Racial views steer some white Dems away from Obama

[cali]

By RON FOURNIER and TREVOR TOMPSON – 54 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks — many calling them "lazy," "violent" or responsible for their own troubles.

The poll suggests that the percentage of voters who may turn away from Obama because of his race could easily be larger than the final difference between the candidates in 2004 — about two and one-half percentage points.

Certainly, Republican John McCain has his own obstacles: He's an ally of an unpopular president and would be the nation's oldest first-term president. But Obama faces this: 40 percent of all white Americans hold at least a partly negative view toward blacks, and that includes many Democrats and independents.

More than a third of all white Democrats and independents — voters Obama can't win the White House without — agreed with at least one negative adjective about blacks, according to the survey, and they are significantly less likely to vote for Obama than those who don't have such views.

Such numbers are a harsh dose of reality in a campaign for the history books. Obama, the first black candidate with a serious shot at the presidency, accepted the Democratic nomination on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, a seminal moment for a nation that enshrined slavery in its Constitution.

<snip>

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gehjsXjRU6cEer94pOkWWCmJEOAAD93ACO3O0

There's quite a bit of suspect material in this story- such as why repukes won't vote for Obama, but the survey itself reveals what we all know- racism still runs rampant in this country. The results of the survey itself are ugly.

[No Elephants]

1. If Obama were white, he'd be 40 points ahead now. I hate it when the media

plays dumb and asks "why is this such a close race? You'd thing the Dem would be very far ahead!"

It's America's original sin, stupid. And you know it. And you are never more disgusting than when you pretend not to.

[quantass]

4. Sad, but true...interestingly though, O is doing better than Gore and Kerry at this moment in time.

[Sodan]

7. Maybe he is far ahead,, Didn't believe the polls when he was down

Don't believe them now!

[quantass]

2. Interestingly: Obama was STILL able to beat Hillary and she had everything going for her.

Dont underestimate the smart, clear-minded views of the "young" (and educated). Obama already did the impossible by defeating convingly Hillary...if this racial thing was such a big problem he wouldnt have beaten her. Of course, republicans are the party of biggotry and democrats too harbor whites that feel the same (just not as lopsided) and yes it is an issue Obama has to accept but noone, not the media, not Hillary (recall she said she would win, repeatedly), not even the blacks, thought Obama could get this far....Race is a factor and a burden for O but lets not forget that their is an underlying need for change and his power to speak to the people that is inspiring his turnouts ... you can't just fill Mile High stadium for the heck of it ya know.

[H2O Man]

3. That race will be

a factor in the 2008 election is a given. However, I am confident that the number of democrats who will not vote for Obama because he has brown skin will not be of greater significance than the number of moderate republicans who cannot in good conscience vote for McCain/Palin.

[1corona4u]

5. I was just thinking that too.

[MagickMuffin]

6. It exists here in Texas

I know a candidate who block walks every weekend. He has told me he quit wearing his Obama gear because of the Democrats racism here. He told me that some people don't have a problem with dropping the "N" bomb is how he put it. He was very surprised that there were so many racists in the Democratic Party in Texas. I told him that I wasn't surprised at all. Racism is not a party issue. It is a human conditioning that people have not evolved out of. I was fortunate enough to get away from my racist past growing up.

It really is a shame that as humans we have not gotten to the point that we ALL belong to the human race and it doesn't have anything to do with skin color. It has to do with being equally human.

[Skidmore]

8. Since respecting diversity is part of the Democratic Party

platform, I don't consider people who think like this to be Democrats.

[BeyondGeography]

9. Ron Fournier is ugly

I'm sure the idea of a race-baiting survey was very appealing to him.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. As Obama's poll numbers go up, the media shift commences once more

to bring him back down to make it a "horse race". With nothing left, invoking race will happen more and more. :eyes:

(And I say this in terms of knowing that it is a foregone conclusion that racism will play some role. However the media's apparent intent to begin to focus on it more and more will result in a self-fulfilling prophesy of divisiveness that ignores "content of character" and "message" in favor of "skin color", despite the Obama campaign's drive to be "post-racial".)

[pdxmom]

11. Unfortunately, racism is out there, but I'm hoping that common sense

will overcome at least a portion of this. I have an acquaintance, who I knew was pretty progressive and I just assumed that he was supporting Obama. We spoke a few days ago and I found out he actually was very disappointed in our candidate and I couldn't really understand why, until he made some comments about "I don't trust him. All the blacks will vote for him, no matter what. Just like OJ." I then understood that racism was behind his views. I'm not even sure he totally realizes it. But he is going to "hold his nose" and vote for Obama.

So I think it's possible that some of these racist Dems will pull the lever for Obama anyway.

[olegramps]

12. Work like hell to register and encourage young people to vote

I am working with our local community to reach young people, not only college age students,but working young people to register and vote. This especially includes the Black and Hispanic youth. There is a segment of our society that will refuse to vote for Obama solely because of his mix race. We ask are them are you going to allow the racist vote to determine your future. They are the key to over coming the residual racism that plagues older Americans by canceling their vote.

[Coexist]

13. By RON FOURNIER - nuff said.

[closeupready]

14. Yep. Was just gonna note that. Read no further.

n/t

[Coexist]

15. Ron has become synonymous with Rush, Ann, Michelle and World Net Daily - how sad.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

16. Racist responses were much more prevalent than the article indicates. A LINK to 30 pages of questio...

questionnaire and responses is http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/nws/elections/ap_election_wave6_topline_w6_all_weight5_091808.pdf . See especially pages 21 - 23 for some shocking statistics on the prevalence of white stereotypes of Blacks.

By "agree" with negative adjectives about Blacks, the yahoo article in the OP apparently means only "extremely well" and "very well" in response the the question, "How well does this word describe most Blacks?" "Moderately well", "slightly well", and "not at all" apparently ALL were interpreted as "disagree".

IMO, that's quite misleading. If only "not at all" is counted as "disagree", then only 27 percent of whites don't think of most Blacks as "lazy", and only 17 percent of whites don't think of most Blacks as "violent"!

[Blue_Roses]

17. this guy is a jerk... FOURNIER IS AT IT AGAIN

Fournier Is At It Again
By Steve Benen

Aug 23, 2008


.... The latest piece from Ron Fournier, the AP's Washington bureau chief and the man responsible for directing the wire service's coverage of the presidential campaign, on Joe Biden joining the Democratic ticket, is drawing a fair amount of attention this morning. More importantly, McCain campaign staffers are pushing it fairly aggressively to other reporters, in large part because it mirrors the Republican line with minimal variation.

By choosing Biden, Fournier argues, Barack Obama is showing a "lack of confidence," and is siding with "the status quo."

There are two ways to consider Fournier's piece: substantively and in the broader context.

First, on the substance, Fournier's analysis seems a little lazy. By his logic, any potential running mate shows a "lack of confidence" -- picking Hillary would mean Obama lacked confidence in his ability to win over women voters; picking Bayh would mean Obama lacked confidence in his ability to win over independents and conservative Dems; picking Webb would mean Obama lacked confidence in his ability to win over voters concerned about national security; picking Kaine would mean Obama lacked confidence in his ability to win over voters in the South; etc. For that matter, "the status quo" in Washington has been conservative Republican rule. Biden may be an old pro and a DC insider, but he's anything but "the status quo."

Second, in context, Fournier's objectivity covering the presidential race continues to look shaky. We are, after all, talking about a journalist who, as recently as last year, considered working for the McCain campaign.



http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/23/politics/animal/main4376842.shtml