The candidacy of Barack Obama, the first man of color to be the presumptive nominee for President of a major U.S political party, has been a dream come true for some Americans and a waking nightmare for others. Indeed, by the time the electorate and his democratic competition realized the skinny guy, with the funny name, was a serious candidate he had virtually sewn up the primaries.
During the long and hotly contested primary campaign, followed closely by the American and foreign press, our country had its racial divide exposed to the world. Many Americans revealed during primary exit polling they could not vote for Obama, a man of color, regardless of his apparent intellect, moral integrity and ability to lead. "About one in seven Pennsylvania voters said race was an issue and that group voted overwhelmingly against Obama." (David Wiessler, reuters.com)
American cable television political pundits (among them MSNBC commentator Joe Scarborough host of Morning Joe) were quick in their attempt to reduce the anti-black tone of these statements by implying that what the voters were really saying is that they don't feel Barack Obama is one of them. I personally believe the voters meant exactly what they said.
Obama himself has said, "Race is not an issue in the U.S election" but statements from the American press, political commentators, leaders and the public indicate otherwise. The interesting thing about the resistance of some voters to Obama, because of his race, is that the resistance is not exclusive to whites. A point in fact is the following written statement by Glen Ford executive editor of the Black Agenda report, an Internet journal of African American political thought and action,
"Barack Obama's candidacy for president reveals critical fissures in the historical African American world view, forcing Black citizens and activists to make a choice: will we support a cosmetic change in regime that is no more than skin deep - endorsing the ruling structure because it has a Black face - or continue on the long journey to self-determination, true social democracy and peace. Obama, the political twin of Hillary Clinton and the corporate Democratic Leadership Council her husband helped found, is determined to liquidate Black politics as an independent force in the United States, having already proclaimed, "There is no Black America." (Glen Ford, blackagendareport.com)
In his commentary, A Brief for Whitey well known, white, political pundit and author Patrick Buchanan wrote, "all black Americans should be grateful for slavery. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known." It is evident from his statement that Buchanan, like most Americans, knows nothing of the ancestral history of African Americans. The ancient Nubians, more than 5,000 years ago, were a rich and powerful nation called the Kingdom of Kush. "Nubians are the people of northern Sudan and southern Egypt. With a history and traditions which can be traced to the dawn of civilization. The Nubians first settled along the banks of the Nile and are believed to be the first human race on earth. Most of their customs and traditions were adopted by the ancient Egyptians. To the Greeks, they were known as Ethiopians and Nubia as the land of the Gods." (Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History, Books II.35 - IV.58 wysinger.homestead.com)
In the same commentary Buchanan summarizes his remarks by saying that, "Even though Obama has stitched together the McGovern wing of the party -- the anti-war crowd, the cause people, and professional educators -- with the Jesse Jackson wing and 90 percent of the African American vote -- he is being systematically pushed out of the heartland of the party, the white working and middle class." The Republican spin machine is reinforcing the impression in Middle America that Barack Obama is "not one of us." Buchanan further stated in his commentary that this idea is the core of the Republican strategy and it is working.
I believe John McCain is an able politician. I also believe if he was the McCain of 2000 and the economy was not in a nose dive he could win the presidential election in a walk. However, with the exception of the first statement, none of the aforementioned statements is true. American confidence in our leadership and our economic future is at an all time low. While most voters agree that Obama lacks experience and there is a lot we still don't know about him, they are anxious for change in our foreign, domestic and economic policies. Replacing the party in the White House is widely seen as an important step in that direction.
The elephant in the room is the question of whether the Bradley Effect will sink the Obama candidacy. This theory suggests that a statistically significant number of white voters will tell pollsters that they are either undecided, or likely to vote for the non-white candidate, but that those voters will exhibit a different behavior when actually casting their ballots. If the Bradley Effect materializes on Election Day our current foreign , economic, and domestic policy nightmare would continue. America would undoubtedly have four more years of policies and political behavior which mirrors the behavior of our current administration.
Calvin Johnson is a Certified General Real Estate Appraiser with 27 years of appraisal and mortgage lending experience. He is currently Chief Appraiser and President of Home Pro, Inc. Northville, Michigan. Mr Johnson is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of American Intercontinental University's renowned, School of Business Hoffman Estates, Illinois, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration. Calvin is the managing partner of http://patsbuys.com a business opportunity web site and in the early 1990's created the model and application parameters for the, Virtual Appraiser an Internet based valuation application
» left by calvin Johnson from Northville, Mi. (104 days ago.)
Hi Rae Treal!
Are you my cousin Rae Treal? Thanks for your comment, I have five other articles on searchwarp and I just finished my first ebook. Would you like me to send you a copy?
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