Obama's Gap With Middle America
A new poll commissioned by The New York Times confirms the reality that many people are simply uncomfortable discussing in this election-that there is a deep racial divide that isn't going away despite the fanciful dreams of some Barack Obama supporters:
Americans are sharply divided by race heading into the first election in which an African-American will be a major-party presidential nominee, with blacks and whites holding vastly different views of Senator Barack Obama, the state of race relations and how black Americans are treated by society, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
After years of growing political polarization, much of the divide in American politics is partisan. But Americans’ perceptions of the fall presidential election between Mr. Obama, Democrat of Illinois, and Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, also underlined the racial discord that the poll found. More than 80 percent of black voters said they had a favorable opinion of Mr. Obama; about 30 percent of white voters said they had a favorable opinion of him.“I don’t like some of his policies, like on energy,” said Bob Beidelman, 69, a white Democrat from York, Pa., about Mr. Obama. “Also I don’t like statements his wife made. She seems like a spoiled brat to me.”
He added: “I’m one of those white people who clings to guns and the Bible, and those things that Barack said kind of turned me off,” he said. “This isn’t a black and white thing. If a conservative African-American like former Congressman J. C. Watts was running, I’d have bumper stickers plastered all over my car supporting him.”
After the 2008 Election is over, scholars years from now will doubtless debate, discuss, define, and redefine the roll that race and the corollary issues related to race played in this election. If Barack Obama is elected at all, it is liable to be with the lowest level of support among white voters ever recorded in an American election.
As folks in these parts are fond to point out to me from time to time, I was born in the North. I am, however, by both familial heritage and personal inclination, a Southerner (a predicament which Harry Truman also dealt with). The problem of race and race relations as it relates to this election is one that I understand in part because of the way I was raised. We cannot deceive ourselves into believing that race is not an issue here-but we can't dismiss the concerns of the white working class as mere racism, either. A lot of us younger people like to believe that our attitudes about race have changed compared to our parents and grandparents. In many ways, this is a correct perception-but we can never understand how blacks or Hispanics view us or view discrimination because we are not one of them.
Barack Obama was essentially handed his political position in Chicago. Unlike most of those who have opposed him politically either now or in former times, he did not start at the political bottom and work his way up. He seems to have come out of nowhere, and to many voters it seems as though we still don't know much about him. He comes across as a dandy, a college professor who knows little of the daily lives of the people in Middle America that he is seeking to represent. That America does not trust Obama, some do not like him, and he seems foreign to them.
If he is to win in November, he must persuade the people that he has so far been unable to win over to support him. It is for this reason that I believe that it could be possible for Senator Obama to win the popular vote, but he could lose handily in the Electoral College. If Barack Obama does manage to pull off a win in November, it will be over a nation so deeply divided that the divisions of 2000 could look like a cakewalk.
As the presidential campaign verges on the historic, Barack Obama risks either losing outright, or governing a nation which neither knows nor trusts him. The "first black president" will live in a hollow vacuum if he fails to connect with the people he so desperately will need in order to maintain political legitimacy.
Labels: Democrats, Presidential Election, Republican Party
posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 11:19 AM
3 Comments:
David,
You might be making too much out the "gap." I personally believe that alot of this is "much ado about nothing" served up by a lazy media. Don;t try to draw more out of the primary results than is real. In the primary the choice was between Obama and Hilary. This time the choice is between Obama and McCain.
I recently moved back to Kansas and what I've been hearing here from different folks is that Obama enjoys more support than what you might think looking at the '00 and '04 election results. Pres Bush is very, very unpopular and McCain really is seen as Bush3. Will Obama carry the state? I don't know but it'd be easier than McCain and his supporters think.
SteveMule
" Barack Obama was essentially handed his political position in Chicago. Unlike most of those who have opposed him politically either now or in former times, he did not start at the political bottom and work his way up. He seems to have come out of nowhere, and to many voters it seems as though we still don't know much about him. He comes across as a dandy, a college professor who knows little of the daily lives of the people in Middle America that he is seeking to represent. That America does not trust Obama, some do not like him, and he seems foreign to them"
Again you seem to point to some facet of Obama that is unique to him and not found in John McCain. You seem to give more credit to John McCain for understanding what Middle America is all about. McCain has never been part of middle America. He was raised in the family of the Military elite. He has lived outside Middle America his whole life. The same goes for the last 2 Republican presidents.
John McCain hardly started at the bottom of the political food chain. He left the service and ran for the Senate. Seems he missed a few steps along the way also. I would hold Obama's grass roots experience over McCain's any day.
But then let's just look at the last 3 presidents and see who worked their way up the hard way.
Bush Junior, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, had all the right doors opened for him.
Clinton was born poor and no matter what you may think of his career, comes the closest to your description of not having it handed to him.
George Sr. was also born of privilege and money. Had doors opened for him also. But he did acquire the experience of years of public service that might be construed as not having it handed to him. But he did not have to force his way in.
What it comes down to in my book is it matters little how they got there. They are there and we have to choose which one we think is right for us.
David,
Perhaps you need to reread your Bible if you seriously believe that a Christian worldview is compatible with current conservative politics in the U.S.
How do you think conservatives would treat Jesus if He were to run for President in our country? After all, He was a Jew who worked with and for the poor, challenged the religious and political elite, threw money changers out of the temple, and encouraged us to love (not torture and kill) our enemies.
He also admonished us to: "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits."
The last 7 years should be sufficient to warn us to 'beware.'
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