Worrying about what happens if Obama loses

By BRAD WARTHEN
Editorial Page Editor
THIS PAST week, I’ve been worrying a good deal over the very thing that
has had Republicans so giddy and Democrats in such dudgeon: the
distinct possibility that Barack Obama may lose this election.

At
this point, you reflexive Republicans need to remove your feet from the
stirrups of your high horses. I didn’t say I was worried that John
McCain might win. I like McCain. My worry arises from the fact that the
other guy I like might lose, which is a different consideration
altogether.

Back during the conventions, I was bewildered by
something Bill Moyers kept saying in a promo during station breaks on
PBS, something to the effect of the stakes never having been higher
than in this election. Really? I said on my blog. How about 1932? Or
1800…? Or how, pray tell, about 1860? Pretty doggoned high stakes
there, I’d venture to say.

Mike Cakora responded that Mr. Moyers
was “simply conveying the left’s notion that over the past eight years
the US has been governed, no, ruled by a war-mongering,
liberty-restricting criminal enterprise and now is the time to end
that… .”

For me, that brought to the fore a thing that had
until then dwelt at the back of my mind: that if Barack Obama loses
this election, Democrats — who have been very charged up about their
expectation of winning, and whose hatred of Republicans has reached new
depths in the past eight years, will be so bitter that — and I dread
even to form this thought — the political polarization will be even
worse in this country. MoveOn.org, to name but one segment of the
alliance, will probably implode to the point of nuclear fusion.

(Republicans,
by contrast, have been expecting to lose all year. This had calmed
them. As recently as 10 days ago, when I wrote that Moyers post, I
would have expected the GOP to accept defeat in November relatively
fatalistically. Of course, that was before Sarah Palin got them
excited
. Now, if they lose, I expect the usual level of bitterness,
just not as severe as what I think is in store if Democrats lose.)

That’s
without taking race into consideration. But my attention was yanked in
that direction by a guest column by my old friend Joe Darby on Friday’s
op-ed page. An excerpt:

Those who criticized Sen. Obama for his
lack of experience, labeled him as long on rhetoric and charisma and
short on substance and said they can’t vote for him because they don’t
“know” him have gleefully embraced a governor who hasn’t completed her
first term…

When you strip away the hyperbole and the political
strategy, Sarah Palin has been hailed as an exemplary choice… simply
because she’s white and because white, middle America identifies with
her…

Somehow, Rev. Darby looked at the fact that Republicans
like an inexperienced conservative Republican, but don’t like an
inexperienced liberal Democrat, and saw it as racism. After more than
half a century living in this country, I should not be shocked at yet
another excruciating instance of the apparently unbridgeable cognitive
divide between black and white Americans. But I was shocked, and even
more worried.

I had already sensed a potent paradox flowing
through the black electorate: disbelief that a black man (if you
consider Obama to be a black man, which I don’t — another subject for
another day) has won a major party nomination, combined with an
expectation that he will now go all the way.

But that had not
prepared me for Rev. Darby seeing racism in the fact that Republicans
like Sarah Palin and not Barack Obama. To my white brain (and I don’t
think of myself as having a “white brain,” but my inability to follow
such logic as this suggests that I do), this made no kind of sense. I
invite you to go read the piece — the link, as usual, is on my blog —
and see if it makes sense to you.

I was still reeling from the implication of that piece when I read this in The Wall Street Journal Friday morning:

An
anxious murmur is rising among black voters as the presidential race
tightens: What if Barack Obama loses?… If Sen. Obama loses,
“African-Americans could be disappointed to the point of not engaging
in the process anymore,” or consider forming a third political party,
said Richard McIntire, communications director for the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

This is not a good place to be.

I
first met Joe Darby 15 years ago. The newspaper sponsored a black-white
dialogue group that was coordinated by a reporter I supervised. Joe was
one of the panelists, and I was struck by his patience and mildness of
manner in explaining his perspective to whites flustered over black
citizens’ sense of aggrievement.

