Chisholm's path-breaking Democratic presidential run, Obama attained the necessary number of delegates to become the first African American presidential candidate for the Democratic Party.
He dedicated the night to his grandmother. He has described her as a white woman not immune to the prejudices of an earlier era but who now lives comfortably with multiracial brood in Hawai'i. Surely she would understand the historical significance of her grandson's victory.
On the other hand, Hillary dedicated her night to her 18 million voters, many of whom chanted "Denver!" as if they wanted to fight on until the Democratic Convention in August. If Hillary's speech was meant to be a tribute to those who helped her in a hard-fought campaign, the images of her rabidly desperate followers reduced it to something like a shocking display of vanity.
Obama won only after one of the most racially divisive election seasons in history. Despite his desire to remain Jackie Robinson-like, his opponents raised race as soon as he began to rack up a series of surprising wins.
Progressive feminists like Gloria Steinem suggested--without much evidence--that the wave of support for Obama's candidacy was a sign that gender discrimination remained more immovable than racial discrimination.
Later, former President Bill Clinton dismissed Obama's win in South Carolina by comparing it to failed presidential candidate Jesse Jackson's wins in 1984 and 1988. Black voters vote for black candidates, after all, he suggested.
And in the last two months, as the contest shifted to states where Appalachian voters play a key role, Hillary Clinton stated that she was the candidate of white working-class voters.
Newsweek's cover story, "Memo to Senator Obama", cites surveys showing 45% of white voters hold unfavorable views of Obama, as opposed to 35% for McCain. (Non-whites' unfavorable numbers for Obama are half as much.)
So author Ethan Thomas gives Obama a primer on how to win back white voters. He writes that despite Internet lies--Obama is Muslim, he believes the national anthem conveys a warlike message, he's sympathetic to terrorists, etc.--Obama should play it soft on race:
It's hard to think of what would turn off whites quicker than playing the thin-skinned victim.
Thomas seems to have already forgotten that, in the middle of a racialized firestorm not of his own making, Obama delivered one of the most nuanced and sensible speeches on race in decades.
Thomas also urges Obama to take a position "that plays against prejudice or typecasting": to oppose affirmative action as "a powerful signal" to white working-class voters allegedly enraged at black privilege. For his part, Obama has said he is for affirmative action, but has expressed doubts about whether his own daughters should benefit from such policies.
Thomas may be correct that white working-class voters will remain a key battleground in the general election. Polls have shown that as much as one-third of Hillary's base may desert Obama in the general election by voting for McCain or staying home.
But Obama may only need to win a portion of those voters, some are lost to him in any case, and it's not clear that reversing himself on the wedge issues of the 80s and 90s gains anything for him as much it loses his base.
Much of the mainstream media's attention has been on the "ignored" white working-class voters of the heartland. They may be the most documented "ignored" demographic in history. You might remember this media-homogenized group as the Silent Majority, the Reagan Democrats, the NASCAR electorate, the Kansas voters, etc.
But Obama's candidacy rests on a new electoral landscape.
Obama has reaped the benefits of demographic shifts that Jackson foresaw over two decades ago in plotting his own campaign--the emergence of sizable communities of color and a progressive, multicultural generation of voters. In 2050, more than half the U.S. will be of color. But 2008 may be the year that this electorate arrives.
Urban gentrification in the West has led to an African American exodus back to the South, forming emerging majorities of long-time residents and new urban migrants. Obama's stunning primary victories may portend part of the South's swing back to blue.
Although Latinos voted largely for Clinton in the primaries, and Asian Americans appeared split, there are still few indications that they may shift to McCain. To his credit, McCain recognizes that we are a country that remains pro-immigrant. But after years of race-baiting campaigns, McCain's party has thoroughly alienated Latinos and Asian Americans. At the same time, the war, the environment and the domestic politics of abandonment and containment have made young voters the most Democratic-leaning in generations.
McCain clearly faces a tougher time making his case than Obama, whose own story parallels the immigrant story and whose energy has inspired the young. With an uninspired Republican base, it seems McCain needs the race card more than Hillary ever did, yet he plays it only at his--and his party's--future peril. Over the next four decades, the demographics are hardly with them.
As much as the Clintons depended on an old majority, Obama could be handing Democrats the new majority. But the Democrats aren't much different than the record industry: give them a sure thing and they'll always figure out how to screw it up.
As Marjorie Valbrun of TheRoot.com wrote in the same issue of Newsweek this week:
A woman educated at Yale and Wellesley who can afford to lend her campaign $20 million becomes the standard-bearer for working-class white people? She's clearly not a coal miner's daughter. So how did she do this? She appealed to their most base racial fears and resentments. It's worth remembering that Clinton started the race with a large base of black support. Then she made it easy for black women to abandon her.
