LONG BEACH— In 1968 a statement was made. At the Miss America Pageant 400 members of the New York Radical Women staged an event which folk-lore has it, included bra-burning. The end to oppression of women was at hand. And the symbols of oppression were discarded.
Throughout the election Democrats played the race card. On November 4th, 2008 Senator Obama burned it. And with it, Americans as a whole have been liberated.
Racism was bound to come up. Barack Obama represented the first minority to have a legit shot at the presidency. There was no harm in discussing it. But what was harmful was to assume he could only lose because of racism.
The assumptions began right around the same time John McCain picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate. When Mrs. Palin made her speech, the polls swung in favor of John McCain. For the first time in the election race, Barack Obama was not in the lead. CNN ran a blog on the matter after about a week of John McCain holding the lead. Instead of acknowledging the excitement Mrs. Palin brought to the election, the assumption was, racism was to blame for the swing in polls.
However, when anyone would seriously look into the racism issue it was found to be a farce. A red herring. Other factors were at play. And eventually Wall Street collapsed and the polls swung back in favor of Barack Obama. The liberal left was satisfied, having weathered a storm of their own making.
Barack rode this new wave of economic collapse right into the White House. And with it, he burned the last remaining race card.
Racism will still be an issue in society. But it will be near impossible for any future analyst to refer to a “Bradley Effect” as a legitimate excuse for an election loss. Americans no longer need to be viewed by outsiders as overtly racist. So far the United States of America is the only “white” country to have a black leader. Europe has yet to elect such a man, or woman, to office.
TennesseePaul
Stephen VanNuys
Brooklyn Daniel
The Freedom Thinker
It’s a good thing Obama wants to expand unemployment benefits, because Al Sharpton is now unemployed…
Perhaps the greatest statement about race is as you articulated that President elect Obama is the first Black voted by a predominantly white population. This is not likely to happen any time soon anywhere else in the world. As for the Bradley effect, I heard it being disputed with the Reverse Bradley effect prior to election day. This states that many traditionally Republican voters might vote for Obama, yet be reluctant to admit they did so. I wish his presidency meant that race can’t be a factor in this great nation, but no reputable researcher or scientist would say one of anything is enough to make a conclusive statement.
Yes, it’s nice to see that race is no longer a major concern in our society. Their will always be bigots and idiots. But it’s nice to know that at least the majority of the voting population in this country aren’t bigots and that in this country as an african-arab-american you have a greater likelihood of being treated fairly then you do of being treated unfairly due to your race.
[...] racism in American Elections. The future of America was saved and the “Bradley Effect” was burried. Unfortunately so was everything our forefathers had fought for these past 70 years as communist [...]