# 76 percent say U.S. ready for black president **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 7, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261 "2008-04-07T01:44:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnnieEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@JohnnieEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnieEnigma)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/1 "2008-04-07T01:44:10Z")
[Now THAT’S what I’m talking about](http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/03/poll.black.president/index.html?eref=rss_politics&iref=polticker)! It’s about damn time these people do the right thing. “Some of the rise can be attributed to the success of Sen. Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential primaries, said Keating Holland, CNN’s polling director” no kidding DICK tracy. Obama is the man. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/2 "2008-04-07T02:09:06Z")
I dunno why anyone considers this surprising. There was a fairly serious “draft Colin Powell” movement back in 2000. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/3 "2008-04-07T02:10:35Z")
Hell with it, I’m deleting my original tasteless and cynical first response. But that photo is still an :eek: moment for me… ---
**Author:** ![JohnnieEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@JohnnieEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnieEnigma)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/4 "2008-04-07T02:13:02Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] I dunno why anyone considers this surprising. There was a fairly serious “draft Colin Powell” movement back in 2000. [/QUOTE] Well the clinton camp won’t like these numbers… and you’re right, no one should be surprised but I just wanted to show Obama positivity, some support considering all the unnecessary shit he had to put up with due to his minister’s misunderstood soundbites. Although that’s all behind him now. ---
**Author:** ![JohnnieEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@JohnnieEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnieEnigma)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/5 "2008-04-07T02:14:12Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] Hell with it, I’m deleting my original tasteless and cynical first response. But that photo is still an :eek: moment for me… [/QUOTE] :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/6 "2008-04-07T02:16:26Z")
24 percent of Americans don’t think the country is ready for a black president? That makes me sad. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![JohnnieEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@JohnnieEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnieEnigma)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/7 "2008-04-07T02:19:03Z")
[QUOTE=Gadarene] 24 percent of Americans don’t think the country is ready for a black president? That makes me sad. ☹ [/QUOTE] well according the the voting results from nationwide caucus and primaries, most of those 24% are white elderly (from the greatest generation), hispanics and asians. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/8 "2008-04-07T02:57:05Z")
Interesting that more whites than blacks think that the U.S. is ready for a black president. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/9 "2008-04-07T03:11:24Z")
If 24 percent won’t vote for him ,he is in real trouble. That is a huge amount of voters to overcome. That is assuming they are voters. We will not know until the election is over . Then it is too late. ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/10 "2008-04-07T04:58:13Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] If 24 percent won’t vote for him ,he is in real trouble. That is a huge amount of voters to overcome. That is assuming they are voters. We will not know until the election is over . Then it is too late. [/QUOTE] This poll is - how you say - worthless. What does “ready” mean? Does it mean “will our country elect a black president”? Does it mean “can a black person be president”? To the extent that it measures anything at all it might tell us what our country thinks about our country’s attitudes on race. Which may explain why blacks are more pessimistic. In any event the poll surely does not indicate that 24 percent of people won’t vote for a black president. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/11 "2008-04-07T12:52:30Z")
The 24% figure doesn’t necessarily mean THEY are not ready for a black President but that they don’t think the U.S. is ready. I’m ready for a black or a woman, but not for Sen. Obama or Sen. Clinton. BUT I also realize that one of them may well get it in November & if so, God bless 'em. ---
**Author:** ![JohnnieEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@JohnnieEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnieEnigma)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/12 "2008-04-07T12:55:37Z")
[QUOTE=stolichnaya] This poll is - how you say - worthless. [/QUOTE] Most polls are. > [@](#): > > What does “ready” mean? Does it mean “will our country elect a black president”? Does it mean “can a black person be president”? > > To the extent that it measures anything at all it might tell us what our country thinks about our country’s attitudes on race. Which may explain why blacks are more pessimistic. > > In any event the poll surely does not indicate that 24 percent of people won’t vote for a black president. There are clearly some race issues in this country, but I think Obama could be someone to unify the country; or at least wipe away most any reasonable racist’s objections to blacks. Haha! that made me laugh. reasonable racist: that’s like an oxymoron. oh, one more thing, and this might be irrelevant at this point, but the Black Man received the right to vote way before women did. So the country was ready for the black man’s voting rights before they were ready to accept the rights of women. They’re probably more ready for a Black president before a woman, I’m assuming here… There is something about women that men just did not want them to have voting rights. I’m not sure what it is since I’m a woman and I don’t think like a man. Would any of you fine gentlemen kindly enlighten me? Is it because we appear to be irrational at times? I have read (and tend to agree with) that a majority of women vote as democrats. The reasoning is that the democratic party tends to push big government-assisted programs, and some women tend to be needy and look to the government as their father/husband figure. Not me though… I’m very independent. I don’t need anyone. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/13 "2008-04-07T12:55:48Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] I dunno why anyone considers this surprising. There was a fairly serious “draft Colin Powell” movement back in 2000. [/QUOTE] Yeah – when Powell was a victorious general but nobody knew the first thing about his politics. I’ve always found that deeply disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/14 "2008-04-07T12:57:54Z")
