Letters to the Editor
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Why Else Are 80-90% of Blacks Voting For Obama?
It's not as if his policies are better for blacks in any way. I think he clearly benefits from his race. For Hillary to win a primary in any state with a sizeable black population, she has to get at least 60% of the white vote. Something which isn't so easy to do. Even in southern states, where some whites do appear to be voting on the basis of race, the nearly unanimous support of blacks ensures that he wins those states.
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lucky to be who we are
Oppression works like this: it pits people against one another and not against their oppressor. Poor white person v. poor black person. Black man v. white woman.
People who seriously envy others for their spot on the victimization list need to have their head examined.
I wish that white feminists could speak out against Ferraro's comments regardless of whether or not they are supporting Clinton or Obama in the primaries. I wish we could see this subject on Broadsheet.
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It's easy being an activist if you have a vested interest
Female feminists don't impress me.
Blacks fighting for equal rights for blacks doesn't impress me.
Blacks civil rights leaders who stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians, that impresses me.
Whites and Jews who marched for black civil rights, men who take a stand for women rights, and feminists who stand for the rights of other minorities.
It's easier to fight for civil rights when its your rights being infringed. Something else to speak out for others.
And people often do. What's really telling is how hard we fight when its perceived that by securing someone elses rights, we feel our own are diminished in the process; and yet we still fight on.
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Overblown
The reaction tp Ferraro's comments were overblown. I am a cable news junkie. Yesterday, while watching the tube, I saw hours of coverage of Ferraro's stupid comments, but not a single mention of the fact that 15 US soldiers died in Iraq earlier this week. PRIORITIES!!!!!
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@ Asher Steinberg
Obama wins in southern states for the same reason Hillary is expected to win PA. DEMOGRAPHICS. Is Hillary "lucky" to be a 60 year old woman? Is that why she is in the position she is in? Black support for Obama against the Clintons was never for sure until AFTER Iowa; when blacks learned that whites would vote for Obama. They aren't voting AGAINST the white woman, they vote for Obama as Catholics voted for Kennedy; as women vote for Hillary. And don't forget, the single largest constituency in the Democratic Party are women. So who is the lucky one?
Most of Obama's white support are the same people who begged Russ Feingold to run; and for the exact same reason. Feingold didn't run, Obama did.
I suppose if Feingold had run, we'd have Geraldine Ferraro telling us he's lucky to be a Jew.
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Salon missed
the opportunity to explore this issue in a reasoned manner. The tin-eared, dilatory and defensive response is indicative of larger insensitivities within your organization. I suggest you listen to your readers. Also, I suggest you hire some people of color. No doubt you have one or so, such as Debra Dickerson. You need more. Hire some writers and editors who are nuanced and smart and have lived long enough to have something to say and the chops to back it up.
They don't have to be seriously senior, but old enough to have at least lived through some of the Affirmnative Action wars, and to have been told they were in an academic institution because of race, as opposed to intellect. You, Alex and Salon, have no idea how deeply this cuts. No idea.
Please refrain from attempts to rationalize your way out of this. That behavior is standard response mode for these sorts of matters.The fact is, we expected more of you, and you disappointed a whole segment of readership.
Accept it, and do better.
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...because he's black
First, I want to say thank you Alex for injecting a little long-awaited balance in the Clinton-Obama coverage.
Many people feel that Obama's race (both as a black man and a biracial man) is an inherent part of his appeal.
What do people think of this quote:
"...if Obama weren't black, he would not be the Democratic front-runner."
Well, that is Gary Kamiya, in Salon, in his article entitled 'It's OK to vote for Obama because he's black'
here is the link: http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2008/02/26/obama/index.html
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Exactly, xufapemu
If Feingold had ran, he wouldn't have a chance. A black, slightly more moderate version of Feingold does. As for Hillary, she is where she is, to some extent, because she's a woman; all the exit polls show she wins women, who turn out at a higher rate than men. Nor would Ferraro disagree; she's said that she was nominated for VP because she was a woman. So basically, both candidates are benefiting from their "first" status (first serious female candidate, first serious black candidate). I don't see what's racist or sexist about that. Obama himself said back in 2005, in the Chicago Tribune:
“Obama acknowledges, with no small irony, that he benefits from his race.
If he were white, he once bluntly noted, he would simply be one of nine freshmen U.S. senators, almost certainly without a multimillion-dollar book deal and a shred of celebrity. Or would he have been elected at all?”
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Have the Clintons no shame?
Honestly, I keep trying to like Hillary and she just keeps ticking me off. She SHOULD come out and say she hopes people vote for her because they think she is the wiser choice, not because she is whiter, but she won't. She will recycle Nixon's southern strategy because she needs all the votes she can get.
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There was no benefit to Obama's race until AFTER he won Iowa.
How many black folks live in Iowa?
If race was such an overwhelming factor, why didn't Jackson and Sharpton fare better?
Blacks were not ready to vote for Obama until after white activists in Iowa supported him.
That's why its a complete falsehood that Obama is in this position because of his race.
He may be winning southern states, but that doesn't answer the questions about western states.
Obama would never had a chance at the nomination if it weren't for we who first laid the groundwork for a Feingold candidacy.
Again, Obama NEVER had the black vote until he had proved that white grassroots activists (former Deaniacs and Feingold supporters) worked their butts off in Iowa.