Obama faces a white flight

Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | September 27, 2011 | By Melissa Harris-Perry

[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.

[dirtboy]

And this was the key dodge by the author:

Still others are angry about appalling unemployment rates for black Americans; but while overall unemployment was lower under Clinton, black unemployment was double that of whites, as it is now. And, of course, Clinton supported and signed welfare "reform," cutting off America's neediest despite economic growth.

She completely glosses over how vastly much worse unemployment is for everyone now, not just blacks. That is the primary reason Obama is being rejected by large swaths of the electorate. She has to pretend otherwise to postulate that it is all about racism - and that renders her column worthless.