March 17, 2008
White Men Emerge As Dems' Key Swing Vote
Washington Post: Questions Remain Over Obama's Ability To Appeal To Critical Demographic
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White men have emerged as perhaps the single critical swing constituency in the race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. (AP)
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In the fierce campaign between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, a battle dominated by questions of race and gender, white men have emerged as perhaps the single critical swing constituency.
The competition for the support of white men, particularly those defined as working class, will shape the showdown between Clinton and Obama in Pennsylvania's Democratic presidential primary on April 22. Obama (Ill.) won majorities among those voters in what appeared to be breakthrough victories in Wisconsin and Virginia last month. But he badly lost working-class white men to Clinton (N.Y.) in Ohio and Texas two weeks ago, keeping the outcome of the Democratic race in doubt indefinitely.
The results in Ohio in particular raised questions about whether Obama can attract support from this crucial demographic. They also brought to the forefront the question of whether racial prejudice would be a barrier to his candidacy in some of the major industrial battlegrounds in the general election if he becomes the Democratic nominee.
An examination of exit polls in Wisconsin and Ohio, states with striking similarities, shows that many more working-class white men in Ohio said race was a factor in their vote on March 4 than was the case in Wisconsin. The analysis makes clear that race was not the deciding factor in the Ohio primary but did contribute to Clinton's margin of victory.
In the past week, racial issues have dominated the campaign dialogue. Former Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro was forced to quit the Clinton campaign after her comments about Obama and race brought sharp criticism from the senator and his allies.
On Friday, Obama had to distance himself from his spiritual mentor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., former pastor of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, over statements widely viewed as being anti-American. Obama has been a member of the church for two decades.
Obama's advisers have sought to play down the idea that racial prejudice was a major factor in Clinton's victory in Ohio. They suggest that Obama's poor performance among working-class white men reflects broader generational divisions that have marked the Democratic race.
David Axelrod, senior adviser to Obama, said he is uncertain how concerned the campaign should be about the influence of race on working-class white voters. "It bears some closer examination," he said. "I think for older voters, it's more of a leap than for younger voters. But I don't think it's an insuperable barrier."
Obama has sought to transcend race in his campaign, and found considerable success in that pursuit in many states. Racial divisions have shown up in Southern states, as they did last Tuesday in Mississippi and earlier in Alabama. In both primaries, Obama overwhelmingly carried the black vote and Clinton overwhelmingly carried the white vote. But in smaller states outside the South -- such as Iowa, Kansas and Utah -- where there are far fewer minorities, Obama has done extremely well with white voters.
One view in Obama's campaign is that his poor showing in Ohio primarily reflected that the state has a high number of older voters. An analysis of exit polls in the two states undercuts that assertion. There were roughly similar percentages of white working-class men over 45 and under 45 in both states. It is accurate that Obama did far better with younger men in both states, but he won younger and older white men in Wisconsin but lost both groups in Ohio.
One difference between the two states is the influence of race on voting patterns. Among white men in Wisconsin, 11 percent said race was an important factor in their vote. In Ohio, 27 percent of white men said race was an important factor. That is not enough to explain the entire difference in the voting patterns of white men in the two states, but more than enough to explain at least part of Obama's problem.
Andrew L. Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, which has endorsed Obama, said that in industrialized states that have experienced economic dislocation and job losses, the competition for jobs heightens racial tensions. "I think race is a factor in the sense that these are states that have had a decreasing number of jobs because of deindustrialization," he said.
Securing the votes of white men has become a critical factor in the Democratic race. Throughout the primary season, Clinton has dominated the votes of white women, but she and Obama have battled for support from white men.
In 27 states where exit polls were conducted, starting with Iowa on Jan. 3 and ending with Mississippi last week, Clinton won the white male vote 11 times and Obama 10 times. In five states, they basically split the votes of white men. Former senator John Edwards (N.C.) carried white men in South Carolina.
Obama has generally won decisively among white men with college degrees; Clinton has consistently done far better with those who did not graduate from college. Obama broke that pattern in mid-February in Virginia and Wisconsin. He barely lost among white men without college degrees in Virginia and won them in Wisconsin by 60 percent to 38 percent.
By Dan Balz
© 2008 The Washington Post Company
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See all 78 CommentsOf course they would. I''m sure David Koresh''s congregation would have defended him. I''m sure Jim Jones'' congregation would have defended him.
They are in the belly of the beast and can''t see that they ae being deceived.
If this is the kind of c r a p black''s preach, it''s no wonder there is so much racial strife in this country.
No one looks to Crooked copeland or Fat Hagee the same way, and they saew hate and violence all the time,
I also noticed some comments on Wright non-Christian behavior. Again, this is not what these sermons are about. I watched Pat Robertson last year say that the US should assassinate a foreign leader and then was praying with our president within a month of that.
