Media outlets and posters to the fray have come to the conclusion that Obama and Hillary were the same. They had similar policies and experiences. The Democratic primary was about personality and identity politics. Obama supporters are crying foul at Clinton supporters wanting to defect to McCain due to Obama’s lack of experience and rightly state that there were no experience differences between the senators. They say that these defections are racist in nature. What hogwash!
One could make the same counter argument to Obama supporters as to why they picked Obama as there was no substantive difference between them. No one is accusing Obama’s legions of picking Obama because of his race despite the fact that many people said so. There are tons of interviews of Obama supporters that reflect t the view that “we want to send a message to the world for picking a black president.” It’s not that they did not like Clinton, it was that Clinton was not black. After all there have been several strong world leaders that were women like Thatcher of Great Britain and the current German Chancellor Angela Merkel. There hasn’t been a black world leader from a G8 nation.
Obama supporters would deny his nomination was based on affirmative action by the electorate or a cult of personality of course. The irony is that their arguments for defecting to McCain over Obama have as little merit as choosing Obama over Clinton. If there was so little difference between Obama and Clinton then why pick Obama? Clinton’s supporters are accused of being racist because 20% of Clinton supporters voted based on race (never mind Obama’s pastor’s racist comments at the time of this often cited poll) yet Obama got 95% of the black vote in several states. It seems to me that blacks voted based on race much more than whites did, yet whites are racists.
It could simply be that Clinton supporters don’t like Obama’s liberal views, after all Clinton did work hard to try to appeal to the center of the electorate and Obama did not (he tried to but failed by looking like a phony with his bitter comments). Boring! No one wants to read about that, it’s just easier to accuse Clinton supporters as racists and Obama’s supporters as reverse racists.

You know, I read that, and I literally made the Marge Simpson "grr/sigh" noise just now. Let's suppose, just for a minute, that everybody in this deal is a rational political actor, seeking to elect a candidate that will further their political goals. Let's also not lose sight of the FACT that a majority of black voters favored Hillary Clinton until after Barack Obama won Iowa. The majority of black people are no less willing than other voters to throw away their votes on candidates who they think can't win; they want a candidate who'll support their interests just like everyone else does.

While Hillary and Barack were very similar on policy goals, I think it's fair to say that their campaigns showed they would go about achieving those goals in different ways. The Clinton campaign was a top-down organization that was heavy on people who were personally loyal to her as life-long friends. It was also able to draw on the family's name recognition for fundraising appeals to high-dollar party activists who could give the maximum at once. The Obama campaign was a bottom-up organization that had to rely on volunteers and social networking sites like my.barackobama.com to raise money from people who had to write smaller checks but who could be asked to write several over the course of the campaign. Near the end, Clinton had to go into her own pocket to lend herself money; Obama managed his funds differently and, frankly, didn't have the money to lend if he had needed it.

The candidates' platforms were pretty equally liberal, as you saw when they tried to distinguish themselves from one another in the debates, but I think the way they ran their campaigns is just one, valid, non-racial reason why this primary was NOT about identity politics or cults of personalities, but could have been decided by people making rational decisions.

Racism by definition is the belief that another race is inferior. Therefore, not all race-based decisions are racist.

It's pretty easy to think of reasons why blacks would support another black based laregely on his blackness without necessarily believing that whites are inferior. It's much more difficult to come up with credible reasons for whites to do the same thing for a white candidate.

How about the fact that Hillary is a total scumbag (like her husband), and a lot of people wouldn't trust her to walk their dog?

I am with you. I don't know a single racist Hillary supporter (although I saw one on TV-so that makes it true). Nor have I met a single person who voted for Obama because they don't like white folks.

I do think that the media whipped up resentments on both sides though. The snarky comments about Hillary pissed off women (hell, had my vote not been cast in Feb, I might have switched just to spite assholes like Chris Matthews). The incessant running of the faux pastor controversy alienated some white folks and pissed off many African Americans who saw a HUGE "crazy-pastor" double standard (i.e., the media has in the past conveniently ignored the zenophobic, anti-semetic ravings of right wing nuts like Robertson, Faldwell etc.

Add to this the fact that if people recorded and analyzed every fricken word YOU said during the day, you would probably say some dumb things too (e.g., bitter, helicopter).

The Hillary/Barack question is now moot. The choice is Barrack or McCain. Whose policies best represent your values? I would encorage everyone to visit websites and read books. Figure this out for yourself. Don't rely on dumb-ass media spin.

nancyh:

Add to this the fact that if people recorded and analyzed every fricken word YOU said during the day, you would probably say some dumb things too (e.g., bitter, helicopter).

The Hillary/Barack question is now moot. The choice is Barrack or McCain. Whose policies best represent your values? I would encorage everyone to visit websites and read books. Figure this out for yourself. Don't rely on dumb-ass media spin.