Obama is the son of a white working-class family from Kansas, and a Black farming family from Kenya. Only in America, he has said, a new America.
If the Dems don't want to be abandoned by the new America, they would do well in the coming weeks to bring closure to the divisive primary season not by pandering to old resentments, but by waking up to the future.
Originally posted at Vibe.com
Follow Jeff Chang on Twitter: www.twitter.com/zentronix
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When a candidate of any kind has the major number of TV news media on their side - it shouldn't be surprising to anyone that the candidate with media support will most likely win. This is not an indication that said candidate is the best candidate it is only an indication of what the corporations want, and may be very bad for the millions of working class people.
Obama is McGovern all over again. We picked the worst possible candidate and he has little chance of winning the election. It is a travesty really. The blacks don't care because they are just happy he got the nomination. The radicals and students and leftists will just blame Clinton upon the loss just as the Republicans have blamed the Clintons for everything for the last eight years. The leftists have grabbed the democratic party and jumped off a bridge and they will be squarely to blame for the impending loss but they will take no responsibility for it just watch.
My dear friend, you need to know a little something about black folks. We have lived in this country for centurys, as slaves and under jimcrow and status quo racism. We have lived in America without money, power, health care, decent education,respect or police protection or protection under the constitution or the criminal justice system,ie.
told the tuskagee airmen they could never learn to fly...but the 190th Pursuit Squadron was sinking destroyers with machinegun fire.
Well! I guess that about covers it.
I guess you must the the hypothetical "typical black person". How about living in the present for a little while. You just might find that you like it.
obama is moving to the right. he has been all campaign. yes, leftists were important in his primary wins- but leftists are not responsible for his general election strategy. obama is making a decision to go to the right on foreign policy and negotiating with enemies. he is also to the right of immediate dissolution of the iraq occupation. barack will represent a social democrat center that has a vast constituency. he will not represent the left- nor does anyone on the left think he should - at least totally.
Obama may loose but then again he may win - but in any case milllions of voters do not feel Obama's policies (once put into place) would work for all Americans'. . . .
Many voters are actually not going to vote for a Dem or a Rep this time around - they want to send a very strong message to both failing parites. . . .
Why is it that people do not realize that if one is against Obama, it is because of Obama, the person,
not racism. His nomination, a horrible choice for President came about because of media hype, and
because the media abandoned its duty to research their candidate & to publicize all of Obama's misdeeds, associations, lies about his history, his arrogant behaviors, & they were aided and abetted by The Three Stooges, the leaders of the Dem Party! I have been a voting Democrat for over 60 years. Never have I seen such a disgraceful campaign , run by 3 such inept people! I , and my family, will now become Independents. Hopefully, Hillary will follow our lead & do the same.
Why is it that we hispanic american will not vote for Obama? It has nothing to to with the fact that he is a mix race muslim american. It is because he is not ready to lead this country in the right direction. This is not a time to be learning how to govern is time to lead. And we hispanic want some one that would be ready on day one. It just so happen that that person is Hillary Clinton. And yes we are very thankful for what Bill Clinton did for this great nation of ours. I know that everyone in the news media knows that, but they can stand Bill Clinton they don't like a man who challege them and make them look like idiots. Bill calls it as it is. Ans so what that he sex in the white house tat is his personal thing. But look Mr. Bush didn't have sex in the white house but look at the mess that he created. So to all of you i say get over it. And i hope that all of you are happy with President Mcain. Ans yes we hispanic won't vote for Obama but we will not for Mcain iether. If Hillary runs as an indepedent then you will see the hispanic american voting in the election and if not we will stay home.
Luckily, nelsin, you do not represent all Hispanic Americans. From the way you chose to describe Senator Obama as 'a mix race muslim american' one can only infer that you are more than a bit prejudiced. And, just in case you have been asleep for the past 6 months or so, Senator Obama is a Christian.
Nelsin, experience is way over rated! We've had very experienced people in the White House and they did nothing! Rather, they did nothing for YOU and ME, unless it was election time and they needed our votes. It's easy to see that Mrs. Clinton was successful in selling herself as the savior of poor working people. Believe that if you want! I don't believe you speak for all Hispanics. But feel free to stay at home if you like. If Obama doesn't win the presidency, believe me, McCain will not be working on your behalf!
I call you attention to the technology explosion in the 1980's and 1990's. We can write these blogs, etc. because of very young people, not the old executives at IBM! The young people, with skills and ideas only, has changed the way we do business. I believe Obama will do the same thing with government.
