http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121970808612971117.html?
mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
The Racism Excuse
August 26, 2008; Page A20
Things are supposed to be looking rosy for Democrats this November.
But in case Barack Obama loses the Presidency, an excuse is all ready
to go: America's too racist to elect a black man. Not even, in his
Vice Presidential pick Joe Biden's inimitable description, one
so "articulate and bright and clean."
This narrative has gained traction with the Democratic Presidential
candidate's recent setbacks in the polls. We hear it from the
convention crowd in Denver and liberals in the press. The older,
poorer, white, often Hillary voter who sounds ambivalent about the
Obama coronation is an enticing scapegoat.
"Call me crazy, but isn't it possible, just possible, that Obama's
lead is being inhibited by the fact that he is, you know, black?"
wrote John Heilemann in New York magazine earlier this month. "What
makes Obama's task of scoring white votes at Kerry-Gore levels so
formidable is, to put it bluntly, racial prejudice."
In this week's Newsweek (and on Slate), Jacob Weisberg reasoned that
only some "crazy irrationality over race" could prevent Mr. Obama
from winning the White House. If he does win, America will have
reached post-prejudice Nirvana. "If Obama loses, our children will
grow up thinking of equal opportunity as a myth," Mr. Weisberg
continued. "To the rest of the world, a rejection of the promise he
represents wouldn't just be an odd choice by the United States. It
would be taken for what it would be: sign and symptom of a nation's
historical decline." Wow. Vote for Barack, or America is as
irredeemable as many foreigners believe.
Part and parcel of this argument is that Republicans are bound to
play the race card. The Democratic candidate made this case himself
in late June. "They're going to try to make you afraid," Mr. Obama
told a rally in Florida. "They're going to try to make you afraid of
me. 'He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. And did
I mention he's black?'"
After a second round of this -- recall the Obama line "He doesn't
look like all those other Presidents on the dollar bills" -- the
McCain campaign dared complain that at no time has the GOP candidate
said anything remotely about his opponent's race. Predictably, Mr.
McCain was charged with playing the "race card" himself.
Not so long ago Mr. Obama was the Tiger Woods of American politics.
As Geraldine Ferraro indelicately pointed out this spring, his
African heritage helped him cast his candidacy in a history-changing
light. Now, merely because the McCain campaign has begun to get its
act together and raise issues like taxes and foreign policy, Mr.
Obama is suddenly the victim of rampant Jim Crow sentiment?
The bitter glee that some Democrats find in their imagined racist
America is a strange turn for Denver. Thursday's nomination of the
first African-American candidate by any major party will in fact make
history. Mr. Obama defeated the party favorite, Hillary Clinton, with
a broad appeal that largely steered away from race. His success says
something good about Democrats and the country.
There are Americans who judge politicians by their race, or gender,
or religion; Mr. Obama will certainly carry the black vote in
November because he is black and because he is a Democrat. But we
reckon that a scant number of voters are motivated by racism, and
that number's growing smaller by the day. Virginia elected a black
Governor two decades ago, and Illinois has had two black Senators.
America has had two black Secretaries of State, and major
corporations are run by black CEOs. No other Western democracy has
done as well at opening up political, business and other arenas to
minorities.
Mr. Obama's descent from his Icarusian heights earlier this spring
reflects a shift in this race that has nothing to do with race. A
skin-deep Obamamania had energized the country. Now that's giving way
to serious consideration of credentials and policy substance. After
all, voters are choosing the world's most powerful man. Mr. McCain
has been drawing contrasts with his younger rival to close the gap in
the polls. We'll see if the trend continues.
As a matter of sober fact, many Americans look at the junior Senator
from Illinois and worry, as his Democratic Vice Presidential
candidate pointed out last year, that he isn't "ready" for the job.
Does this mean that anyone who agrees with Joe Biden's previous
assessment is a racist? Do Democrats really think so little of their
fellow Americans?
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