I’m sure Joe would have been
just as patient with the white acquaintance — someone I’ve known for
many years, and who is no kind of racist — who approached me Friday
morning to say, “That Joe Darby is a racist.” I insisted that I knew
Joe Darby well, and he was not, but this reaction was just what I had
predicted to a colleague when I saw the proof the day before: The guest
column was the kind of thing that alienates white conservatives,
driving the wedge of race deeper into the nation’s heart. (So why run
it? Because I knew Rev. Darby and others sincerely believed what he was
saying, and a newspaper’s role is to put everyone’s political cards on
the table.)

Fifteen years after that black-white dialogue
experience — and many, many less formal such dialogues later — I find
myself close to despair that mutual understanding can be achieved.

Particularly if Barack Obama loses the election.

32 thoughts on “Worrying about what happens if Obama loses

  1. ds2oo8

    Here is a great resource about Sarah Palin – the most comprehensive page of information on her record and policies available on the Internet … including videos of her saying her proposed $30 billion pipeline is the “will of God,” her saying a month ago she doesn’t know what the vice-president does, and her complaining four months ago that Hillary Clinton was whining about “sexist” media coverage –
    http://dailysource.org/palin
    It has in-depth research, audio clips, videos, and links to hundreds of articles, including many from newspapers and TV stations in Alaska. It has rare footage, including her telling the ‘08 convention of the Alaska Independence Party, whose aim is to give Alaska a vote on seceding from the U.S., to “keep up the good work.”
    The level of research is tremendous. The site’s editors and volunteers include an Emmy-award winning CNN reporter, the former operating editor of the Christian Science Monitor’s web site, the former head of NPRs News Blog and the Executive Director of the Online News Association –
    http://dailysource.org/
    Please tell anyone about this who might want to know more.

  2. brian

    No need to worry Brad; ‘they’ will do what ‘they’ve’ always done…
    It will be another ‘rodney king’ moment; destroy everything that the state and federal government has given to me and then we’ll move on to everything else we can.
    It’s gonna happen; ain’t no way in hell that some unknown, know nothing, hot air politician from Chicago is gonna be president. Just get ready for the fallout from the American welfare recepients…

  3. penultimo mcfarland

    If black-white understanding depends on the election of Barack Obama, something so utterly symbolic that it has virtually nothing to do with any one black person getting along with any one white person …
    If black participation in the political process depends on the election of Obama, meaning his historic nomination by the Democratic Party doesn’t register as important progress to black people …
    Well, then, fine, let Obama lose.
    If it first you don’t succeed, try, try again. If you’re not willing to do that, why should we worry about you?
    Civil rights didn’t come along for 100 years after the Civil War. If, instead of 50 years, it takes 60 years, or 70, or even 80, to elect a black president after civil rights, particularly when only 12 percent of the people in the United States are black, that won’t be half the horror that a century century without civil rights was.
    Certainly that prospect shouldn’t merit a “we’ll take our ball and go home” threat from the NAACP communications director.
    Besides, who’s to say a woman shouldn’t be president first? They’re not just an unelected minority; they’re an unnominated majority.

  4. Martin Mills

    I am not surprised that whites view the article Rev. Darby wrote as racist. There are MANY black people who feel as he does. There is no doubt in our minds that if Barack were a white man and stands for and say the things he does he would win the election by a landslide. White people are willing to sacrifice our economy, our youth, our education, and all that we have gained just because of skin color.
    Nationwide the media is seeing more and more of this racism and even they are now addressing the issue.

