Racism in our electorate today?

How much racism exists in our electorate today? I have a sense that there is a lot. It is not politically or socially correct to be racist and most people keep their feelings under wraps unless they are with a group of like-minded racists. But, historically, blue collar, white America has been a bastion of racism. I think that situation still exists. In fact, I think Hillary Clinton’s success with this group is in some measure their prejudice rather than her populist appeal.

There are unknowns with Barack Obama. He is young, he is inexperienced, his skill as an orator sometimes allows him a free pass on substance, he has a liberal voting record which bothers some conservative leaning voters, etc. But, I think the thing that bothers many blue collar, whites and rural whites is that he is black (actually ½ black). This is uncharted territory, a black man making a serious run for the Presidency, just as it was for John F. Kennedy our first Catholic President in 1960. Then Senator Kennedy had a difficult time holding the Protestant, blue collar, white base because of fear of having a Catholic President. I can remember my own father, a craft union man, offering a strong, widely held opinion that if John F. Kennedy were elected President the Pope would be “calling the shots.” That sounds pretty silly today.

We have passed the Catholic hurdle and hopefully we can pass the race one as well. We need to judge Barack Obama on a whole host of standards, but race is not one of them. I think Obama’s speech on race and his denunciation of Rev. Jeremiah Wright should suffice. Wright’s damaging rhetoric on racism, although somewhat accurate, is reverse racism characterized by bitterness and obsession with the wrongs of the past. It’s the “poor us” syndrome that is all too true and unfortunately prevalent amongst some blacks. Obama wants to go beyond this. He wants to look to the future. And, given the chance, he might very well do much towards eventually putting racism behind us. We’ve accomplished this with religious differences and ethnic differences – the Irish for example – and we can do it with race.