# Could an African-American get elected POTUS? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 16, 2006, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-african-american-get-elected-potus/348597 "2006-03-16T14:42:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-african-american-get-elected-potus/348597/81 "2006-03-18T16:11:12Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > Should we start a thread on this in GD or switch to Email? 😉 > > Jim Name your field of honor, suh. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-african-american-get-elected-potus/348597/82 "2006-03-19T00:21:00Z")
> [@Elendil's Heir](#): > > Name your field of honor, suh. 😛 I think a GD thread is best but I can’t think of how to phrase the OP. I won’t have time tonight, but if you have a good Op, please let me know. I really am half way prepared to defend Teddy as the best. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-african-american-get-elected-potus/348597/83 "2006-03-19T03:18:40Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > I think a GD thread is best but I can’t think of how to phrase the OP. > I won’t have time tonight, but if you have a good Op, please let me know. I really am half way prepared to defend Teddy as the best. > > Jim Will do. Look for it, and best wishes to my Joisey buddy. ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-african-american-get-elected-potus/348597/84 "2006-03-19T06:28:25Z")
The answer is yes, if Condi Rice runs, she will win. If Powell had run, he would have as well. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-african-american-get-elected-potus/348597/85 "2006-03-19T08:55:31Z")
> [@Operation Ripper](#): > > The answer is yes, if Condi Rice runs, she will win. If Powell had run, he would have as well. Are you referring to the election or the (Pub) nomination? I think the latter is the real stumbling block. ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-african-american-get-elected-potus/348597/86 "2006-03-19T13:53:22Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Are you referring to the election or the (Pub) nomination? I think the latter is the real stumbling block. Heh, good point, I’d have to agree. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-african-american-get-elected-potus/348597/87 "2006-03-19T14:29:49Z")
Perhaps semantics to most, but I could not vote for anyone who identifies themselves as **African** -American, nor any other term where some other land comes before ‘American’. As for a black president - to me it’s a non-issue and has no bearing on who I would vote for. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-african-american-get-elected-potus/348597/88 "2006-03-19T21:14:04Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Perhaps semantics to most, but I could not vote for anyone who identifies themselves as **African** -American, nor any other term where some other land comes before ‘American’. Well, I wish we had reached the point where a racial/ethnic label were irrelevant and therefore unnecessary, but we’re not there yet. They’ve more or less decided they like “African-American” better than “negro,” “colored,” or even "black. I can appreciate that. Words have power. “Negro” sounds too much like “nigger” – also sounds rather clinical or (pseudo)scientific. White-supremacist and white-separatist tracts, if they’re too refined for “nigger,” use the word “negro.” (And usually they capitalize it, to imply different “races” are actually separate nationalities.) “Colored” is just too too genteel, even euphemistic. Besides, we all have a color of some kind. “Black” is rather, well, curt and dismissive. But “African-American” has seven syllables in it, and you can’t say the phrase without being ever so briefly reminded, on some level, of the whole history of European colonial imperialism and the trans-Atlantic slave trade. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-african-american-get-elected-potus/348597/89 "2006-03-19T22:39:06Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Well, I wish we had reached the point where a racial/ethnic label were irrelevant and therefore unnecessary, but we’re not there yet. They’ve more or less decided they like “African-American” better than “negro,” “colored,” or even "black. I can appreciate that. Words have power. “Negro” sounds too much like “nigger” – also sounds rather clinical or (pseudo)scientific. White-supremacist and white-separatist tracts, if they’re too refined for “nigger,” use the word “negro.” (And usually they capitalize it, to imply different “races” are actually separate nationalities.) “Colored” is just too too genteel, even euphemistic. Besides, we all have a color of some kind. “Black” is rather, well, curt and dismissive. But “African-American” has seven syllables in it, and you can’t say the phrase without being ever so briefly reminded, on some level, of the whole history of European colonial imperialism and the trans-Atlantic slave trade. I just gotta say… I’ve seen convoluted rationalizations for everything from whole language reading to homeopathic medicine, but never have I seen a more glorious tour de force of cognitive hocus pocus than what you’ve recorded here. May it stand for all time as a testament to the noble arts of irrelevant conclusion, ignoratio elenchi, and non sequitur. A masterpiece, sir or madam! ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-african-american-get-elected-potus/348597/90 "2006-03-19T23:13:43Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Obama could win. > > I think he public would love to vote for a black prez and I don’t even think he’d have to be conservative. I do think he’d have to be Christian, though. I suspect that you can’t be white enough to get elected POTUS without being Christian. Not necessarily of the G-Dub variety, but when asked the question, saying anything other than that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Saviour would be pretty much the same as bowing out. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-african-american-get-elected-potus/348597/91 "2006-03-20T01:30:54Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > I just gotta say… I’ve seen convoluted rationalizations for everything from whole language reading to homeopathic medicine, but never have I seen a more glorious tour de force of cognitive hocus pocus than what you’ve recorded here. May it stand for all time as a testament to the noble arts of irrelevant conclusion, ignoratio elenchi, and non sequitur. A masterpiece, sir or madam! Hmmm? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-african-american-get-elected-potus/348597/92 "2006-03-20T02:38:55Z")
**Liberal,** assuming (as we must) that a label for that particular racial/ethnic/whatever group is necessary, what label would **you** prefer, and why? And why would you object to simply using the label that group itself seems to prefer? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-african-american-get-elected-potus/348597/93 "2006-03-20T02:56:42Z")
BTW, see this thread: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=254108](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=254108) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-african-american-get-elected-potus/348597.md?page=4)