"the media abandoned its duty to research their candidate & to publicize all of Obama's misdeeds" - I guess you weren't around when Rev. Wright's comments were played, nonstop, until every man. woman and child knew them by heart, huh? I guess you also missed the analyzing of Michelle Obama's college thesis. Those are only two of many instances in which Obama was subject to the most intense scrutiny and coverage of any presidential candidate in history.
"Never have I seen such a disgraceful campaign, run by 3 such inept people!" - Obama's campaign was inept? I guess you weren't around when Hilary's campaign went bankrupt? Or when she hired the corrupt, but very expensive Penn, who didn't even understand the primary delegate system?
Only you know if you are a racist. Buy everyone who has read your post knows you are working awfully hard to twist the facts to suit your purposes.
This writer forgets that Bill Clinton wast he poorest man to be elected to the whilte house. He made the bulk of his money from speeches after his stint as president. A large portion also came from the sale of his and her books. Hillary was not born rich but middle class. she is warm hearted and has a way of connecting with the so called "working class Whites". She does not appeal to race issues. There may be some prejudice among those people but her major appeal is that she connects. For all her flaws she is warmer than Obama and her rhetoric is policy oriented. It is policy oriented because she is a policiy oriented woman. His rhetoric is abstract and vacuous. but he has CHARISMA. Will his charisma be able to win over those people who he insulted in San Francisco. Who knows? His wife is also guilty of insulting some of the electorate. There are four instances when I personally felt so insulted that I do not want to see her as first lady.
Many millions of people must agree with you because they voted for Clinton. But many millions of us also disagree with you and have voted for Obama. It was a close race, but Obama has won and is our nominee. I am very sorry to learn that you do not wish to see Michelle Obama as our First Lady, especially since I an thrilled with this possibility. If you decide you can get behind Barack Obama and support him, you will be welcomed, appreciated and treated with respect.. If you do not, we will have to work a bit harder, but we are prepared to win without you. The choice is yours. The door will remain open - I hope you choose to come through it and join us.
For over 20 years the American public has said it was tired of the way politicians run for office. We claimed we were tired of the negative campaigning. We wanted politicians to outline their plan for their prospective office whether it is local, state, or federal. Granted this was not an election but a primary to nominate who would run on the Democratic ticket. But it appears to me that almost 18 million of our fellow citizens meant it when they said they wanted a new type of campaigning. I believe this is one of the reasons Mr. Obama won the majority of delegates. Mr. Obama did not go negative against Mrs. Clinton. He ran a clean campaign. He stuck to his issues.
How about you all knock off the two-way rifle range?! The only winner from this is the Rethugs. If someone gets ignorant, get happy. Ignore them without comment - stay out of the gutter. You know you have really succeeded when you confidently ignore the ignorant chatter.
We progressives and liberals have an agenda and we won't get it a fair hearing if we don't win the Whitehouse.
We had many good candidates, two excellent candidates, and now one nominee.
Well said!
FROM MY LIPS TO GODS......
AMEN!!!
Hillary's popular vote myth leaves out some caucus states, let alone she is stretching with lies in the Michigan totals.
But, continue with your fantasy, it is over, the fat lady in the pants suit will have to sing.
Caucuses are basically dinner parties or meetings at Starbucks. Primaries are real, causcuses are by invitation only jokes.
What a shock that he won most of the causcuses.
You don't live in a caucus state, do you?
right. caucuses are interactive, social experiences. how pleasant, genial and entirely lacking in grim american puritanical isolation culture they are. something must be done before people meet in neighborhood groups and talk about their choices. that's fun and unregimented and must be stamped out.
if you were waiting for a caucus invitation you have been seriously misinformed.
All you have to do is go to Real Clear Politics and they give you the totals. The totals are not fantasies. They are real. Hillary received over 18 million votes and she did so because over 18 million people felt whe would make the better president. That's not a number to put down. How many of them will vote for Obama and how many for McCain remains to be seen. I am sure Obama will get the majority, but will it be enough?
I think Barack Obama has "jumped the shark." He's in the same league as Tiger Woods, Oprah Winfrey, Magic Johnson, Halley Barry, and Bill Cosby -- a superstar that transcends race and gender to appeal to all but the most hardened bigots. If the whiney wusses will shut up about "mean old Hillary" and other "baddies" that are mean to Obama, Obama will do just fine presenting himself. Trust me, he doesn't need you guys complaining about how he is treated. He is a more seasoned politician than you know, and he'll do just fine. But you guys have got to shut up about Hillary and stop pizzing off a whole bunch of old gals Obama needs. He'll get them to come around if you guys shut up about it.