[QUOTE=JohnnieEnigma] . . . considering all the unnecessary shit he had to put up with due to his minister’s misunderstood soundbites. Although that’s all behind him now. [/QUOTE] So it is. Which doesn’t mean it won’t be back. The Jason meme. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/15 "2008-04-07T14:54:45Z")
[QUOTE=JohnnieEnigma] oh, one more thing, and this might be irrelevant at this point, but the Black Man received the right to vote way before women did. So the country was ready for the black man’s voting rights before they were ready to accept the rights of women. [/QUOTE] I’ve heard or read this from several people in recent months and it always strikes me as utterly ridiculous. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but when the 19th amendment was passed and women got the right to vote, white women could go and vote. They weren’t turned away. They weren’t met at the polls with “literacy tests.” They weren’t met at the polls with guns. Their lives and families weren’t threatened for even thinking about daring to go and vote. Technically, yes, black men got the legal right to vote earlier than women. But for a not insignificant part of the country, that was a meaningless, empty right for 80 years, a good 45 years after the acceptance of the rights of women. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/16 "2008-04-07T15:00:23Z")
The thread title reminds me of a scene in [_Head of State,_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_of_State_%28film%29) after Mays Gilliam (Chris Rock) is tapped for his party’s candidacy: Cover of _Time:_ “Are we ready?” Cover of _Newsweek:_ “Is America ready?” Cover of _Ebony:_ “It’s about time!” ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/17 "2008-04-07T15:01:27Z")
[QUOTE=amarinth] 80 years [/QUOTE] I can’t subtract this early in the morning - 95 years. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/18 "2008-04-07T15:05:08Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] Hell with it, I’m deleting my original tasteless and cynical first response. But that photo is still an :eek: moment for me… [/QUOTE] And they say he’s not “magical” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/19 "2008-04-07T15:08:12Z")
[QUOTE=amarinth] I’ve heard or read this from several people in recent months and it always strikes me as utterly ridiculous. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but when the 19th amendment was passed and women got the right to vote, white women could go and vote. They weren’t turned away. They weren’t met at the polls with “literacy tests.” They weren’t met at the polls with guns. Their lives and families weren’t threatened for even thinking about daring to go and vote. Technically, yes, black men got the legal right to vote earlier than women. But for a not insignificant part of the country, that was a meaningless, empty right for 80 years, a good 45 years after the acceptance of the rights of women. [/QUOTE] Seconded. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261/20 "2008-04-07T15:25:08Z")
[QUOTE=amarinth] I’ve heard or read this from several people in recent months and it always strikes me as utterly ridiculous. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but when the 19th amendment was passed and women got the right to vote, white women could go and vote. They weren’t turned away. They weren’t met at the polls with “literacy tests.” They weren’t met at the polls with guns. Their lives and families weren’t threatened for even thinking about daring to go and vote. Technically, yes, black men got the legal right to vote earlier than women. But for a not insignificant part of the country, that was a meaningless, empty right for 80 years, a good 45 years after the acceptance of the rights of women. [/QUOTE] You’re correct, of course. How did this “black men could vote before women could” meme get started, and how do we kill it? The wiki on [The Voting Rights Act](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_rights_act) is fairly accurate: > [@](#): > > From 1890 to 1908, ten Southern states wrote new constitutions with provisions that included literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses that permitted otherwise disqualified voters whose grandfathers voted (thus allowing some white illiterates to vote), some with the aim and effect of re-imposing racially motivated restrictions on the voting process that disfranchised blacks. Although the Fifteenth Amendment established particular voting rights, and gave Congress the authority to enforce those rights and regulate the voting process, state provisions applied to all voters and were upheld by the Supreme Court in early litigation, from 1898 through 1904. In practice, the provisions had dramatically adverse effects on voting by blacks. During the early 20th century, the Supreme Court began to find such provisions unconstitutional in litigation of cases brought by African Americans and poor whites. States reacted rapidly in devising new legislation to continue disfranchisement of most blacks and many poor whites. **Although there were numerous court cases brought to the Supreme Court, through the 1960s, white Democrats in the South effectively disfranchised most blacks.** In much of the South, black people who tried to vote were met with anything from refusal to harassment to death. Most black people lived in the South. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/76-percent-say-u-s-ready-for-black-president/444261.md?page=2)