I've stated for several months now that I thought Barack Obama would be a harder candidate to beat in the general election than Hillary Clinton. My opinion isn't based on his qualifications; it's based on his race. Or rather, it's based on the way Democrats always play the race card.
My argument was that white voters--specifically, white men--would not be allowed to vote for John McCain (or anyone else, for that matter) based on qualifications (a philosophy that is very white, according to Whoopi Goldberg) because a vote for anyone other than Obama would be seen as racist. You haven't had to look very far to see this play itself out. This white-people-are-racists argument is being used to explain why Hillary Clinton doesn't drop out.
With Clinton posing alongside pioneering Indy speedster Sarah Fisher, there were almost no African-Americans to be seen. Many in the white, working-class crowd were simply not ready to back Barack Obama - for reasons that are disturbing.
Yes, whitey is afraid Obama will lynch 'em, right?
DRJ at Patterico's Pontifications points out that this argument would be more convincing were white people voting for Hillary in the same proportion as black people are voting for Obama (about 9 to 1). Is anyone willing to accuse black people of racism for supporting Obama? Of course not.
I'm not saying that there aren't people who won't vote for a black man. But because some percentage of people do this doesn't mean that every, or even most, of the white people who vote for someone other than Obama are racists.
This election, more than any in recent history, highlights the problems with identity politics. Obama started out saying he wanted to "transcend race," yet his past and his connections speak otherwise. It's perfectly normal that black voters are excited at the prospect of electing someone from their race. Yet women have been told they shouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton solely on her sex. I haven't heard any arguments that not voting for Hillary was sexist. I guess that shows the difference between the sort of discrimination that has taken place in virtually every society and culture on Earth and that that took place in this country during a specific time period.
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