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Obama faces a white flight
Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | September 27, 2011 | By Melissa Harris-Perry

Posted on 09/27/2011 6:21:27 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

Electoral racism in its most egregious form is the unwillingness of whites to vote for blacks regardless of qualifications or ideology. So far, Barack Obama has been involved in two elections that suggest such racism is no longer operative. His reelection bid, however, may indicate that a more insidious form of racism has replaced it.

The 2004 Illinois Senate race between Obama and Alan Keyes, two African Americans, was a unique test of old-fashioned electoral racism. For a truly committed racist, neither would have been acceptable.

In 2008, the long primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Obama added hundreds of thousands of Democrats to the rolls. By October, it was clear that Obama could lose the general election only if many of these Democrats failed to turn out or crossed party lines - which, after eight years of Bush, could be interpreted only as electoral racism.

The 2012 election is a test of whether Obama will be held to standards never before imposed on an incumbent. If he is, it may be the triumph of a more subtle form of racism.

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


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bho2012; bhojobapproval; buyersremorse; failure; melissaharrisperry; msnbc; obama; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; socialism; whitevote
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Melissa Harris-Perry is a professor of political science at Tulane University.
1 posted on 09/27/2011 6:21:31 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Tell the GOP voters in Florida more about that “insidious racism,” Mellisa.
2 posted on 09/27/2011 6:24:16 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“Melissa Harris-Perry is a professor of political science at Tulane University.”

Perfectly indoctrinated, poorly educated, too.

The NappyOne


3 posted on 09/27/2011 6:24:24 AM PDT by NappyOne
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

As a graduate of Tulane Law and a person who loves Louisiana and New Orleans, let me just tell you, many of us think she is a nut job.


4 posted on 09/27/2011 6:24:40 AM PDT by Tulane
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I can’t eat hope and change,sweetie!


5 posted on 09/27/2011 6:26:16 AM PDT by Dr. Ursus
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
The 2012 election is a test of whether Obama will be held to standards never before imposed on an incumbent.

Bu11shit!

Barack Obama has, if anything, been held to a LOWER standard than any past president -- and he has failed even by that standard,

6 posted on 09/27/2011 6:26:20 AM PDT by WayneS (Don't Blame Me, I voted for Kodos!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
whether Obama will be held to standards never before imposed on an incumbent

FDR was reelected three times while pursuing much the same economic lunacy as Zero has, with the same results. But at least he wasn't trying to help the Iranians get nuclear weapons.

7 posted on 09/27/2011 6:26:27 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Skip the election and let Thomas Sowell choose the next President.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“Electoral racism in its most egregious form is the unwillingness of whites to vote for blacks regardless of qualifications or ideology.”

So how DO we vote for him based on his ‘qualifications’ or his ‘ideology’ instead of his race.

This author claims that any vote is racism.


8 posted on 09/27/2011 6:27:13 AM PDT by Pikachu_Dad (Impeach Sen Quinn)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I found Melissa Harris-Perry’s picture on Google, and she looks like a liberal.


9 posted on 09/27/2011 6:27:56 AM PDT by MNDude
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Electoral racism in its most egregious form is the unwillingness of whites to vote for blacks regardless of qualifications or ideology.

You've got it exactly bass-ackwards babe. We witnessed electoral racism in its most egregious form in 2008 when essentially the entire black population voted for a person because of the color of his skin, NOT the quality of his character (or any other damned thing).

10 posted on 09/27/2011 6:28:33 AM PDT by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Readers Digest version: Vote for Obama again or you are a racist. My reply? If you voted for Obama to prove you are not a racist, vote against him this time to prove you are not an idiot.