TRASHING HILLARY EVEN AFTER THE GAME IS ABOUT OVER --- IS IT TOO MUCH FUN ???? OR IS IT THAT HATING WOMEN NEVER STOPS. All the obsenities and insults go on and on.
WE WOMEN AND HILLARY SUPPORTERS ARE PISSED OFF BIG TIME --BIG TIME.
Was there intimidation and coercion involved in the super delegates not doing their job? I think so...their job was in the case of a very close race, if the number of super delegates could determine the winner, that was their job...to go for the MOST electable Democrat to win the Presidency. The super delegates .....who like wimps in the schoolyard were bullied ...(by TV, UNINFORMED, CORPORATE, UNETHICAL PUNDITS)..
How can you be so sure that they were not doing their job? Ego seems to be saying that if they didn't pick the candidate I wanted, they aren't doing it right. They can't possibly believe something if I don't.
If he isn't elected, it will be because there are those that somehow think it willhoor Hillary to allow someone to become president who stands against everything she stands for. She stands for leaving the wawr, he wants more wars. She wants health care for all, he is against it. She believes in a woman's right to choose, he is against it. How can allowing pur daughters to go back to back alley abortions and using coat hangers honor Hillary? Are you willing to sacrifice them for your anger?
I watched cnn yesterday and a chicago pundit complimented the Obama campaign for "staying on message" and "running a tight ship" as opposed the the clinton campaign that was "all over the place" and "leaked like an old battleship
I'm a woman and I am not pissed off. From the beginning, I chose to select the candidate based on their stands on the issues and their behavior. Let's face it, Obama and Clinton share the same stands on the issues. It was the way they behaved that shifted my allegiance to Obama. I kept waiting for Hillary to take the high road and she just couldn't bring herself to do it. I kept waiting for a little dignity and never saw it from her.
It really is time to stop blaming everyone else for her loss - it wasn't the system, it wasn't Obama, it was the way she chose to run her campaign. It was inept, confused and did not find a cohesive message until very late in the campaign. It was hers to lose and she lost it. If she had been a better candidate, she would have won.
As I said, I am a woman. I feel the best human being won - not the best woman, man, but the best person.
Preach on, larmarch5! Perfectlly said.
larmarch5,
You might want to research the meaning of "jumped the shark". It doesn't mean what you seem to think it means.
Yea he has jumped the shark all right....
Mr. Chang your article is right on the money.
Your parenthetical usage of the race card in the future is nonsense as Sen. Obama played it from the get-go. His early endorsement by Oprah was a pure example of color preference, nothing more.
My white based vote will go to McCain. Hillary can then win in 2012.
You just provided confirmation to the article!
Uh, Oprah didn't give Jesse Jackson her support. Actually she's never given anyone in politics her support until Obama. I think it has more to do with his view on ISSUES than race.
Can you give me an example of how Obama used race to his advantage? Did he call Hillary Clinton a cracker or something? Did I miss an event where Obama ever pointed out repeatedly that he was black, like Clinton repeatedly points out that she's a woman. Did he at any point disrespect her "35 years" of experience? When did he look down upon her? When did he treat her like a second class citizen? Actually I believe it was Hillary who looked down upon Obama, her and her surrogates called Obama a drug dealer, the affirmative action candidate, and played to the worst side of people, their fears. But Obama is the bad guy, give me a break. Wake up.
So your going to wait for 2012? McCain huh? Really, well after McCain continues Bush's third term we might not even have a country left by 2012. Harsh you say? McCain will go to war with Iran, are you okay with that? So we'll have three wars. Yippy. In doing so I can only pray it doesn't lead to nuclear war. But you go give your "white" vote to McCain. Meanwhile I'm going to give my "white" vote to the candidate you will actually do some good and that's Barack Obama.
Hillary will not win in 2012 because we won't vote for her - as a woman, I definitely won't forget and will not vote for her - there are many, many more who also will not - So all the whites who endorsed Hillary at the beginning, including an extraordinary amount of superdelegates, not even giving Obama a snowball's chance, were "pure examples of color preference too - your automatic subjective reasons for someone playing the race card is absolutely outrageous and down right stupid - race should have no place in politics just like religion should not - if race, religion and gender is injected in politics, we will all lose -
Well tell that to the 90% of African Americans who voted for him time and time again. I'm sure race didn'tt play a factor when they voted....
I've always wondered if the people quoting Oprah as just endorsing Obama because he's black realized that Barack and Oprah both live in Chicago and so therefore maybe she has seen him actually mature into the leader he is today. For folks in Chicago Obama isn't "new", he's been rooted in the political scene there for quite awhile. Do you think that maybe she based her support on that?