  5. David

    Is Darbys’ primary problem with Governor Palins’ credentials that she hasn’t yet completed her first term in that capacity?
    No.
    He may say that’s his problem with her, but surely that can’t be it. If one is intellectually honest, no matter how long she has served as Governor, the accomplishments and skill sets she has manifested in getting there put her lightyears ahead of Obama, Biden…or McCain for that matter. So if Darby claims that his problem with Palin is that she’s a junior governor, he simply isn’t being honest, in my opinion.
    Wonder what could be the REAL problem Darby has with Palin? That she’s white? That Obamas “annointed” run for the Whitehouse has been rightfully and suddenly derailed by the vp candidate on the opposing
    ticket? Wow! Consider that for a minute. Warthens’ concern seems to be that Darbys’ reaction to Obamas’ defeat would be typical of all blacks in this country: Embitterment and rage at being “cheated” by white people again. When they were SO close!
    Embitterment and rage in spite of the glaring fact that Obama is spectacularly unqualified… less so than the vp candidate on the opposing ticket.
    How are we supposed to reason with people who think like this? Why bother to try? Seems to me we’re going to have to do what’s right and deal with whatever consequences may come.
    David

  6. joe

    This is sad but I have thought of this for more than a year. It would be bad if Obama won but maybe worse if he lost. One thing Mr. Darby forgot is Obama is running to be POTUS and Palin for VPOTUS. There is a huge difference in what a rational person would except in qualifications. That Palin is as qualified as Obama shows his weakness. Maybe none of this is important to Mr. Darby given the percentage of blacks supporting Obama. Should whites not show the same level of support for Obama, it is somehow now racist.
    And if Mr. Darby would put away the lens of how he views this, had Obama not been black he would not have carried the southern states. The vote would have been split between Clinton and probably Edwards with Clinton winning.
    It might come as a huge surprise to the democrats and blacks in this nation but a lot of people don’t support socialism and tring to achieve it through class warfare and now race baiting is reason enough not support Obama.

  7. david

    I am bitter too.
    The thing that I am bitter about is that in Darbys’ worldview, Obama supporters are given immediate credit for wanting to do the right thing, while white McCain supporters are under suspicion as racists.
    Could it be that people who support McCain-Palin are doing so because they believe it’s the right thing to do for this country?
    Dave

  8. Michael Rodgers

    “The guest column was the kind of thing that alienates white conservatives, driving the wedge of race deeper into the nation’s heart.”
    It alienates white conservatives. It makes white conservatives feel alienated. They’re white and they’re conservative and they’re feeling alienated by something Rev. Joe Darby wrote.
    Have they ever felt alienated before? Are they sure that they can recognize their feeling as alienation? Is this a feeling that they might want to try to understand? Is this a feeling that, perhaps, just perhaps, other people, you know non-white or non-conservative people, might ever feel from time to time?
    The column drives the wedge of race deeper into the nation’s heart because it makes white conservatives feel alienated. There’s a wedge of race in the nation’s heart. Driving it in deeper is related to the alienation of white conservatives and to the column.
    Our nation’s heart has a wedge of race deep in it. The column has made the wedge go deeper because this type of column makes white conservatives feel alienated. They weren’t feeling so alienated before the column.
    Maybe the wedge deep in the heart of the nation doesn’t affect white conservatives very much. Does it affect anybody? Does it affect, perhaps, just perhaps, some people who are non-white or non-conservative?
    Why is the column the type of thing that alienates white conservatives? What is it about the column that alienates white conservatives? What do the white conservatives do to reacclimate themselves to the nation that they suddenly felt alienated from?
    What are the white conservatives doing to help to remove the wedge of race from the nation’s heart? Did the column actually make the wedge go in deeper or did the column simply remind white conservatives that in fact there is a wedge of race deep in the nation’s heart?
    When the white conservatives react by calling Rev. Darby a racist are they taking steps to remove the wedge that’s deep in the heart of the nation or are they making the wedge go in even deeper still?
    The people with the political power in South Carolina are the white conservatives. What should we do to encourage them to help bridge the cognitive divide in our state? Is there really nothing that they could do? Nothing? Not even something that costs zero dollars and ends a boycott and a ban?
    I suppose we can just blame the whole issue on Rev. Darby and the NAACP. If they would just stop talking, then the problem would be solved. Because when they talk, it’s possible that they might say something that white conservatives will feel alienated by. And we can’t have that!