Ahh, I think I hear the sweet voice of Reason....

I agree, markci.

Telling blacks they're racist when they vote for a black candidate is.....well, actually pretty SCARY to me. Somewhere in it (it's difficult to put your finger on), there's a LOT of meanness hidden there.

Telling blacks they're racist when they vote for a black candidate is.....well, actually pretty SCARY to me. Somewhere in it (it's difficult to put your finger on), there's a LOT of meanness hidden there.

I can't speak for every Black person, but to me, being accused of racism (reverse racism, I suppose) doesn't bother me much. I think to many Black people the accusation of perpatrating racism is so opposed to our identity that it just doesn't stick. It's like calling a woman sexist or calling a short person tall. It's more bizarre than offensive.

I think it's kind of like racial slurs against white people. The phenomenon of being called [fill in the blank derogatory racial slur for white people] is so out of whack, so divorced from their history and perception of themselves, that it doesn't hurt.

On the other, hand, I've learned over the past several years, that for white people, being called a "racist" is the functional equivalent of calling a Black person the n-word. White people can't stand it. White people can't even stand an implied accusation of racism. Probably for the same reasons that Black people hate the N-word: it's limiting, it implies that this is all you are and that you can't be anything more than the stereotypes about your group.

I think the phenomenon of calling a Black person racist or calling a white person a racial slur are relatively new in this society, so we don't have the same kind of collective experience that tells us, "You have just been slurred, react with offense."

But white people have been called racist for a long time and Black people have been called N-words for as long, so I think we are raised to watch out for these kind of attacks and to be extra sensitive to such.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my experience on this.

I see the arguments about reverse racism and "Black people are the REAL racists" very often (particularly on conservative blogs). The only thing that bothers me about it is the frequncy with which they appear, and I really feel more annoyance with that than anything else (like the same annoyance you might feel when someone passes on an email chain letter that has false information). Generally, I just debate whoever makes the accusation and that's that. I suspect, though, that white people feel a much more emotional/vicseral response when accused of racism, similar to Black people being slurred racially.

fedderly:

nancyh:

Add to this the fact that if people recorded and analyzed every fricken word YOU said during the day, you would probably say some dumb things too (e.g., bitter, helicopter).

The Hillary/Barack question is now moot. The choice is Barrack or McCain. Whose policies best represent your values? I would encorage everyone to visit websites and read books. Figure this out for yourself. Don't rely on dumb-ass media spin.

Ahh, I think I hear the sweet voice of Reason....

Yes, and it's refreshing indeed. Thanks nancyh.

Ok look, people all over america have been telling the african-american community it needs to stop feeding at the trough of the government (affirmative action) and that african americans need to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. So they did, by voting for Obama and giving black kids a positive role model to emulate. Now they are racists. You perople need to make up your f**king minds.

In looking back at the original post, I think one point; his main point, kind of got lost in the shuffle:

"One could make the same counter argument to Obama supporters as to why they picked Obama as there was no substantive difference between them."

Actually, one substantive differnce between Clinton and Obama that may have affected Black voters was the perception that surrogates were making racially charged attacks.

I think Hillary lost the Black vote (and that is indeed what happened: Hillary was far more popular than Obama among the African-AMerican community at the outset of the campaign) in no small part due to racially charged comments by her surrogates like Bill Clinton, Geraldine Ferraro, Andrew Young, and Bob Johnson.

The narrative that Black voters went to Obama just because he is Black is false. Despite the OP's assertion that Hillary and Barack were virtually identical, there remains at least one important difference to Black voters: Obama's people didn't piss them off.

but don't take your eye off him for a second. He is warm red meat at the lions club. If he is not consumed we may be. If he surrounds himself with loyal supporters and yes-men we will pay dearly as a people and a nation. If we don't become and stay personally involved on a local as well as national level we are toast. If Obama supporters assume that by electing him that they can then trust him to do what is in the long term best interest of the nation as a whole, they are beyond naive. Obama desperately needs his democratic detractors and those independents that disagree with some of his positions to become engaged in his campaign. If a major portion of the democratic party, especially blue collar and middle class Democrats do not get and stay involved we will have a disaster. They will not beg his machine for permission. Obama must begin to reach out bigtime. He should start with HRC supporters.

If you are waiting for a completely trustworthy politician, well good luck on that one. I would much rather vote for one that I think could be trustworthy than one who has shown by his actions that he cannot be trusted.

inexperience, uncertainty, and the rift that make this a more dangerous proposition. Considering the challenges that we face and the ones looming he will need all the help and good will that he can muster.

Honestly, I cannot imagine why anyone would want the job of Pres for the next four years. My limited imagination cannot fathom how we are going to get out of the crater dug by the most colossally stupid group of people ever to walk the face of the earth. If the past 8 years have taught us nothing else, it has certainly proven that experience does not always lead to wisdom.