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Race gets in the race

Obama’s fast-track to success could be alienating working-class white voters, reminding them of their nemesis: affirmative action
By STEVEN STARK  |  March 19, 2008

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For much of this election cycle, the assumption has been that foreign policy, specifically Iraq, would be the dominant issue on the campaign trail. Then, for a while, immigration had voters fixated, and in recent weeks, the economy has taken center stage.

But if Barack Obama ends up the Democratic nominee, the issue on which the election may well turn is one that few initially expected to arise: affirmative action, which, of course, means race.

Affirmative action continues to be among the most divisive issues in America — no wonder, since our country’s tragic racial history is complex and the issues surrounding its legacy are far from simple. As Slate blogger Mickey Kaus recently noted, affirmative action was the issue that handed the closely contested 1990 North Carolina Senate race to Jesse Helms. Helms ran an ad against Harvey Gantt, his black opponent, which featured a close-up shot of two hands holding a letter and then crumpling it as a narrator said, “You needed that job, and you were the best qualified. But they had to give it to a minority.”

Ever since, in nearly every instance voters have been given the chance to eliminate affirmative action, they’ve taken the opportunity — in referenda in states from California to Michigan. So we should have expected that, when a black candidate started winning presidential contests, the issue would rear its head.

In many respects, it’s unfair to Obama’s candidacy that this is even an issue. As the candidate himself has said, “If you were going to get a handbook on what’s the path to the presidency, I don’t think that the handbook would start by saying, ‘Be an African-American named Barack Obama.’ ” And one doesn’t get to be the president of the Harvard Law Review, much less a senator, by virtue of special favors.

But because Obama is black, the issue is out there. It doesn’t help that it’s being raised by mainstream pols, like former vice-presidential nominee and Clinton supporter Geraldine Ferraro, who said, “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position,” the position being ahead in the race.

It’s also sport for discussion because of Obama’s consistently weak showings among white, working-class voters. To at least a sizable number of these voters, fair or not, Obama appears to be a candidate who’s getting special treatment because of his race. According to polls, affirmative action is particularly unpopular in the Latino community, which is one reason why Obama may be faring so poorly with that constituency. And it’s not going to help electoral matters, as far as he’s concerned, that a conservative group hopes to put the issue of banning affirmative action on the ballot in November in at least five more states, including the swing states of Colorado and Missouri.

Path of least resistance
Part of the problem here is due to Obama’s meteoric rise. The Illinois senator simply doesn’t have the experience in the trenches of someone who working-class voters would likely think of as a commander in chief. If Obama had spent, say, a decade in the Senate, the hunch here is that most of these suspicions wouldn’t arise. Similarly, if he’d taken a route more familiar to these voters — say he’d been a star college athlete, worked his way out of the projects, or served in the military — he’d better fit the image of what they see as the path to upward mobility.

To Obama’s supporters, his quick ascendancy by a brand-new path is due to his once-in-a-generation talent and a fresh definition of what constitutes upward mobility in post-civil-rights America. In contrast, his detractors appear to feel that, because of his race, Obama has simply been handed too much too fast — acceptances to good colleges and grad schools, a national prime-time keynote address, and now a shot at his party’s nomination after less than four years on the national scene.

Put another way, to many Americans, rightly or wrongly, Obama appears never to have paid his dues. He’s so talented and has made it look so easy that the only way they can understand his narrative — and that of his wife, Michelle — is through the prism of racial affirmative action.

What complicates matters is that even Obama would admit that race is part of his appeal. Just as John F. Kennedy attracted the largest percentage of Catholics ever to vote for a Democrat, Obama has emerged as a forceful magnet for African-American voters.

And being part of an historic movement that could well elect the first black president gives many voters (both black and white) an enormous sense of community. When Obama proclaims, “Yes we can,” what he’s implicitly saying is, if this nation can take the historic step of electing a black president, anything is possible (including putting aside partisanship, setting up national health insurance, etc.).

The media, too, have been caught up by these emotions. Yes, the press has fallen for many a charismatic candidate before, from Teddy Roosevelt to JFK and beyond. But when Obama receives similar adulatory treatment, the suspicion among some traditional Democrats is that it’s due to race.

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Comments
Race gets in the race
"Anger over welfare and Affirmative Action helped forge the Reagan coalition...they hear that an African-American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed...resentment builds over time..." -and - (paraphrase)is ruthlessly exploited by politicians for their own selfish interests. - Barack Obama, The Speech, 03/18/08 Could well be that the "wine-and-brie" candidate, having secured his base in the Black American community, the white liberal guilt group and the 18-to-34 idealistic crowd is now addressing concerns of the "beer-n-burger" bunch. Obama would be well advised to borrow a page or two from John Edwards' "Two Americas" rhetoric of 2004. The North Carolina senator and presidential primary nominee addressed the plight and despair of the white working class in talking about real-life, bread-and-butter, day-to-day issues. Seems that Barack is climbing down from his intellectual Ivory Tower and may land with both feet on the ground. Then he'd really run for President. A candidate once dubbed a modern-day Adlai Stevenson by the Tote Board may instead follow in the footsteps of another man from Illinois - Abraham Lincoln.
By L-J on 03/20/2008 at 1:22:18
Race gets in the race
If Obama made a dramatic announcement that we no longer need these crutches! He would be turning a few heads and causing more people to pause and consider him as President if he called for the end of affirmative action. It may be the true cost of a black President but continual support for it does more harm than good. I can get to be President but you are still under the heal of whitey!! It doesn't chime.
By DTL on 03/20/2008 at 3:06:06
Race gets in the race
Three points in reply to DTL...... Social class - not race or gender - is the greatest divider in America. All too often, to be poor, strike 1; to be poor and Black, strike 2, to be a poor Black woman, strike 3....... As far as most persons of color are concerned, Barack Obama is a role model. As far as most women are concerned, Hillary Clinton is a role model. Role models can set precedents, such as being elected president. "A rising tide lifts all the boats" said John F. Kennedy....... Rather than call for an end to affirmative action, Barack could advocate opening wider the gates of opportunity for all. The government could provide assistance on the basis of financial need. In terms of affirmative action, while we have a long way to go, we already have come a very long way.
By L-J on 03/20/2008 at 4:28:19

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