So, a white candidate gets a plug by a well-heeled white man and it's an endorsement, but if a black man gets an endorsement by a rich, black woman, it's race-based pandering. Interesting reality you live in. When whites say that they won't vote for a black person, it seems like a revelation. That black people have only had the opportunity to vote for white men (and did, with great patriotism) should be a lesson to us all.
Your kidding me right? Your trying to sat that the 90% of African Americans voting for him was based solely on him being the better candidate and not being African American?
Its amazes me everytime Hillary won a state that would ask white voters did race play a factor whe you voted. How many times did they ask African Americans that question?
Its seems like there was a huge double standard. If you were African American and voted for him it was "racial pride" and if you were white or hispanic and didn't vote for him it was "racism"
The reality I live in deals every day with reverse racism by smug patronizing folks like you. If any lesson for all to learn is relevant, it is nonsense pretending in change, especially change in color.
If we don't elect the "best person" for the WH, it will be a great loss for our country. We continue to allow the rethuglicans to trick many people in this country, and to keep us divided. Black people with little money have always known how to survive. It will be the ones who haven't had to eat a pot of beans that will be hurting. If people don't care about their fellow citizens, we will continue to go down, down, down, and then we will be fighting in the streets for the scraps for real. Take a look around you and tell me we can afford 4 more years of McStupid!
Your argument has a flaw, one of which has pervaded the pro-Obama blogs and supporters.
As usual, you assume people are not voting for Obama because of race, but you denounce anyone who says that people did not vote for Clinton because of gender. Actually, your entire argument hinges on the premise that people choose not to vote for Obama because of race. I'm pretty sure that some people did not vote for a candidate because of race or color, but there are more issues at hand in this election than electing the first black or woman. Before you make such a racially based argument (some would even call it a racist argument) please consider that many of us do look at the important issues, such as tax policy, health care, the Iraq War, Social Security, or aging infrustructure, just to name a few. I would like to here more details from all our candidates on these issues and unfortunately the only one who as "specifically" addressed these issues is McCain (for me, platitudes do not count.). If Obama can show some light on these policies and I can find some common ground with him, I may vote for him. But, until then I will not vote for anybody just because they are the first black, women or geriatric.
go to obama's website.
there is a reason why Hillary says a vote for mccain would be a grave mistake.
"In 2050, more than half the U.S. will be of color. " Really Kartmam?..
The U.S. population's racial distribution in 2006 was as follows
White alone: 73.9% or 221.3 million
Black or African American alone: 12.2% or 37.1 million
Asian alone: 4.4% or 13.1 million
American Indian or Alaska Native alone: 0.8% or 2.4 million
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander alone: 0.14% or 0.43 million
Some other race alone: 6.3% or 19.0 million
"But the Democrats aren't much different than the record industry: give them a sure thing and they'll always figure out how to screw it up."... great quote here!
Sorry but you failed to mention Hispanics which will be
Hispanic people will tip the scales of making the majority of people in this country people of color by 2050.
How many euphemisms for crazy/purposefully misleading math have been made?
I'll start:
FUZZY MATH.
This shows how much ego tops history. For McCain and HRC to focus the night soley on themselves without acknowledging the history happening right in front of them should send a piercing message to America that they really don't care. American think for a minute. Working white class are being made into Obama's problem, but how can that be? Has Bush, Clinton, Bush, Regan, Carter, Ford or Nixon really done anything for the Middle Class now labeled Working Class? At least Obama has consistently had some type of message for this voting block. Clinton(s) turned this into a racial thing to gain votes. To dramatize this sucker play even further, HRC seems to think she has some kind Vulcan Mind Meld on her "18 million" voters who will do nothing unless she says so.
This is why we have to turn the page from the old guard to the new guard. We have to face the fact that the old ways and methods don't work so well any more. The world is different and we have to be able to lead and at the same time keep pace or stay just ahead of the pace. We have to learn how to share and at the same time demand sharing practices. The days of the total hardline and authoritative speech are over. When we learn to stop drawing lines, white, black asian, latino and embrace ourselves as Americans. When this is accomplished we will yield the Harvest for the World!
To your last sentence, Obama is going to do this in less than seven months, right. He is good, but not that good. Changing sterotypes is hard to do. 50 years of racial tension, and Obama will miraculously chang this. Right.
If Obama wins, his face will be everywhere, all the time. This means his "face" will be at the forefront. This means we will have to deal with this and not just set it to the side as it has been in the past. Things move much faster these days than they used to. I think a tremendous difference can be made immediately. The glass is half-full.
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