Now we must give Harris his kudos. He has written an interesting piece about the viability of Barack Obama as a black presidential candidate. It is a well written piece except for the last line:
Is America ready for a black president? Yes! Now all we need to do is give them a conservative choice so that we get the right one.
Oh well, no one is perfect. The rest of the post is still worthy of a look-see.
Harris is the best thing WTMJ has going for them. He is right on with this analysis (except the last line). It will be interesting to hear what he has to say when Obama is the nominee.
ReplyDelete"It's rural America where acceptance exists."
ReplyDeleteThat's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Look at the rural towns with recent influxes of immigrants and see what acceptance is like there. Acceptance is easy in homogeneity. When ethnic or racial groups mingle and vie for economic rewards, that's what's most likely to give rise to racism. Pious suburbanites, whose family fled having to live cheek-by-jowl with blacks or Mexicans, have a lot easier time proclaiming their tolerance. The working class whites who stuck around, surely they are racist. But they interact more and deal more with minorities than people like Sykes or McBride who parachute in and then develop whole political programs based on their inner-city tourism. No, this Harris is just as cracked as the rest of them.
It's nice to see a conservative advance a somewhat cogent argument, but Harris was off by a mile for many reasons. Glad you look for the best in everyone capper.
ReplyDeleteEspecially wide of the mark was Harris' assertion that acceptance exists in the rural areas.
Don't know about that. Both my wife and I have grown up in small towns and for people who have no idea of what a black person is, there were for example many acquaintances who said they would vote for Tommy because he kept black people in line.
From the polling data Obama seemed to do better among higher educated, higher income voters -- not found so much in the hinterlands.
What everybody had in common though was they were voting for what they thought would be change.
Let's trash this notion that America is not ready for a black president. Harold Ford almost carried Tennessee if it were not for the charges of corruption that popped up about his family. As it was he lost by one percentage point.
There are people who would never vote for a black candidate, unless it was some sell-out (someone could give me a better choice of words) like Alan Keyes, who they see as a means of shutting up blacks who stand up for themselves.
Those who would not vote for a black person will vote Republican regardless.
Voila
ReplyDeleteIs there any way to post files that may be of interest to visitors to this site or would i have to post them in another venue and link to them here?
As far as Harris' "astute" statement that rural areas would be more likely to support Obama, from today's NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/us/politics/05web-zeleny.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin)
ReplyDelete"...a closer inspection of the results in Iowa’s 99 counties also underscores some of the challenges that lie ahead for Mr. Obama as the presidential campaign continues beyond the early-voting states. A detailed map of the caucus results suggests that Mr. Obama’s argument was not convincing to Democrats in many rural stretches of the state.
In 30 counties — from Adams to Appanooose and Wapello to Worth — Mr. Obama fell short of John Edwards of North Carolina and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. In some precincts, Mr. Obama was separated by only a small share of delegates, yet in several other places he finished well behind his two rivals.
Iowa counties are not, necessarily, akin to a collection of red states and blue states that Mr. Obama so often talks about while he campaigns around the country. But had he not won in Iowa’s largest three counties, in addition to a strong showing along the Mississippi River in the east, the outcome would almost certainly have been different.
Over the last year, Mr. Obama’s reception in rural Iowa counties seemed to steadily improve, judging by listening to more enthusiastic applause from his audiences. At many stops, though, he would face questions from conservative Democrats about gun control and immigration and his answers did not always meet the approval of voters."
Jesse said...
ReplyDeleteVoila
Is there any way to post files that may be of interest to visitors to this site or would i have to post them in another venue and link to them here?
Jesse, are you referring to Voila, or to Whallah? If it is the latter, you can email me at the address to the right side of the site.