Obama and the psychology of the color barrier

[keep_it_real]

<snip>

The issue of race is the longest-lasting cleavage in American politics. It is also perhaps the least understood. The open exploitation of racist sentiment by vote-hungry politicians was for centuries a durable American tradition. More recently, race has assumed a subtle, often unspoken form during campaign season, as Republicans have sought white votes by slyly associating their Democratic opponents with controversial black figures like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, or with topics--welfare, crime, federal funding for "midnight basketball"--that many voters identify with African Americans.

Now, with Barack Obama inching closer to the Democratic nomination, race looms yet again as a central factor in American politics. Already, race has played a key part in the Democratic primary, almost certainly hurting Obama among swaths of voters in states like New Jersey, Ohio, and, most recently, Pennsylvania. If he manages to win the nomination anyway--and it appears he will--race seems likely to play an even larger role in the general election.

http://tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=76d4881e-d014-4dd6-b732-8adef23f68f4&p=2

[eleny]

1. Like someone else pointed out - blacks vote for whites

The barrier seems to be pretty much a one way street.

[Aloha Spirit]

2. racism is like a glacier. it seems indomitable, but after a few decades of global warming,

it will crumble away into the ocean.