  9. dave

    Michael, “alienated” is Warthens’ word, and I don’t think he’s right. I don’t think white people are alienated by Darbys’ opinion column, I think Darbys’ opinion crystallizes, emphasizes and hardens the huge disparities between the black and white worldviews in the minds of white people.
    I don’t think white people are in some kind of alienated “snit” as you suggest, I think Darbys’ opinions kind of make whites hopeless about the prospects of ever closing the gap with blacks.
    That’s not alienation, it’s resignation.
    Dave

  10. Ish Beverly

    Brad, how about you and dailysource.com do an in-depth research on Barack Obama. Daily source should have time now that research on Gov. Palin is completed. Start with Obama’s birth certificate. Is it a phoney? Is he a US citizen? Who paid for his education? Did Saudia Arabia? Who else? Where did he get his orientation and idealogy other than The Black Liberation Church, Nation of Islam, Black Panthers and Weather underground? Who helped Obama buy his house? Who financed his polital career? What organizations has he worked for or been a member of? I’m sure there are other areas to be checked but I’m sure you and dailysource.org will fill them in. I’l be waiting.

  11. Michael Rodgers

    Dave,
    Thanks for your reflection and your candor. Do you see that underlying assumption that whites are homogeneous and “us” and blacks are homogeneous and “them”? You get to choose your reaction; you can let Darby’s column harden you (blacks will never join the mainstream) or inspire you (communicating with diversity is a challenge that leads to a better society).
    OK, on to the snit of sarcasm:
    Yeah, when Rev. Darby speaks it’s like, man, doesn’t he already get enough money from me through the welfare system? I mean, I work hard for my money and it’s tough to support my family and his, and he sure isn’t very appreciative.
    Black people should thank white people in addition to God every time they have a meal and every night that they have a bed to sleep in. I mean, it’s a huge burden to have to put up with his attitude, man.
    If he has all this time to write such unappreciative stuff, man, he needs to put more hours into a real job. How much more do I have to give him? When will them blacks ever be satisfied?
    They ask us to take down the flag and we do it. Then we immediately put another one up and it’s all like, they don’t appreciate how we took the one down like they asked. That’s just disrepectful, and I am just not going to deal with them blacks at all anymore. They act like Oliver Twist, “Please, sir, may I have some more?”
    This country was built by white people, or Germans, or Scotch-Irish Englishmen, with money from the Dutch, something like that. It was really hard work making sure that all them runaway, lying, cheating, lazy, uneducated (we can’t let them read!) slaves actually did what they were supposed to do. And I’m sick to death of white people not gettin’ the proper respect.
    If Darby ain’t happy here he can just go back to Africa. If he won’t leave or at least stop writing, well, I guess we’ll all just have to keep suffering with this divide between the white and black worldviews.
    Well, it ain’t much suffering for me unless I have to read that junk Darby’s shoveling. Heck, from now on I’m just gonna watch Fox News and forget about reading anything that might have something from Darby or his ilk.

  12. george32

    obama was born in this country, unlike his opponent who by the way has passed the 50 year mark now on the public payroll. obama won scholarhsips to elite private universities-the best i could do was earn one for usc where finishing 6th from the bottom of my class would have ended that quickly and the scholarship would have been awarded to someone who deserved and appreciated it-mccain was a legacy at annapolis who would have been dismissed from taxpayer u. but for admiral daddy/grandaddy. the money for any house he has ever owned has come from us taxpayers or the beer drinkers of arizona. obama has screwed up by remaining married to his first wife rather than dumping her for a younger beer heiress. if it looks like mccain might lose he can copy bush2 and they can fly in congressional staffers to intimidate the vote counters like they did in dade county. brad, the hatred for bush is no more intense than the hatred of clinton by the republicans in the 90s and is more related to his presidential policies of tanking the economy, ballooning the deficit and leading us into a costly imperial adventure. the money we have burned up in iraq could have been much better spent on americas highway and bridge infrastructure.

