Fear of Islam Hurts Obama in Kentucky

Last week, I posted a video from West Virginia depicting the overt racism and pervasive fear surrounding Barack Obama's candidacy. While race has been a subtext since before Iowa, the conversation has been largely theoretical, with statisticians guessing at the salience of the Bradley Effect and pundits invoking the race card when they run short on facts. But in West Virginia, no one had to hypothesize about race. Some voters unabashedly voiced their discomfort with a multiracial candidate, while most people complained in a shared language of innuendos, claiming not to know Obama well enough or stating unease with his Muslim heritage.

One week after West Virginia, exit polls in Kentucky demonstrated more of the same. Over one fifth of Democrats said race was a factor in who they voted for -- of those, 88 percent voted for Clinton. I spent a day talking to voters throughout rural, southern Kentucky to better understand how race factored in.

To my surprise, few cited a discomfort with Obama's multiracial background -- in fact, most took offense at the suggestion. Instead, people repeatedly cited Obama's religious beliefs, or what they called his "true Muslim faith."

One might have thought that the epic Rev. Wright scandal -- which wedded Obama to the Trinity United Church of Christ -- would have extinguished the candidate's rumored connection to Islam. Instead, white voters' discomfort with the teachings of the Wright's black church has only strengthened the spurious claims about Obama's faith. Misinformation has spread through the Internet like a virus -- described in detail on Politico -- and as with any successful rumor, its carriers vaguely remember where they first heard it (somewhere on the internet) but fail to recall why, precisely, they believe it.

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Comments

[LittleBrother]

I was going to make a disparaging remark about a constituency that elected the senescent Jim Bunning as Senator... but hell, I live in a state that elected Rick Santorum. Best to put down THAT stone.

I do think that there is only so much that can be done against the bone-dumbness and ignorance that flourishes in every state of the union in varying degrees and kind. It is an error to consider rigorous rationality a universal human attribute.

The candidates and their supporters must work to put honest, truthful information out there, of course. But as Kentuckians of all people should know, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

I wish it were true that ignorance could generally be cured by the application of reason, offered respectfully. But there are still grown-ups in every state who believe that Osama and Saddam were partners, and that President Unitard's illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq makes sense because it's better to fight them over THERE than over HERE. (Or who hold that a Photo ID is necessary to eliminate nonexistent "voter fraud".)

To me, the best course is to do what's possible to reverse the depredations of ignorance and demagoguery, but in the end simply accept that there is a certain class of ignorant yahoos who will remain unreformed and stoopid, and will vote accordingly.

[Insideout143]

Faux News inbreds. Plain and simple.

[megtwice]

I think it's more complicated than that, obviously. What seems to be happening here is an education and information gap. Many of these problems could be addressed if we had better education in our nation--in all states and for all demographics.

[cylindar]

Well politics is politics. What these moments point out is that practically Obama has to put together a staff to deal with the internet false information machine. A new twist in American politics.

[sandiaview]

Some folk in Kentucky are not really smart. First they attack him for his Christian preacher of 20 years and now the Muslim rap. You can't have it both ways. Yes Kentuckians need more money for their school system, the heck with an election. These people need help and politicians should not try to keep them ignorant for political gain.

[viewfromiowa]

It is convenient for racists to believe this. The ignorant white trash use his middle name in a derogatory manner as a substitute for the "n" word. They are a scourge on our nation. It is long overdue that we take our nation back.

[Attucks]

http://www.tucc.org/pastoral_staff.htm This is the issue that bothers many.

[YankeeCanuck]

Revend Wright---and what is rational about that?

[obamagirl1968]

Your point??

[fourex]

If people in Kentucky believe that Obama is a Muslim that appears to be a Kentucky problem. The Obama camp and the media have given them ample evidence of Sen. Obama's Christian faith, too much. The GE campaign can reach out again with factual information, but if there is a refusal to listen than only Darwin has the answer for these folks.

[ajax2]

If Darwin won't end their misery, Hagee and the Rapture might.

[GunnyJ]

I hope the newly elected President and staff focus on states like WV, KY, OH, PA, MS, AL to bring them in line culturally and ecomonically with the rest of the country. It will take some time, but in the end it will have been worth it.

[KOBISKING]

Edited title: Fear of the Black Man Hurts Obama in Kentucky/ W. Virginia.


These people who refuse to let a rumor go, are the ones who would have never voted for Obama in the first place. It has nothing to do with the belief that he's of Muslim faith, attended Rev. Wright's Church, etc.

They [bigots] became aware of the rumors on the internet, yet they choose to ignore the numerous rubuttals.

