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I think the statement at the beginning of this article--'Obama, he's not our kind of people'--captures the essence of how many Americans, not only in small towns, view Senator Obama. While it doesn't have the harsh ring of overtly racist language, it does reveal an underlying mistrust and dislike for those who are seen as 'different' in our society. Although in the next few decades the white majority will be outnumbered by minority populations, it is our society's whiteness that still defines what is 'like us' and what isn't. In face to face interations most of the people who were interviewed for this article would not behave in a racist manner, but societal/cultural racism is often more subtle, though equally powerful, when it is clothed in concerns about a candidate not being 'our kind of poeple.' The Republican Party's longstanding and successful campaign strategy of defining opponents as different, out of the mainstream, not patriotic enough, dangerous to American values feeds perfectly on the underlying inability of many Americans to embrace those who don't look like past Presidents or don't look like their neighbor. The Bush/Republican years have been marked by a clear strategy for political victory---attack and divide; the 50% plus one approach. It has been successful and I fear it will succeed again this year.
