Interesting Gallup Poll on Public's Perception on Racism

The results from a Gallup/USA Today poll on how the public sees racism is very interesting. While both Democrats and independents see racism against African-Americans as more wide spread than racism against whites in the United States, Republicans are the opposite. The poll found that while only 39% of Republicans feel that racism is wide-spread against blacks, 46% believe that racism is widespread against whites. The fact that Republicans feel that way goes a long way toward explaining why Barack Obama is going to have trouble getting white Republicans to vote for him.

Further, the fact that 38% of Democrats and 43% of independents feel that racism against whites is widespread shows the problems that Obama will have countering any racist campaign tactics of the GOP. Whites who feel that racism against whites is widespread will accept McCain's argument that Obama is playing the so-called "race card" if he complains about such tactics.

The existence of such beliefs might explain why McCain's complaints about Obama's use of the "race card" seemed to result in some poll movement in McCain's favor. Whites who believe that racism against whites is widespread will be angered by what they may perceive as Obama's campaign use of such tactics.

In this campaign, white Americans belief about the effects of racism against blacks and whites will have a large impact on Obama's chances. Obama can, and most likely will win, but it won't be easy and it will be close in the sense that in many states Obama will have a narrow margin of victory.

UPDATE: As Pho pointed out in his comment, we forgot to put a link to the actual poll results. Here is the link to a article from the Gallup organization about the poll.

Paul Krugman on Race and Politics

Over the last two weeks, the New York Times has dropped its requirement that Internet readers pay to read certain articles and columns appearing in the NYT. This means that we can now link to articles like this one that appeared on Monday, September 21, 2007 on the Times website and in the print version of the Times. What Krugman does in this article is acknowledge that the political success of the Republican Party in national elections since 1968 has depended on getting Southern whites to vote Republican. The following quotes are from the article:

Consider voting in last year’s Congressional elections. Republicans, as President Bush conceded, received a “thumping,” with almost every major demographic group turning against them. The one big exception was Southern whites, 62 percent of whom voted Republican in House races.(emphasis added)

And yes, Southern white exceptionalism is about race, much more than it is about moral values, religion, support for the military or other explanations sometimes offered. There’s a large statistical literature on the subject, whose conclusion is summed up by the political scientist Thomas F. Schaller in his book “Whistling Past Dixie”: “Despite the best efforts of Republican spinmeisters to depict American conservatism as a nonracial phenomenon, the partisan impact of racial attitudes in the South is stronger today than in the past.”

Appealing to white Southerners is why Republicans candidates aren't appearing at black forums. Its why George W. Bush campaigned at Bob Jones University. It's why Ronald Reagan kicked off his 1980 campaign by appearing at Philadelphia, Mississippi, where three civil rights workers were murdered and gave a speech praising "state rights", code words for white racism. When Republicans told you that impeaching Bill Clinton wasn't about sex, you just knew it was about sex, and when they tell you that appealing to white Southerners isn't about race, you just know it is about race.

Limbaugh's Song about Barack Obama and WTAM

Rush Limbaugh is singing a song on his show called "Barack the Magic Negro" to the tune of "Puff the Magic Dragon." You can read about the song at the Media Matters website here and you can listen to it here. The last link is to the site "Crooks and Liars" which also reports that several employees at radio stations that air Limbaugh's show are complaining to management about Limbaugh's song.

In the Cleveland area Limbaugh is heard on WTAM, 1100. WTAM has a contact page on its website that lists its phone number and has a form you can fill out to send them an email message about their content, including Limbaugh's song. If you are so inclined please remember to be polite, be short, and avoid profanity. The contact page can be found here.

Progressives need to push back on this because if Barack is the Democratic nominee in 2008, Rush will try to use racism to defeat him, all the while complaining that whites in the Democratic Party are "reverse racists" for supporting him. The reason why we are sure that this will be his tactic is because that is his excuse for singing this song. He justifies it as a parody of the racism that exists on the left of the political spectrum.

There is also some real irony here. WTAM spends a lot of time talking about sports, especially professional sports. In Cleveland a lot of professional sports stars are Afro-Americans. So here you have a radio station on the one hand talking about say the Cleveland Cavaliers while on the other they are airing a show like Limbaugh's. They are using interest in black sports figures to make money and sell advertising while they are also using a person like Limbaugh and his racist song to make money and sell advertising. All apparently without one minute of shame or embarrassment.