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If Obama were white
Related to country: United States

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By ABDULHAMİT BİLİCİ:



As a presidential election closely monitored by the entire world nears its conclusion, new issues emerge to rekindle discussions.

Some of them are the same kinds of trivial matters raised by the media during every election, such as images of Sarah Palin, Republican candidate John McCain's vice presidential running mate, wearing a bikini on the catwalk. However, some debates revolve around significant issues which make this election an important one in political history.

The most important aspect of the 2008 presidential election is that, for the first time in US history, the Democratic Party has nominated a black man as their candidate for president. This brings the race factor, which the US has tried both to forget and overcome, into public awareness. Journalists and political analysts observing the election are trying to answer the following questions: Does the race factor really play an important role in political preferences? What will be its effect on the outcome of this election?

Democratic Party officials working for the Barack Obama campaign in Scranton, Pennsylvania, whose electorate consists mostly of working-class people, acknowledge that it is much more difficult to promote Obama than Hillary Clinton in the region. They say that race plays an important role in this election. They note that many voters say they want to "support the Democratic Party," but they would "not vote for a black man."

According to the traditional tendencies of US politics, working-class people, Catholics, people of Irish descent and conservatives -- labels which define the majority of Scranton voters -- are expected to vote for the Democratic Party. However, it is reported that they are drawn to the Republican Party this election due to the race factor. A middle-aged white woman told a television reporter that she has always supported Democrats in the past, but "this time, my vote goes to McCain"; she held a placard reading "Democrats 4 McCain." Another couple stressed that the race factor is more important than it may appear to be and that they had heard racial comments about this election from their children.

Not only in Pennsylvania, but also in Ohio, Michigan and other states with similar characteristics, race may play a decisive role, and no one can accurately predict the outcome of this election.

Compared to 40 or 50 years ago, the US has obviously made extraordinary progress in the fight against racism. Many Americans believe that if a black man is elected president, this may serve as another huge step forward. However, several US voters with whom I have a chance to chat note that, despite the positive developments, some people may still hesitate to vote for a black man.

Is the effect of the race factor on voter preferences visible in the polls? A Gallup poll conducted in early June did not give a clear answer to this question. The poll showed that nine out of every 10 black voters would vote for Obama. However, this is not a surprising finding because in the previous US presidential election, 93 percent of black voters voted for Democratic candidate John Kerry. The poll also showed that 88 percent of white voters said that Obama's color would not affect their voting preferences.

However, a poll conducted by The Associated Press and Yahoo last month implied that race factor may still play a role when ballots are actually cast. This poll showed that one-third of white Democrats and independent voters, whose support Obama desperately needs in order to win the election, have negative perceptions about blacks, tending to describe them as "lazy" or "prone to violence." Because of this, it should come as no surprise that 17 percent of the white voters who would vote for Hillary are now planning to vote for McCain instead of Obama. The conclusion researchers draw from the poll is that if it were not for racial prejudices, Obama would be at least six points ahead of McCain in polls. "There are a lot fewer bigots than there were 50 years ago, but that doesn't mean there's only a few bigots," said Stanford political scientist Paul Sniderman, who helped analyze the exhaustive survey.

Under these circumstances, Obama emerging as the winner of the race in November would be a milestone for the history of democracy in the US, not just for its repercussions on the world.


04.10.2008


todayszaman

October 4, 2008 | 11:17 AM Comments  0 comments

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