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The Race Isn’t About Race
NY Times ^ | August 25, 2008 | MATT BAI

Posted on 08/25/2008 12:29:19 PM PDT by neverdem

LIKE so much in his presidential campaign, Barack Obama’s search for a running mate was shadowed by the specter of race.

In the weeks leading up to his decision, as a flurry of new polls showed Mr. Obama and John McCain to be almost deadlocked, many Democrats and some members of the news media embraced a new article of faith: Lower-income white voters are resisting Mr. Obama’s candidacy principally because he is African-American. “Where he’s lagging is among white voters, and with older ones in particular," John Heilemann wrote in New York magazine this month. “Call me crazy, but isn’t it possible, just possible, that Obama’s lead is being inhibited by the fact that he is, you know, black?”

Each of the reported finalists for the No. 2 spot on the Democratic ticket — Tim Kaine, the governor of Virginia, Evan Bayh, a senator from Indiana, and, of course, Joe Biden — was considered to be the kind of vice-presidential nominee who could build a bridge to skeptical white men. The thinking among leading Democrats, and perhaps even inside the campaign itself, was that Mr. Obama needed a running mate who was also a validator, some earthy white guy who could say, effectively, of the party’s presidential nominee, “This dude’s as American as I am.”

Once Mr. Biden’s name was announced, commentators were quick to note that not only does he bring the ticket a well-earned expertise on foreign affairs, but he also possesses an ability to relate to working-class white men. Mr. Biden’s coming-out speech in Springfield, Ill., was heavy on allusions to his Irish-Catholic roots in Scranton, Pa., and to the “cops and firefighters, the teachers and the line workers” with whom he grew up.

No doubt the unpretentious, politically incorrect Mr. Biden will make a strong impression...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: elitism; obama; racsim
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Matt Bai, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, is the author of “The Argument: Inside the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics.”

I'm shocked that the Times printed this.

1 posted on 08/25/2008 12:29:19 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem

The race is not about race is the dumbest comment I have seen in I can not recall the years,

Lets spectulate a minute, how many African Americans do you expect to vote for Obama? 85 Percent? 95 Percent?

I expect it will be closer to 97 percent, to say that is not racist is the biggest load I have seen in a while.


2 posted on 08/25/2008 12:38:45 PM PDT by Bigmouthbass
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To: neverdem

Sometimes the urge to be accurate prognosticator outweighs the urge to be flaming, socialist propagandist.

But not too often. It’s called swerving into the truth.


3 posted on 08/25/2008 12:44:50 PM PDT by Bob J (For every 1000 hacking at the branches of evil, one strikes at it's root.)
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To: neverdem
Mr. Biden's coming-out speech in Springfield...

"coming-out"???

Race obviously inhibited Obama from picking a black running mate--picking Oprah might have won over a lot of Hillary's supporters.

4 posted on 08/25/2008 12:47:15 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: neverdem

If it isn’t about race then why is the Old Grey Whore talking about race?


5 posted on 08/25/2008 12:57:45 PM PDT by Mike Darancette (Obama's Pay Grade: Chump Change - Under the Cone of Stupid)
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To: neverdem
No doubt the unpretentious, politically incorrect Mr. Biden will make a strong impression...

Am I the only one who thinks this vain camera hog wont bring in a single vote to the hapless Obambi ? Hes said so many stupid things in his political lfe, you could write a book about it.

6 posted on 08/25/2008 1:00:42 PM PDT by Nonstatist
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To: neverdem

The Race Isn’t About Race

The election is of course in reality about race.
1. The Obama Campaign will not allow it to be about anything else. They have a weak caandidate with no pratical background for the job So everytime the McCain camopaign or anyone questions anything about Obama his campaign will immediately claim racism on part of the questioner
2. The liberal media will make sure that race is a factor through the entie election. If Obama wins no harm no foul. If Obama loses then the left/liberals will attck the winner and everything they try to do for the next 4 years with “they only won because America would not elect a black man and various other nonsensical statements

So you had better believe that this race is all about race


7 posted on 08/25/2008 1:06:25 PM PDT by SECURE AMERICA (Got Freedom ? Thank a Veteran...... Want to keep Freedom? Don't vote Obama)
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To: neverdem
Biden is not running for President. Obama is! And Obama and his supporters played the race card and will get what he deserves.
8 posted on 08/25/2008 1:08:34 PM PDT by Logical me (Oh, well!!!)
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To: neverdem
"Where he’s lagging is among white voters, and with older ones in particular," John Heilemann wrote in New York magazine this month. “Call me crazy, but isn’t it possible, just possible, that Obama’s lead is being inhibited by the fact that he is, you know, black?”