  13. Bill Carsons

    Ish Beverly.
    Who is considered a brother amongst the Royal Saud Bin Laden family. (Yes, that Bin Laden).
    George H.W. Bush.
    With pappy Bush being considered a brother to the family, you’d think he might have known if Osama was angry over something or up to no good.
    Final point. There is a HUGE difference between Obama & Palin.
    Obama earned his place, Palin did not.
    Obama has run a campaign (that anyone of us could do as this is America) for over two years (longer than Palin was in office) and taken on every name in the Democratic Party and beat them all. He took on the almight Clintons and smoked them. He has earned his place on the ticket wheter you agree with his policies or not.
    Palin was picked. She never ran a national campaign. She did not endure over 20 televised debates. She has not contributed anything to the McCain campaign prior to September other than lipstick (all apologies to swine everywhere).
    Obama has earned the right to be where he is. Palin was picked and placed on third base, but she thinks she hit a tripple.
    Big difference.

  14. Lee Muller

    Obama has the same platform as Dennis Kucinich, the white loser of all his party’s primaries.
    Obama’s win of the nomination, and votes in primaries which were 90% white, proves that Americans are not racist.
    White Democrat candidates have run for President on the same platform as Obama, and been soundly defeated, because Americans rejected their socialism – Alf Landon, Gus Hall, Lyndon LaRouche, Dennis Kucinich.
    If Obama loses, America’s slide into socialist oblivion is postponed a few more years.

  15. George

    “Obama’s win of the nomination, and votes in primaries which were 90% white, proves that Americans are not racist.”
    Lea Muller is a typical American. When it comes to whites being racist becuase 90% of Obama voters were white, American cannot be racist, forget the fact that this accounted for 30-40% of all whites. These are whites in states such as Iowa, Vermont, NH, Maine, WA among others, who are not racist at all. The real racist whites are in pockets such as the Deep South: you can take the southern whites out of racism by settling them elsewhere but cannot take the racistm out of the southern whites. Similarly deep pockets of racism exist in the Colorado sixth district, in other Rocky Mountain States and yes pockets of PA, OH and Michigan…whites who will never vote for any minority, let alone a black man. So all whites are not the same. Lea generalizes the same way as Rev. Darby. Typical American.

  16. haskell

    There is a serious misunderstanding about what racist means. To me, it is simply giving preference to someone (or penalizing someone) based on their racial background. Simply apply the Black/White test. If there is a statement about blacks, substitute white, or, vice versa, if there is a statment about whites, substitute black. Then try real hard not to be prejudiced. Hmmmm …. I think you fail the test.

  17. joe

    George32
    Part of the problem seems to be either communications or a lack of knowledge.
    You make a statement of tanking the economy. That is factually wrong. It shows either you do not understand economics or that you do not really care about the truth. Based on the other rants in your comment, I would say the truth matters little to you. Given this attitude it is all but impossible to have any meaningful or productive communication with you and those who prescribe to your attitude. This is beyond sad, it is illusionary. It is also very dangerous. It is just as dangerous for you as it is for me because you want to put everything into terms of race. This is a loser for both of us.
    Race is the only issue in the US where silence is considered to be progress. It has become the more things you find to be outraged by the people who you want to engage turn you off.

  18. Bill C.

    I’m worried about what will happen if Obama does win.
    I’m also worried about what will happen if Obama doesn’t win.

  19. Bill

    The amount of email I have received on this issue is stunning. White folks are scared to death this election will be a disaster for all of “WHITEDOM.” I’ve gotten serious and urgent messages to help keep this from happening. It’s all pure ignorance, bordering on a total lack of understanding about the world around us.
    To put it into terms most of them can understand. The US is in the biggest football game since the cold war ended. Right now, our team is getting its butt kicked all over the field. Players are being taken off on stretchers.
    We have great players sitting on the bench, trying to get into the game. Yet, we are afraid to use them. We’d rather lose the game and our country rather than use all of our players (sounds like McCain’s lose the war speech?).
    America’s coach says, heck no!
    “Black Players,” “Grab a Helmet and get in there, and make something positive happen.” We’re not going to sit here and lose any game in order to prove a point.
    I’m hoping Obama is the Tiger Woods of politics! God knows we need some help!