11 posted on 09/27/2011 6:28:45 AM PDT by jdsteel (I like the way the words "Palin for President" make progressives apoplectic.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
This article has started a racial cat fight. Joan Walsh responded to this article, which prompted a reply from Harris-Perry, which included this nugget:

...a second common strategy of argument about one’s racial innocence: the “I have black friends” claim. I was shocked and angered when Salon’s Joan Walsh used this strategy in her criticism of my piece. Although I disagree with her, I have no problem with Walsh’s decision to take on the claims in my piece. I consider it a sign of respect to publicly engage those with whom you disagree. I was taken aback that Walsh emphasized the extent of our friendship. Walsh and I have been professionally friendly. We’ve eaten a few meals. I invited her to speak at Princeton and I introduced her to my literary agent. We are not friends. Friendship is a deep and lasting relationship based on shared sacrifice and joys. We are not intimates in that way. Watching Walsh deploy our professional familiarity as a shield against claims of her own bias is very troubling. In fact, it is one of the very real barriers to true interracial friendship and intimacy.

Are White Liberals Abandoning Obama? - Joan Walsh, Salon
The Epistemology of Race Talk - Melissa Harris-Perry, The Nation

12 posted on 09/27/2011 6:29:13 AM PDT by Second Amendment First ("Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not..." - Thomas Jefferson.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Failing to vote for Obama is by definition “racism”. Even though Obama has not proven that he is eligible for the job. Even though Obama has proven that he is not competent to do the job. Even a vote for Cain over Obama is racist. Regardless of the relative merits of the incumbent anti-American communist or the (hopefully conservative) challenger who gets our votes, any vote other than Obama has been defined to be racist. I am relieved to live in a world where we no longer need the words “racism” and “racist” for their intended purpose and can play with them as political toys. I just hope those who are still influenced by the race card will soon recognize that it is an empty accusation that is only worth ignoring.


13 posted on 09/27/2011 6:30:14 AM PDT by Pollster1 (Natural born citizen of the USA, with the birth certificate to prove it)
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To: Tulane

“...many of us think she is a nut job.”

Enough said.


14 posted on 09/27/2011 6:30:38 AM PDT by chainsaw (I'd hate to be a democrat running against Sarah Palin.)
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To: Pikachu_Dad
" This author claims that any vote is racism. "

All the more reason to just do the oposite, vote against him.
SO WHAT ! who cares any more if some lunatics yell racism anymore ? what are they going to do if we vote our conscience ?
15 posted on 09/27/2011 6:30:46 AM PDT by American Constitutionalist (The fool has said in his heart, " there is no GOD " ..)
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To: rockrr

It wasn’t just the black population that voted for him because of his skin color.

There were lots of whites that voted for him for nothing other than the color of his skin as well.


16 posted on 09/27/2011 6:31:22 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
"The 2012 election is a test of whether Obama will be held to standards never before imposed on an incumbent. If he is, it may be the triumph of a more subtle form of racism."

And, yet again, The One is being pressed into service for all mankind to break still another barrier. What more can one anointed man be asked to endure for the cause of his people?

Get out your bunny slippers and hop to it, pioneers. As for me and my people, I have a Krispy Kreme, and I'm going to eat it for breakfast.

17 posted on 09/27/2011 6:31:50 AM PDT by arkady_renko
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To: American Constitutionalist

Spelling correction : “ All the more reason to just do the opposite, vote against him. “


18 posted on 09/27/2011 6:31:59 AM PDT by American Constitutionalist (The fool has said in his heart, " there is no GOD " ..)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

It’s NOT ‘liberal’ support which Obama is losing; it is support from the so-called center. Clinton held on to ‘liberal’ support because liberals had no one else to support. but he also held on to a decent percentage of so-called centrists. In 1996, when Clinton was re-elected, so-called centrists had either Bob Dole or Ross Perot to choose from in additona to Clinton, but he STILL managed to maintain enough support from them to win re-elecction with a plurality of the vote.

Barack Obama is unlikely to duplicate that feat, and it has NOTHING to do with voters being any kind of ‘racist’ - overt or subtle.


19 posted on 09/27/2011 6:33:08 AM PDT by WayneS (Don't Blame Me, I voted for Kodos!)
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To: jdsteel
People vote their lunch pails. Obama has stolen them from everyone and people will not vote for him because they have no jobs. It's simple and no amount of speeches, fund raisers, threats, anger and belittling will get unemployed people to vote for him.
With unemployment above 9% and no signs of it coming down, he is finished. The lunch pails are as empty as he is.
20 posted on 09/27/2011 6:33:10 AM PDT by Kozy (Calling Al Gore)
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