July 18, 2008--EXTRA! EXTRA! Read All About It
The headline in Wednesday's New York Times barked:
Poll Finds Obama Isn’t Closing Divide on Race
Americans are sharply divided by race heading into the first election in which an African-American will be a major-party presidential nominee, with blacks and whites holding vastly different views of Senator Barack Obama, the state of race relations and how black Americans are treated by society.
What the poll actually showed are the current inclinations of black and white voters in regard to Obama’s candidacy. (Check the full article linked below.)
The data the Times reported on favorability indicate that at the moment 31 percent of whites are favorably disposed toward Obama, 37 not favorable, while 31 percent say they haven’t as yet heard enough. The percentages for African Americans are 83, 14, 2.
This does not mean that “Americans are sharply divided by race.” That’s a whole other matter. This means that more blacks than whites favor Obama, and that an equal percentage are open minded, wanting to hear more. The data also show that among whites only 9 percentage points more whites are not favorably disposed toward Obama than toward McCain—37 to 28 percent.
Maybe that should have been the headline. Or how open-minded folks are. Or how the vast majority of both whites and blacks say America is ready to elect a black president—70 percent of whites and 65 percent of African Americans.
The larger issue is that though we may still be divided by race what does that have to do with Obama? And, politically more important—since that is what the story purports to discuss—in what ways is Obama either responsible for whatever divide persists and why, as the Times implies in its headline and the story itself, why should Obama be expected to be the one close that divide?
He’s running for president, after all, not miracle worker.
Is he supposed to single-handedly as either the Democratic candidate or as president close the divide? Does any sane person who knows anything about American history really expect him to overcome centuries of slavery, segregation, the Ku Klux Klan, and just plan old racism? Only in our dreams.
Yes, his candidacy, and if he were to be elected, especially if he turned out to be an effective president and did something to help repair our relations with the rest of the world, began to deal comprehensively with our energy addiction, worked to fix our wounded economy and chip away at inequality, if he were able to do some of these things, than I suspect some Americans who are inclined toward racist thoughts would come around and say, at the least, “Some of my best presidents are black.”
Still smarting about the Times headline, I can’t resist finding additional fault with the paper of record for not running the following headlines:
McCain Fails to Close Age Divide
George W. Bush Unable to Narrow Vision Gap
JFK Unable to Narrow Divide on Fidelity
Bill Clinton . . . Ditto
George H. W. Bush Isn’t Closing IQ Divide
Poll Finds Obama Isn’t Closing Divide on Race
Americans are sharply divided by race heading into the first election in which an African-American will be a major-party presidential nominee, with blacks and whites holding vastly different views of Senator Barack Obama, the state of race relations and how black Americans are treated by society.
What the poll actually showed are the current inclinations of black and white voters in regard to Obama’s candidacy. (Check the full article linked below.)
The data the Times reported on favorability indicate that at the moment 31 percent of whites are favorably disposed toward Obama, 37 not favorable, while 31 percent say they haven’t as yet heard enough. The percentages for African Americans are 83, 14, 2.
This does not mean that “Americans are sharply divided by race.” That’s a whole other matter. This means that more blacks than whites favor Obama, and that an equal percentage are open minded, wanting to hear more. The data also show that among whites only 9 percentage points more whites are not favorably disposed toward Obama than toward McCain—37 to 28 percent.
Maybe that should have been the headline. Or how open-minded folks are. Or how the vast majority of both whites and blacks say America is ready to elect a black president—70 percent of whites and 65 percent of African Americans.
The larger issue is that though we may still be divided by race what does that have to do with Obama? And, politically more important—since that is what the story purports to discuss—in what ways is Obama either responsible for whatever divide persists and why, as the Times implies in its headline and the story itself, why should Obama be expected to be the one close that divide?
He’s running for president, after all, not miracle worker.
Is he supposed to single-handedly as either the Democratic candidate or as president close the divide? Does any sane person who knows anything about American history really expect him to overcome centuries of slavery, segregation, the Ku Klux Klan, and just plan old racism? Only in our dreams.
Yes, his candidacy, and if he were to be elected, especially if he turned out to be an effective president and did something to help repair our relations with the rest of the world, began to deal comprehensively with our energy addiction, worked to fix our wounded economy and chip away at inequality, if he were able to do some of these things, than I suspect some Americans who are inclined toward racist thoughts would come around and say, at the least, “Some of my best presidents are black.”
Still smarting about the Times headline, I can’t resist finding additional fault with the paper of record for not running the following headlines:
McCain Fails to Close Age Divide
George W. Bush Unable to Narrow Vision Gap
JFK Unable to Narrow Divide on Fidelity
Bill Clinton . . . Ditto
George H. W. Bush Isn’t Closing IQ Divide
posted by Steven Zwerling at
7:16 AM
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