Racism?
Ponder the following:
What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?
What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?
What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?
What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?
What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?
What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain killers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?
What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)
What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?
What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?
What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?
What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?
What if the Obamas had adopted a white child? You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.
Educational Background:
Barack Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude
Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)
vs.
John McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899
Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism
Education isn't everything, but this is about the two highest offices in the land as well as our standing in the entire world. You make the call.
What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?
What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?
What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?
What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?
What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?
What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain killers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?
What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)
What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?
What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?
What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?
What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?
What if the Obamas had adopted a white child? You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.
Educational Background:
Barack Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude
Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)
vs.
John McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899
Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism
Education isn't everything, but this is about the two highest offices in the land as well as our standing in the entire world. You make the call.
Labels: biden, election, McCain, Obama, palin, president, race, racism
posted by Richard Stanislaw at
1:18 PM
8 Comments:
Richard Jay - Come on. While your concept may have some validity - your questions are all so blatantly tainted. Why would you not phrase any of the questions differently, i.e. in a more balanced fashion? These are equally valid questions much like yours that show the potential for reverse racism. How about:
What if Obama was a decorated Prisoner of War?
What if McCain had held fundraisers in the home of an acknowledged bomber?
What if Obama had crossed party lines on many occasions on tough issues?
What if McCain had only a couple of years of political experience (beyond campaigning)to rely upon?
Just trying to be fair!
I believe that the questions, although overwhelmingly slanted toward Obama, were completely relavent in order to illustrate the point that racism is have a tremendous impact on the poll numbers. In this political climate Obama has alot of things going for him and he should be up by much more.
You have made an amazing argument. I would be interested to see how your comparison would look if it were Hilary and McCain... oh wait, she didn't get that far. I guess America is more sexist than it is racist. Then again, black males were allowed to vote before white females- history repeats itself.
Interesting class today- do you always start the first class of the semester in such a manner? And don't let my comment throw you- if we had class yesterday, you would have seen me in my Obama t-shirt.
By the way, I was the one in the back row that made the comment about the ability for humans to be rational. Just so you can put a face to the comment.
Rach, I'd say that was a pretty typical class--thanks for your contributions.
To Mike: Of course my questions are provocative--that is the point. The election issue is moot, but it is still worth seeing the ways that racisms creep into our collective decision-making even as we strive to be "color-blind". It seems we as a Polity have taken a significant step forward in terms of race, but the subtext is still there. To your specific proposed questions, "if Obama was a decorated POW" etc., then it would've added a modicum more popularity to his candidacy, but race would've still been there limiting imagination of the electorate. Fortunately (for matters of race) the General Will was not so tainted by the gaze of racisms that we elected a black president. Remarkable I think.
A very good argument when you look at it from a character and race point of view. Now that Obama has won the election it will be interesting to see if his politics pull through. As a Republican I have my doubts, but I "hope" he can.
I believe that racism is more adequately used by the minority than majority in most political arenas. The fear of being labeled a "racist" keeps the politics away from issues ranging from immigration to the economy. If conservatives want to close the southern border and deport illegal Latino immigrants they are "racist" against Latinos. If they want to eliminate Affirmative Action they are "racist" against all minorities, especially African Americans. In my daily life I find racism being a political motivator for minorities than I do Caucasian males. In that light, I think that racism would become impotent if the minorities who are "victims of racism" would render it so.
Charisma is a positive proponent in the likelihood of paying attention to what is being addressed in the politics arena or any other field by someone that is trying to get people involved with. If McCain was a charismatic and eloquent speaker, things might be a little different, but not drastically. Once you have the charisma of being an eloquent speaker, you have to attract the people by reaching out to them. Obama used his charisma and eloquent speaking abilities by attracting the people of Latin American descendants with the phrase, "Yes, We Can."
I find it interesting that I am biased in favor of those candidates with more education, even though I probably have more in common, experience-wise, with Sarah Palin. The fact that her daughter is an unwed mother makes me more sympathetic towards her, but her blatant hypocrisy in this area is a complete turn-off.
We're all biased. The more experienced, literate, and educated we are, the more biased we become. The politically correct term for this is "discerning." There's nothing wrong with it. It's human nature, and it's how we make choices.
The media expresses their own bias, which may or may not jive with popular opinion. At the same time, the media shape popular opinion, particularly the opinions of those who are not equipped to educate themselves beyond MSNBC, Fox News, and The Daily Show.
Being aware of this keeps me on my toes. I try to examine my own biases in relation to media bias, and I question both constantly. I'm just as prone to knee-jerk reactions as anyone else, but I do my best to get past that initial "yea" or "nay" and think a little deeper before forming a solid opinion.
All that being said, the power of presence in the media should never be overestimated. During George W. Bush's second presidential campaign, I asked Bush supporters why they planned to vote for him. Some acknowledged that their ideologies differed from that of their chosen candidate, but they said they were voting for him because they liked him.
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