Certainly, Wrights comments were out of line but why does that transfer to Obama? We all know that someone in our family or even someone we respect who says idiotic things %u2013 it doesn%u2019t mean that we can no longer have contact with them.
Let%u2019s take a minute to remember that Barack went from Harvard Law to the south side of Chicago to work as a community organizer. You also have to remember that large churches like this have several pastors %u2013 not just one. And the church is bigger then Wright, who is now retired or more likely asked to retire for his nutty behavior and rants.
from Obama%u2019s book Audacity of Hope
"I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother%u2019s race."
Dreams from My Father
He cannot distance himself from his own words.
It''s about the fact that Obama (who is running for president of our country) has chosen to associate himself with an organazation that simply sounds like it sometimes "hates america". He has constantly talked about judgement...where is HIS judgement on this issue. Remember, we really dont know much about him, other than what he tells us. His belonging to this organization gives us insight into his thinking.
Why attend the church if you don''t feel influenced there? Last time I checked, Mccain IS NOT a member of Hagee''s church.
Which brings me to another point. HAD Mccain belonged to Hagee''s church, you BEST BELIEVE that JAckson and Sharpton would be protesting down there right now and every major news media would be calling on him to LEAVE the church. Bush got blasted for simply SPEAKING at bob jones university.
I belong to a black church and they NEVER spew this kind of rhetoric, which is one reason why I chose it. Should they begin to sound like Obamas church, I would leave.
Lets not forget that this church also praises louis farrakhan. I dont get it! How do you praise the same individual who denies one of the basic tenants of what your church preaches...that salvation is thru Christ?
Think about this: If Bill Clinton was the first Black President, then clearly, Carter(call me Jimmy) was the first WOMAN President.
if you dont get what you want?? if you dont want to work to get what you want?? SCREAM RACISM..
black people remains in the bottom of the economic totem pole..and you guys know why?? because people like obama would argue that its okay to stay where they at..BECAUSE THEY ARE BLACK AND YOU CAN USE THAT WORD ''RACISM'' and watch the LIBERAL MASSES SQUIRM
In a nation that many CLAIM to be founded on such principles, there is a gigantic and growing intolerance of ANY KIND OF SPEECH that does NOT agree with the RULING class beliefs.
DISSENT USED TO BE ADMIRED.
Now it''s become DANGEROUS and likely to get you pilloried by an angry mob of pundits at best and JAILED or KILLED otherwise.
I may not agree with this angry preacher and what he says but I stand by the rights provided by the CONSTITUTION and thus WILL DEFEND HIS RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH.
Painting any LISTENER TO THAT SPEECH whether that person agrees or DISAGREES as a traitor is ALSO DENYING CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS to freedom of belief.
FEAR has been EXPLOITED for FAR TOO LONG in this country.
The result is a group of ELITIST loving, pandering toadys terrorizing the MAJORITY who are simply trying to SURVIVE and instead find their way of life slipping through their fingers into a hades of ECONOMIC, SPIRITUAL and PHYSICAL CONTROL and DEPRESSION.
Bottom line. To defend Rev. Wright''s words is hating !
Rev. Wright is a con artist that uses racism to con people ! He preys on black people. They are his victims !
By supporting him Obama helped con and hurt black people !
Why should we now believe he now wants to help black people after spending so many years helping Rev. Wright hurt them ?
By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON
Published: December 15, 2007
The INCREASE in incomes of the top 1 percent of Americans from 2003 to 2005 exceeded the TOTAL income of the poorest 20 percent of Americans, data in a new report by the Congressional Budget Office shows.
The poorest fifth of households had total income of $383.4 billion in 2005, while just the increase in income for the top 1 percent came to $524.8 billion, a figure 37 percent higher.
The total income of the top 1.1 million households was $1.8 trillion, or 18.1 percent of the total income of all Americans, up from 14.3 percent of all income in 2003. The total 2005 income of the three million individual Americans at the TOP was roughly EQUAL to that of the BOTTOM 166 million Americans, analysis of the report showed.
Earlier reports, based on tax returns, showed that in 2005 the top 10 percent, top 1 percent and fractions of the top 1 percent enjoyed their greatest share of income since 1928 and 1929.
I''ve seen his type too many times to count. They''re whole status as preacher is based on attitude and a loud voice. Their words are nonsense and do not come from the Word of Truth; the Bible. They play on the emotions of those looking for hope, they play on their fears.
It is totally pathetic one can take a message so pure and great and turn it into racism and hate-mongering as is demonstrated in Wright''s videos.
When THAT DOESN''T work you ATTACK EVERYBODY AROUND your opponent and paint the opponent with ANY possible SMEAR you can find on your opponent''s friends family workers etc..
WHEN THAT DOESN''T WORK RIG THE ELECTION with DIRTY ELECTION PROCEDURES.
