Letters to the Editor
MaddieP
Published Letters: 706 Editor's Choice: 9
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koijn1
[Read the article: Dems prepare for West Virginia results]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You may be right that groups in America may not be "ready" for a black president.
But that's no reason not to run the race. Lots of folks were "uncomfortable" with blacks sitting anywhere but in the back of the bus. Or drinking from the same water fountain or attending the same schools. Or living next door to them.
See as a nation, we have moments where we evolve.
I think you are witnessing one of those moments in time.
I'm an "intellectual" black woman. But I am very familiar with the contingent of folks who are not comfortable. Most are not raging racists but rather have not had much exposure. My own college roommate freshman year was white and had never seen a real black person in her life (18 years) before me.
Who knows if the country is ready? We'll find out won't we? But its no reason to shrink.
We are facing the challenge of joining a world community. In many parts of the world, many people are brown and black. In Europe, they've matured enough to get over the skin color thing. Here in the US we are still making an issue of it. How will be we able to function in the world if we cannot grow past this idiocy?
So I commend you for recognizing your feelings and its OK to feel unsure about whether the country is ready for it. But challenge yourself. And those around you.
And if Obama loses this race, maybe its because he's black. Maybe not. But we'll all know a whole lot more about where we are as a country and as individuals.
Cheer up: While there are many people who 'aren't comfortable" there are many more from whom its foreign to judge based on skin color. Our Youth population, by an large has benefited from exposure to various groups, even in small towns. Many older people and former hippies (baby boomers) have been waiting for this moment since the 70's. Many people who USED to ahve racist attitude have since been exposed to other groups at work and in schools and in church - things are as segregated as they were 50 years ago - and they too have evolved in their thinking. So while there may be a contingent of people who are not "comfortable" - don't worry, their numbers are shrinking. We are a nation on the cusp of joining the rest of the 'civilized' world in our thinking about this and many other things.
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West Virginia is ONE state
[Read the article: Dems prepare for West Virginia results]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It carries FIVE electorals in the fall.
I think we need not panic over any loss here. Its true that Obama will need to reach out to white working class folks, but West Virginia is NOT the state to do it in.
Concentrate time, money, organization and surrogates in states like PA or OH or MI - one of them will be just fine in the general. Concentrate on normally red states where the demographic is favorable like CO, OR, LA even GA and FL. Any of these would be fine. Combine with typical democratic strongholds and VOILA! A democratic president.
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The reality is...
[Read the article: Networks call West Virginia for Clinton]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]that no candidate in the general will be able to win every state. So you pick and choose your battles and gauge your chances.
His loss in WV was expected but I can understand the questions Clinton's campaign will raise as arguments for super delegates. The key question fro Obama is whether he can attract democrats in states with similar demographics when there is only ONE democrat on the ballot.
I believe we can.
The question for Clinton is whether we could reply on the larger turnout of new AA and youth voters if the sense the process was 'an inside job'.
I hope so.
The task then for Obama will be to choose the states where we want to concentrate his time, money and surrogates in order to compete against McCain. I'd choose PA or OH or FL. LA, VA, CO, OR will all be in play this time out thanks to his voter registration efforts and the generally long primary season.
It hard to know what will offset what. There are swing voters (like me) in every state that dems are attracting. How will Dems fare with them against McCain? We don't know. So many unknowable variables. Will the sorry state of the economy and real issues trump fears, discomfort, racism or sexism? We just don't know - we have NOTHING to go by. these are variables we cannot predict. The only way to see is to run and wait for the outcome, frankly.