  20. joe

    Bill
    That is an interesting point of view. Just what are these great black players going to do? How many are you going to put in? The new NFL?

  21. Ish Beverly

    The part of the US Government that protects my civil rights should go throughout the country and survey all the potential voters.T hose who plan to vote for the Democrat ticket should be given a sanity test. Those who fail (found insane) will be offered counseling. Those who pass (found sane) will be indicted for treason. That Democrat ticket is just not right for America.

  22. slugger

    We go on and on about the blacks being racist and then we go on and on about the white being racist.
    I think that we are missing the point. This is supposed to be about electing a President of the United States of America. A man/woman that will represent all the people of the nation regardless of color.
    We have a candidate running for President that is somewhat of a conservative and somewhat a democrat depending on issues. That is what we should be electing. A person that can evaluate issues that are brought up by both party’s and decide after careful examination all facets of the issue whether he/she thinks that passing that bill will be best for all the people of the US. That candidate would be McCain.
    We have a Democrat running for President of the United States that just happens to be running on the Democratic ticket but is basically and has been, most of his life, a Marxist. He has told the people that he has a plan to make all the people financially equal. All the blacks already have equal rights under constitution so he does not have to give that to them. He will give everyone insurance. This candidate is named Obama.
    The issue will be settled by what you think is best for the country no matter what your color or religion. If you vote for the issue of race alone, you are dooming your children’s future.

  23. bud

    Slugger, no one is calling John McCain a Nazi, fascist, monarchist or any such smear as that so why do you insist on calling Barack Obama a Marxist? That’s both crude and completely inaccurate and it makes you look like a very small, ignorant nothing of a human being. Is that what’s become of the Republican party? Apparently there’s more than one smear monger out there falsely berating Obama. As I’ve said often, that’s about all the GOP has. They have become the party of economic collapse so they may as well call people names.

  24. Brad Warthen

    I usually don’t argue with Lee, but I can’t let the Dennis Kucinich thing pass.
    If Obama had the same positions as Dennis the Menace, then I would be applauding loudly for his health care platform. But I’m not, because neither he nor McCain nor Hillary Clinton could bring themselves to say “single-payer.”
    Dennis could. Let’s at least give him that, even if I didn’t agree with him on anything else…

  25. joe

    Brad,
    It is sad you are for socialized medical care. Where ever it has been tried it has failed. Probably the best system is the one the Dutch have but you are talking about less people than are in SC.
    As to the charges and counter charges that have been on going. Here are some quick facts. 2000 Gore 42% white vote. 2004 Kerry 41% white vote. 2008 Obama 38% of white vote.
    The drop off in 2008 can be contributed to more than just race, however race is simple and fits where M$M is now taking the discussion.
    One thing these percentages show is losing the majority of white votes by the democrats is nothing new. Secondly if one were to compare the voting pattern of blacks they would find blacks are in the tank for the democrats. In fact, one could almost say blacks are more narrow minded than whites when it comes to voting.

  26. slugger

    ‘When you get off the bus/ride to take the blacks to the polls they have a copy of the printed ballot that was in the newspaper. They know how to follow the printed ballot instucting them how to vote.
    I feel so sorry that we have this kind of thing going on in our society. There should be a test that everyone needs to pass in order to prove that voter has the knowledge to vote without being influened by an outside party.
    Time will take care of this situation or there will not be a democracy. We will be ruled by the uneducated that only vote to get rid of the candidate that does not bow down to the wishes of the needy. Harsh words. True words. This is not about race this is about fact.
    We will either join the human race or be consumed by the ones that would destory our country.