Sound familiar?
And they wonder WHY America has lost it''s RESPECT in the world...
Here''s a NOVEL IDEA!!!
LOOK AT REAL ISSUES!!!
But then again the ECONOMY CRASHING DOESN''T MATTER!
NEARING the 4,000 DEAD SOLDIERS -OUR fathers, sons, daughters and even Mothers serving DON''T matter!
INFRASTRUCTURE FAILURE all over this country DOESN''T matter!!
THE CRISIS OF CORRUPTION in our TOP POLITICAL LEADERS DOESN''T MATTER!!!
THE LOSS of EVERY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT we have DOESN''T MATTER!!!
We''re now down to MUDSLINGING, NAME-CALLING and "PLAYGROUND POLITICS" compliments of our INFANTILE MEDIA and their PANDERING TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER OWNERS.
I''m not saying what the pastor did was purposeful propaganda, but when I read abt passion that ''overflows'' in ''incendiary comments'' characterized as ''sound bites'', I think ''threads''. Cause-orientation is the color of the thread.
What is ''black liberation theology'' if the cause isn''t focused on the history of blacks as slaves & finding continued victimization all around. What does ''being black'' mean beyond skin color if it isn''t a reference to a shared & nurtured perspective. Most of my black friends have seen that what they had cherished as ''being black'' was actually a cherishing of tradition-enhanced victimization & the desire to remain set apart from the historic victimizers. Once realized, they were able to really enjoy ''being black'' & African without the baggage.
I understand something of how cultures arise & don''t begrudge a class of victims their desire to be recognized as a people set apart from the victimizers. But I think the impetus for the desire has become self-sustaining.
Without knowing the substance of the sermons, we can''t judge the other, perhaps overwhelming, good the pastor may have achieved in the arena of social causes. How much better w/o the thread.
look stop it, there is no reason to teach Hate of Power and country wrapped in the lies of this kind from the religon, hate kills it creates fear and young minds are warped by it, and provided with a why try hopelessness why try they will infect us with Aids anyway, victimization or, why not strike them before the kill us%u2026.its bad its terrorism at its base and its core intent. Ask yourself do you want your children sitting next to a child that%u2019s been thought that your race invented Aids to kill blacks, that they are members of the KKK of A, that they are rich and keep you from having things, that they go to school and get great jobs while you wallow in poverty they crafted for you it%u2019s the same rhetoric fear hate victimization hopelessness preached in Palestine. I do not.
The problem is, he has created more resentment and greater intolerance in the hearts and minds of his congregation, with his over-the-line rhetoric/sermons.
I suspect that if you check his personal fortune/wealth you will find that he has benefited tremendously over the years. That is exactly the same thing EVERY preacher/leader of huge churches have done since the invention of religion.
The actual standards of living for the majority of their parishioners NEVER increase proportionately.
The same can usually be said about most %u201Cgifted%u201D speakers whether they are spiritual leaders or politicians.
It will be interesting to see/hear how Obama tries to spin his way out of this in his up-coming speech. Once you have bitten your tongue, it is difficult to speak clearly for a while.
Of course some folks, apparently, must bite their tongues on regular basis.
I%u2019ve been known to do that myself from time to time.
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Posted by rafterman1 at 11:17 AM
Actually, that is basically what he has said in response. No one is getting it. This is a race of great historical possibilities. The mud is being slung from within his own Party because both he and the "other" candidate have something so valuable to contribute simply because it''s something that has never been an attribute of any of our past Presidents...race and gender difference. Now, if we look at this realistically, we would step over those two particular issues and just see which Democratic leader best posesses the ability to take on this nomination. As it stands, we have gotten lost in the smaller picture, as usual. America, the great.
Posted by homespunlady at 10:48 AM : Mar 18, 2008
I think this is very unfortunate and a very large percentage of Americans don''t know this ...... I remember listening to some of Haggards ministries and always believed him to be very sincere until the truth came out - now imagine all the other millions that he sheparded and you don''t see anyone condemn his congregation, so why are Repugs jumping on this issue - Pat has his Gay problem - Hagee has a lot more problems - then there''s all those protect-Isreal evangelicals ...... what really bothers me is how it seems that the Repug congressman is going after the perceived Liberal pastors with really large audiences - while leaving aside those that are clearly more successful and very proudly Repug - no one seems to talk about that though. Cheers!
Jesus said "FEED MY SHEEP"
and then He said it again "FEED MY SHEEP"
Rock concerts and popcorn sermons is not FEEDING MY SHEEP - in order to FEED MY SHEEP a Pastor would have to actually study... Instead all we get is a "burping"
Your failing us - IT DOESN''T MATTER WHO IS IN THE WHITEHOUSE - the BIBLE TEACHES, SO GOES THE BELIEVER, SO GOES THE NATION... Tell ya where America is?