It makes sense that those whites that have dropped out of the middle class, whose complaints and needs have been ignored for decades in favor of races other than themselves might be voting out of urgent self-interest more than on the basis of race.

9 posted on 08/25/2008 1:10:32 PM PDT by TheThinker (It is the natural tendency of government to gravitate towards tyranny.)
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To: neverdem
Matt Bai said this;
The theory that race is holding back Mr. Obama’s candidacy rests on a pretty simple premise. Adherents argue that the Democratic candidate ought to be effortlessly leading by double digits in the polls at this point — and that his failure to do so can only be explained by latent racism among older voters.
__________________________________________________________ Ok, so obamaboy should be ahead simply because people are pissed with Bush. Sense he is not ahead the only way the DNC and media can explain it is because white people are racist. What does that say about what the DNC and the media think about us white people and our mental capabilities. Apparently they believe we are stupid and cannot make decisions without first judging a man by his skin color. They do not believe we can judge a man simply on his polices.
Matt Bai also said this;
___________________________________________________________ But if Joe Biden’s selection does anything to help break the stalemate, it will be because he is a serious foreign-policy thinker and a voice of experience, not because he is somehow reassuring to narrow-minded white voters.
____________________________________________________________ I am so tired of being called narrow mined by these bunch of elitist pigs. I am a middle class hard working Financial Planner. I am well trained with 24 years of experience in my business. I do not need to be told what I should think and how I should be feeling at this time. I am educated and well able to make my own decisions based on what a candidate has to offer. And obamaboy has nothing I am interested in. And guess what if he was white I wouldn't vote for him either.
Ok that is my race rant for the day!
10 posted on 08/25/2008 1:13:09 PM PDT by onlylewis (libs want a two class system, one rich one poor)
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To: neverdem

Democrats win through shaming people and ostricizing them if they don’t agree with the party line. Throw in the unions and people increasingly have no choice but find themselves unemployed.


11 posted on 08/25/2008 1:13:28 PM PDT by TheThinker (It is the natural tendency of government to gravitate towards tyranny.)
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To: neverdem
Call me crazy, but isn’t it possible, just possible, that if Obama & Biden lose, it's because of the fact that they are, you know, communists?

When the #1 and #3 liberals in the Senate run on a borderline Marxist platform, is there anyone in the mainstream media willing to consider the possibility that the problem may be the message and not the messenger if they fail to connect with patriotic Americans?

12 posted on 08/25/2008 1:17:52 PM PDT by RogerD (Educaiton Profesionul)
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To: Bigmouthbass

Only whites can be racists. Don’t you know that by now? Write it on the blackboard 100 times before you go home.

Only whites can be racists.


13 posted on 08/25/2008 1:23:16 PM PDT by chesley (I'm still alive, still employed, & still married. Life is GOOD)
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To: neverdem; Fred Nerks
not only does he bring the ticket a well-earned expertise on foreign affairs,>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

What IS his international experience? And the MSM has said NOTHING about it.

Thats Obamas "foreign experience" and he will continue that pattern to use race and ethnicity to cause conflict in America.

If this election is about race, Obama made it about race.

How?:

1)By holding closed fund raisers with organized racial or ethnic groups where whites were excluded.

2) By saying things like: " I don't look the same as those others on our dollar bills."

3) By attending Rev. Wrights "Black Power" nationalist church.

I could make a far longer list, but you get the idea.

Obama wants the election to be about race, so that when he loses, he can indirectly and sureptitiously call for riots in the streets because of racism, or because of "corruption" just like he and Dick Morris advized Odinga to do in Kenya.

In Kenya hundreds if not thousands were killed by the Orange Party Islamofascists, thanks to Obama's involvement, and the MSM should be absolutely ashamed for not disclosing that to the US public.Instead the MSM wants to foist a radical idiot on us, so that their Utopian wet dreams will be realized. The MSM is setting us up for one of the darkest chapters in US history by going along with the Obama campaigns " don't show, don't tell" about what Obama did in Kenya in 2006 and 2007.