  27. Mike Cakora

    I’ve been cogitating a longer piece for my blog, but it’s a busy time of year workwise, so this will have to suffice. Having been called a white supremacist, racist, diehard republican, and skinhead of late (oops — the last was my own doings), and having criticized Joe Darby on The State’s op-ed page in the past, I’m ready to get whacked again.
    I learned at a young age that blood-group associations are stupid and counterproductive in a society that treasures individual achievement or in a church where salvation depends on what a person does and what’s in his heart, not who his relatives are or what his ethnic composition may be. Nonetheless, in my hometown the Irish, Bohunks, Polaks, Italians, blacks, and a host of others used their tribes in the political, and to a lesser extent economic, realm to try to benefit their members or hold back the other tribes. The really smart folks left the groups behind, succeeded on their own as individuals, and joined or built communities where folks valued hard work, self-reliance, voluntary association, and shared values.
    While I don’t know what’s in Joe Darby’s heart, I can take him at his word and imagine the situation he’s in. He’s a pastor and politically involved guy who sees diseases of all sorts among his folks: higher than average incidence of HIV/AIDs, lower standard of living, higher school dropout rate, higher illegitimacy rate, shorter life expectancy, etc. Physical / economic aspects aside, he can minister to their spiritual needs only so far because he can’t bring hope. He himself may border on hopelessness given the magnitude of misery among his flock. He needs help, lots of it.
    I can’t help him, nor can most of the readers of Brad’s blog: tribes don’t let outsiders in, especially when they believe they are under attack. Many don’t see a middle-aged paunchy bald guy who’s generous with his time and likes working with others, they see a white guy out to oppress them. I can’t help because those folks don’t want my help, not because of who I am, but because of what I represent to them. I can’t change their hearts and minds. There’s noting I can do about irrational beliefs.
    Sure, on the public policy side we can make sure that public infrastructure is sound, the public schools are equitably funded at the state level, and the like. I can also argue politics publicly for measures I believe will benefit individuals at the lower end of the income scale: expanded technical training, vouchers, etc. But I can’t and won’t argue for special treatment for any tribe since that defeats the whole notion behind the founding of this nation. And if we allow exceptions for one tribe, that simply reinforces tribal divisions, and all the tribes want the same or more. Look what happened with casinos! (About the only exception I can think of would be for medical research on genetic diseases that affect ethnic groups.)
    Lots of folks turned to Obama as a symbol of hope and change even though there’s little evidence of such in his background. I assume that Rev Darby:

    – hopes that the election of Kenyan-American Obama will instill in the suffering folks in his community the spirit needed for them to begin helping themselves.
    – fears that Obama’s defeat will drive his community into deeper despair.

    Should McCain prevail, I know that many on the far-left will be quite distraught, especially those who already think that Obama has gone from anti-war to moderate on defense. Of course a lot of blacks will be upset. Even though I think blood-group identification is foolish, I can see where folks would be happy to see someone who looks like them in the highest office in the land.
    But would an Obama victory actually cause any change in Darby’s community? Would kids who show an eagerness for learning not be told to stop acting white? Would HIV/ADIS infections and the rate of illegitimate births decline? Would the crime rate in Section 8 apartment complexes decline? I’ve wracked what’s left of my brain and can’t come up with much.
    An that’s why I’m afraid Joe Darby will continue to despair.

  28. Mike Cakora

    I’ve added an op-ed that appeared in The State on December 4, 2000 to my blog. I used a Joe Darby column as a foil in writing “GOP Suffers from Lack of Communication Skills.” At the time I saw some evidence that more blacks would be voting for GOP candidates. Guess I was drinkin’…

  29. Lee Muller

    Obama proposes doubling the taxes on stock profits and on 401-k plans. How is that going to help the stock market recover?
    Obama’s platform does come from Karl Marx.
    It is right to remind people that it represents nothing new, just the failed brutality of the 1930s.

  30. Lee Muller

    “Single payer” is a bogus term for those who can’t bring themselves to say, “SOCIALIZED MEDICINE”.

  31. James

    All this stuff just feeds the lie of Race. There are no different races. That is a contrived label for the purpose of dividing and controling the populace, part of the Socialist Manifesto that is at full rage right now. There is only one race! The Human Race. It is a scientific fact! When Americans figure out how much we are lied to and controled the proverbial Sh** will hit the fan.

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