Hey- why aren't we talking up an Obama-Edwards ticket?

Who better to send to the hollers of Appalachia--from Western Pennsylvania to Georgia? Who better to represent himself as an acutal AUTHENTIC advocate for the much ballyhooed, so-called hardworking "working class whites"? Certainly more authentic than you know whom!

... how many times the "experts" fell back on "I don't know...I have no idea...it depends on how xyz plays out?"

I'm not saying that white "experts" are inherently unqualified to parse this, or that black "experts" are inherently superior. But I have been stunned by the weakness of the mostly white puditocracy--across all media--every time they try to have this conversation.

These guys, with the notable exception of Wilentz, did much better than most in being humble enough not just keep their analysis very close to the data, but to freely admit the considerable weaknesses of the data gathering process itself, especially on this issue.

As I've said repeatedly on my own blog (TheAmericanRace.typepad.com) the Obama campaign/phenomenon defies precedent and thus defies prediction. This isn't just about electing a president, or policies. This very discussion in Salon shows this is about debating the future of white privilege as we have known it. Specifically, the privilege of the right of majority under all circumstances.

Thought exercises: How come no one agonized when Bill Clinton won the White House without a majority of white voters support, as Al Gore would have won had the Florida votes been counted? And why is the majority of white votes Obama won in states like Iowa, Oregon, Kansas etc. not equal in importance to the white majority he lost in places like Ohio?

What none of these or other pundits can fathom is that Obama is not only spelling out the end of the black monolith. He's also outlining the end of the white monolith--the idea of a unifying, sovereign white majority in all places at all times. Imagine, for a second, that those so called Appalachians are not the same kind of white... not by class but by tribe....as other whites.

Imagine a next American majority...the majority that is likely to elect Obama in November...composed of a number of groups of people who just happen to be Caucasian. Including a whole lot of people we like to racialize (incorrectly) as Latinos.

The fact that he will also be elected with massive support from people who--at least for one or two more cycles, are intentionally black in their vote is an important, parallel but entirely separate issue, worthy of it's own discussion. Let's hope that Salon panel won't be all white...or all black.

Leon Wynter, TheAmericanRace

I've been blogging (sometimes screaming) about the assault Barack Obama is making on the One Drop Rule (just by being himself) almost since he came on the scene.

I generally agree with most of Kamyia's points, though I believe they could be driven much, much deeper. The most important, however, was his admission that there is a difference of CATEGORY, not merely degree, between being mixed with one "black" parent and any other kind of mixture. It recognizes the uncomfortable, politically incorrect truth that--all the yammering about multiculturalism and 'people of color' aside-- race in America is primarily about who is black and who is not.

Or at least it has been. Kamiya is very right; Obama is the thin edge of a wedge that will eventually crack America's true racial nut, forever.

Among recent posts at TheAmericanRace on these points, do check:

http://theamericanrace.typepad.com/tar/2007/11/black-is-not-on.html

http://theamericanrace.typepad.com/tar/2008/06/barry-vs-hillary-a-false-parallel.html

http://theamericanrace.typepad.com/tar/2008/05/let-bloggingheads-agree-its-race-over.html

The point that you don't have to be white to love NPR, Apple and the idea of the Prius (though you drive an Audi), as I do, has been well made in earlier letters. And so has the fact that this is really about class and not race, except for the presumption that non-whites—blacks, really—cannot be authentic members of the 'right white' class. And it also goes without saying that the site's appeal is more to a certain narcissism than a sense of humor.

But I'd like to extend these points. SWPL isn't about white culture; it's about the premium layer of white privilege. Ironically, you don't have to be white to enjoy it, and you don't get it just by being white. There is no white culture. There is only white privilege, which can be entirely earned by willing, qualified and/or lucky whites. It can similarly be fully acquired by elite or aspiring Asians and Latinos, who rarely if ever suffer accusations of inauthenticity for their investment in SWPL.

Now, to go one further, has anyone noticed that this is also about age? Nobody (and I mean NOBODY) listens to NPR or loves Apple more than I do. But I'll be damned if I know what Vice Magazine or the Cobrasnake is. Nor do I care.

Which brings me to my final point. I have lived long enough to see (and do a great deal of writing) on the long denied recognition of the influence of non-whites, especially African Americans, on what is and isn't cool in commercial popular culture. Put simply, as I wrote in "American Skin, Big Business, Pop Culture and the End of White America," white people don't own it anymore.

In sum: SWPL isn't that funny, and rests on multiple overlapping conceits and false premises that are particular to the right whites (and non-whites trying really, really hard to incarnate their preferences). Which raises the zen conundrum: what if you like all the Stuff White People Like, except the site of the same name???