[kusalarhetoric]

I think you are on to something there. The stated reasons and the actual reasons are probably different, but it is also probably futile to speculate on what they might 'really' be or, even, how to uncover what they 'really are.'

More important, it would seem, would be to learn how, and if, they can be changed, and what kind of information would be crucial to the changing. So, if one of these readers should run across someone holding this position -- i.e., "I won't vote for Obama because he is Muslim" -- try to see what kind of information would change his or her position. I would imagine someone in the Obama campaign is in a room full of such people showing them ads and querying them afterward in such an attempt.

[23000Days]

I have a 2-week fishing trip scheduled with two who are of that mind. It's gonna' be interesting! I doubt I'll be able to change them, but I hope to apply enough low-key logic to open their minds a bit. We'll see.....

[Attucks]

I'm screaming!! Don't care how few people are dumb enough to fall for that Muslim garbage...­The fact remains that Obama's true faith is what is scarier than hell. Those views are REALLY SEPRATIST.­.and that's what will keep legions of people from voting for him. http://www.tucc.org/about.htm

[YankeeCanuck]

Get a grip. What passes for Christianity through the white churches all over the South is waaay scarier!

[musselmanm]

A lergitimate thought on why I do not hold to organized religion (churches).
Church going radical Christians and poorer Christians have always said to me in conversation, " he or she is a good Christian" Are you saved? Have you found Jesus?
Then these same people that are will ing to believe that those around them meant it when they accepted Christ. Now that a person with a different ethnic make up is running they do not trust his acceptence of Jesus Christ.
It seems to me that the people that people that have racial or religious problems with Senator Obama are not filled with the love, tolerance , understanding and forgiveness that our Lord speaks of.
They are the same Christians that would be out to destroy all of different faiths and outlooks.
This is the example I would look to in understanding my points.
George Bush, John McCain, the Executive branch of our government that has been forced into place by Bush and will continue under McBush.

[hhkeller]

After the New Hampshire big loss the Obamas needed a monolithic voter turnout based on race in South Carolina. This campaign strategy started them down slipperly slope a divided electorate.
The party and the country was ill served by this decision.

[lawchic]

Huh? I had to go and do a quick google search when I saw this statement, because it seemed to be a little odd. The results for NH were 39% HRC, 37% Obama, and 17% Edwards. How does that equate to a "big loss" for Obama? A setback, yes, a "big loss," hardly. Further, 50% of the Democrats in South Carolina are Black. Obama campaigned there the same as he campaigned in other states that had a large white voter base. What was he supposed to do? Ignore the State because, *gulp,* people might realize that he is in fact Black. Not campaign as hard so he wouldn't get the support of Black voters? Or just forfeit a victory in a contest? I don't understand, where is the logic to your argument--wasn't his "campaign strategy" to win?

[Yohomegirl]

Yeah right, first of all Obama didn't cause black folks to live in SC, that is left over from slavery. And secondly, he won plenty of white states as well, Nebraska and Wisconsin are not known for having a diverse make up. I was Hillary that brought race into the race!

[FogCityJohn]

I know that facts won't intrude upon the mind of a Clinton supporter, but Obama lost NH by exactly 3 points (hardly a "big loss") and he actually netted out one more delegate than Clinton did.

Obama's support has always crossed racial lines. It's Clinton's that hasn't. She started out far ahead with African-American voters, but she and her husband blew it in SC. Since then, she's essentially written off AA voters, despite the fact that her husband would never have been elected without their support. She's consistently used racially divisive language, always claiming to have misspoken or to have been misunderstood when she's called on it.

If the country was ill-served by a decision, it was Clinton's decision to exploit white fears of a black candidate. It hasn't won her the primary, it's shown her for the cynical politician she is, and it's helped destroy her husband's former standing with AA voters, as well as his legacy.

[YankeeCanuck]

Seems like the truly monolithic turnout was in W.Va and Kentucky.

[nellie]

When people are bigots, facts and logic don't play much of a role in their thinking. Bigots never admit to their own bias—they seem to have some sense that bigotry doesn't reflect well on the bigot. So they patch together whatever they think are justifications for their negativity. And this is what you end up with—a crazy quilt of inconsistencies, fear, and misinformation.

[irishgawdess]

"Trinity United Church of Christ" - a CHRISTIAN church!

My god, I thought people would put 2 and 2 together and figure that out, once and for all. Are these people so isolated that they haven't gotten the math right?

[Yohomegirl]

I went there last weekend. Louisville. I met some absolutely wonderful people. I met one screaming idiot who told me to 'Get the @#$% out of his yard'. But most people were warm. I had one Republican woman tell me she was voting for Obama in Nov.

[rimofheaven]

Bull. "Fear of Islam" is just an excuse.