Obama proved in Kenya that he is nothing more than a mobster with pretensions of grandeur. A fascist.

No thanks Obama. Crawl back into the hole you came from.

14 posted on 08/25/2008 1:35:53 PM PDT by Candor7 (Fascism? All it takes is for good men to say nothing, (Ridicule Obama))
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To: neverdem; Fred Nerks
not only does he bring the ticket a well-earned expertise on foreign affairs,>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

What IS his international experience?

The only one I know of is his going to Kenya to campaign for his cousin Odinga, where he used neo-colonial US black power politics to get the Orange Party whipped up to perpetrate genocide on Kikuyu tribesmen.

And the MSM has said NOTHING about it.

Thats Obamas "foreign experience" and he will continue that pattern to use race and ethnicity to cause conflict in America.

If this election is about race, Obama made it about race.

How?:

1)By holding closed fund raisers with organized racial or ethnic groups where whites were excluded.

2) By saying things like: " I don't look the same as those others on our dollar bills."

3) By attending Rev. Wrights "Black Power" nationalist church.

I could make a far longer list, but you get the idea.

Obama wants the election to be about race, so that when he loses, he can indirectly and sureptitiously call for riots in the streets because of racism, or because of "corruption" just like he and Dick Morris advized Odinga to do in Kenya.

In Kenya hundreds if not thousands were killed by the Orange Party Islamofascists, thanks to Obama's involvement, and the MSM should be absolutely ashamed for not disclosing that to the US public.Instead the MSM wants to foist a radical idiot on us, so that their Utopian wet dreams will be realized. The MSM is setting us up for one of the darkest chapters in US history by going along with the Obama campaigns " don't show, don't tell" about what Obama did in Kenya in 2006 and 2007.

Obama proved in Kenya that he is nothing more than a mobster with pretensions of grandeur. A fascist.

No thanks Obama. Crawl back into the hole you came from.

15 posted on 08/25/2008 1:37:21 PM PDT by Candor7 (Fascism? All it takes is for good men to say nothing, (Ridicule Obama))
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To: Nonstatist

The reason for Bidens selection must be viewed from a leftist/democrat mindset. The American people are stupid and racist. Therefore, an older white guy who has spent a lifetime in Washington will convince them that the dem team has experience, wisdom and an all important white guy. I know how hard it is to put yourself in the mind of a lefty elitist, but I’d be willing to bet that this made up a good portion of the thinking of the VP selection team. And NY Times articles like this one only serve to make me more convinced of just how brain damaged the left really is.


16 posted on 08/25/2008 1:45:01 PM PDT by Oldpuppymax (AGENDA OF THE LEFT EXPOSED)
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To: Candor7; neverdem
Obama wants the election to be about race, so that when he loses, he can indirectly and sureptitiously call for riots in the streets because of racism, or because of "corruption" just like he and Dick Morris advized Odinga to do in Kenya.

And don't be surprised if Obama and the Dems come out with a "power-sharing" agreement pitch to McCain after he wins in order to "stop the violence"

17 posted on 08/25/2008 1:46:06 PM PDT by Centurion2000 (Define yourself by what you do, not by your ideology, belief, origins, genitals, etc ....)
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To: neverdem

18 posted on 08/25/2008 2:38:23 PM PDT by Iron Munro (Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.)
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To: Centurion2000
And don't be surprised if Obama and the Dems come out with a "power-sharing" agreement pitch to McCain after he wins in order to "stop the violence">>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

That is the point of course. Obama knows there is no way in hail that America is going to elect him. ( Thus the difficulty in finding a running mate.). And who is going to run interference and whip people into a frenzy? Glorious Joe bin Biden.The MOUTH.

Obam will just drop the occasional racial slur ( I been done bad.).

19 posted on 08/25/2008 4:00:14 PM PDT by Candor7 (Fascism? All it takes is for good men to say nothing, (Ridicule Obama))
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To: neverdem

Rewrite...

“Where he’s lagging is among black voters — by at least 20 to 1 — and with older ones in particular,” John Heilemann wrote in New York magazine this month. “Call me crazy, but isn’t it possible, just possible, that McCain’s lead is being inhibited by the fact that he is, you know, white?”

Fixed it.


20 posted on 08/25/2008 6:27:50 PM PDT by quesney
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