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Susan Estrich
The Other Forty Percent
Susan Estrich 6/11/2008
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Everyone knows what the "right" answer is to the question of whether you would be willing to vote for an African-American for president. The "right" answer is yes. What's surprising is not how many people say yes, but how many don't. According to a Rasmussen Reports poll taken last week, 78 percent of all Americans said yes to that question, leaving 22 percent admitting either that they would not be willing to vote for an African-American (11 percent) or aren't sure (the other 11 percent).

Of course, since everyone knows what the "right" answer is, if you really want to know how much race matters, you don't ask people what they'd be willing to do; you ask them about their family, friends and co-workers. The question is not whether you are what most of us would consider to be a racist, but whether other people you know are. Easier to admit that way. And that's when you get the most disturbing finding of the recent Rasmussen poll.

Knowing that you're supposed to say yes, knowing that political correctness, not to mention evenhandedness and fairness, counsel that the answer to your willingness to vote for an African-American is supposed to be
"yes," 17 percent of white voters say that their family, friends and co-workers would not vote for an African-American and 26 percent more just aren't sure. Not sure if your best friends are racist? Nice. That totals up to more than 40 percent — more than four in 10.

If four in 10 white Americans are willing to admit to a pollster that their friends, family and co-workers might not vote for an African-American because of his race, how many really hold that view? More.

Now maybe, given the current political situation, when people hear the question, they believe it really means: Are you willing to vote for Barack Obama? Maybe all those people saying "no" or "not sure" would be giving a different answer if the Republican Party were about to nominate Colin Powell. Maybe some of this is about Obama, and not about race per se.

Or maybe not. In any event, it doesn't matter. Obama is the one who's running, and to anyone who thinks racism is part of our history and not our current reality, look again.

Right now, Obama is running well behind the generic Democrat, and McCain is running well ahead of the generic Republican.

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Who to Vote For Color
By Daryl Cagle - MSNBC.com * Posted 2/12/2008 12:00:00 AM
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Who to Vote For Color
© Copyright 2008  Daryl Cagle - All Rights Reserved.

Posted By: Ron  on Wednesday, June 11, 2008

It is not would I vote for an African American, it is about who is Barack Obama?  How can I trust that he is who he says he is?  Why should I believe him when so much of his life betrays his current words?  He is a lawyer and lawyers are good at saying what they want us to think.  So make it racial if you want, the real issue is who is Barack Obama?

Posted By: dave o  on Wednesday, June 11, 2008

G W Bush is not a lawyer; how well has that worked out for the country.



GW wanted to be a lawyer, but the University of Texas Law School would not except him.  He got a Harvard MBA instead.



It is better to have lawyers in charge than salesmen

Posted By: Good Life  on Wednesday, June 11, 2008

I was really surprised when a friend said he wouldn't vote for a Black man.  This friend is married to a Latino.  

Just like wolves, it matters which pack a person belongs to.

Posted By: Roland  on Sunday, June 15, 2008

Bush, Obama, Clinton, McCain, Nixon. What's the difference? They are politicians.  Not real people.  They don't worry about $4 gal gas, or foreclosures on their homes.  It's all about how much POWER they can grab.

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