"STUDY TO SHOW YOURSELVES UPPROVED UNTO GOD" ... any Questions?
enjoy your eh-hem ''retirement'' -- funny i don''t remembering the men of scripture -- ''retiring'' from God''s work.... well done!!!!
As such, Rev. Wright''s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems -- two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.
I think most of his critics have not had the good fortune of listening, reading, watching or understanding his ideologies. Obama is a freaking Genius and a chance we dare not pass up, especially with the myriad of problems facing this country and escalating this election year - How can Bear Stevens fall ? why is OBL still alive ?
This is a man of GOD...?
By whose standards?
What Bible does he learn/teach from?
Not the one I read...the King James version.
What''s wrong with uniting America as one strong unit?
Rafterman, you act as if democrats aren''t guilty of the same things... Astounding.
Democrats
Extreme Socialism/anti american
War as a tool for foreign policy( this is true of every president.. Think about it for a minute)
You are either for us or against us" mentality
Hatred of the press
Spying on its own citizens(clinton and gore did it. research it. its there)
Use of torture and ''illegal'' prisons are parts of every war we have fought.
Hatred of minorities? Ridiculous to blanket statement on this. Your assertion is inflammatory AT BEST! And certainly lacking any logical foundation.
Hatred of welfare? NO not all welfare. Republicans just believe that welfare is a TEMPORARY aid to help you get OFF of Welfare. Seems like the logical position to me.
Demonizing ***. How about don''t ask don''t tell. That doesn''t sound like a ringing endorsement of the gay lifestyle.
Calling people traitors for disagreeing w/ the government.. How about Dems calling anyone that agrees with the gov''t a Nazi? 6 on 1 hand, half a dozen on the other.
Buzzwords use? How about ''change'' ''neocon'' heck I could list 100 of them if i had to..
Persecution complex. Sorta like Bill and Hilary have?
See the point is here that you are simply making up *** to bash Repubs. You are no better and neither is your socialist, UNAmerican party.
Posted by parrot123 at 12:26 PM
Parrot,
Which of his past accomplishments gives you any indication that he is qualified to handle these problems. Has he ever run a city, county, state or even his own business?? What are his foreign policy creds? Answer.. He has no creds.. And who the heck is Bear Stevens?? Bear Stearns perhaps what you meant? And OBL is alive because Clinton and Bush did not take him out..
I alos don;t get this claim that we just don;t undertand the black experience and the black theology. If a white church or a white person was tlaking about the horrible black people, can we excuse them because that is just part of their "white experience". Hatred is hatred, regardless of the background of the hater.
Yeah, I''ll move on.
Move on past him.
Get therapy dude.
Fair enough. But I think he was calling you a socialist.
I have never seen anything like that in any white church I''ve ever attended. No wonder race relations are still so poor here in the US.
With people like this Rev. Jeremiah Wright around stirring up hate, racism will only flourish.
It reminds me of how they demonized Ward Churchill when he wrote "On the Justice of Roosting Chickens" in 2004. He correctly argued that the WTC was a target because of its role in imperialistic world exploitation. By working for those corporations, their workers also became targets.
First, look at content, was the U.S. involved in unwise wars? True. Is the rest of the world somewhat against us now for some of the things we''ve done internationally? True.
Second, I''ve heard almost every adult I''ve interacted with on a regular basis use a swear word,AND/or directed it at a politician,etc.? C''mon, most of you guys reading this post now have, too! ''Fess up!
Third, The guy is ''venting''! Who HASN''T done that?!
Notice-he''s not calling for an armed take over of govt, or murder of someone, or anything like that!
So, why all the self-righteous indignation?! C''MON!
I don''t defend what he did---at the least, it was extremely tacky/unwise; at the most, it might seriously hurt Obama''s campaign---but, I''m trying to understand it, and put it in its'' proper perspective and not blow it out of proportion! I ask that everyone else TRY to do the same!
By the way, I''M NOT an Obama supporter. I don''t like any of the candidates.
A little over one year ago:
1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high;
2) Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon
3) the unemployment rate was 4.5%.
Since voting in a Democratic Congress in 2006 we''ve
seen:
1) Consumer confidence plummet;
2) the cost of regular gasoline soar to over $3 a
gallon;
3) Unemployment is up to 5% (a 10% increase);
4) American households have seen $2.3 trillion in
equity value evaporate (stock and mutual fund losses);
5) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $1.2
trillion dollars;
6) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure.
America voted for change in 2006, and we got it!
Another point, should we hold bad behavior of campaign workers and surrogates against the candidate they support?! If so, then we have a tremendous problem, folks! Because Obama, Clinton, AND McCain will all be disqualified by that standard!
In the end, we all have to decide for ourselves!
''Failure of the Bush administration to enact proper economic policy:'' your writing, index-form post, will more accurately reflect reality!
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