Well duh, most people know our president is African American. But to some, it matters a great deal.
I live in Chicago so I’m somewhat insulated from anti-Obama sentiments. This is true blue country and Obama’s hometown so for the most part, folks here are pro-Obama.
Now, I’ve long suspected that some don’t like the president because he’s a black guy. But it seems so simplistic to pin the hatred of Obama on racism. Well, it DID seem simplistic until recently.
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We had our neighbors over for dinner last week. They had just returned from visiting their son in Arizona, having made a pilgrimage to admire their newest grand baby. And Joe, my neighbor, told a story that pretty much cemented the racism thing for me.
While his son was at work one day, Joe went golfing, being that Arizona is apparently duffer heaven. Joe is a genial guy, a life-long Democrat and former executive at a large non-profit before he went into semi-retirement. An extrovert, he can talk to pretty much anyone about anything.
Because he was golfing solo, he joined two other guys and started to chat. When the other two men, who are attorneys, found out Joe was from Chicago, the talk invariably turned to politics. The Arizona attorneys vouchsafed that Obama would lose. To this, Joe pointed out that he was ahead in the polls and that Romney had some…um…serial missteps. Joe is so tactful!
The talk was civil, but the attorneys continued to insist Obama would lose. Finally, Joe said, “Exactly why do you think he’ll lose?” One of the attorneys simply said, “He’s black,” as if no other explanation were necessary.
Whoa. When retelling it to us, Joe was dumbfounded. Here were two highly educated men who believed that Obama’s race would be the most telling factor in the campaign.
Not the economy, not Medicare, not abortion, not gay marriage. But the fact that Obama is black was THE pivotal issue in their minds. Needless to say, the 2008 election must have come as a horrible surprise, one they must rectify.
This explains a lot about the recent Republican mentality. It doesn’t matter how out-of-step they are on key issues because they are convinced they can beat the black guy because, well, he’s black.
Granted, this was just a couple guys in Arizona, no less. But I’m going to generalize and say this sentiment is not unique to them. The welfare-reduction/race baiting ads put out by the Romney campaign must be resonating with some target audience.
For them, all the complex issues in the campaign boiled down to one thing. He’s black.