In this case though, aren’t they tied together? The feeling that I got from my co-worker is that the politics act as a cover for the racism. And maybe racism hadn’t gotten better, maybe it was just more underground. But I don’t think so. I think that with every passing year, it does become less and less. At least I hope so. (naively, maybe)
Is that a trick question? Them!
without even thinking about it, my sons initials are JEW. I wonder when others will pick up on that 
Hogwash. Ted Kennedy, the most regular Democrat there was, endorsed Obama during the primary campaign. The only person who thought had the right the nomination was Hilary herself (and Bill, judging by many of his appearances on the trail).
But who do you spend the majority of your time around? Up until 5 years ago, I am not sure I had ever even spoken to someone not white. That goes for most of my family and that doesn’t keep them from being racist!
Also, isn’t that cutting your nose off to spite your face? Obama in the white house could only help them, why would they fight him and hurt their own party and ideals?
I grew up in a small Iowa town where the “minorities” were the “non Lutherans”. Since then I have lived in a couple large cities and while the majority of my friends were White, I worked and “played” with people of all races and ideals. I’m a musician, and so my criteria for choosing friends tends to be based on musical taste rather than skin color. While music is often cultural, one dear friend in Salt Lake City is Hispanic and one of the finest rock guitarist I’ve ever heard.
Our neighbors across the street are Black, and I consider them the best neighbors we have. Great people.
If this is going to turn into a D vs. R political fight, stop and consider where the ‘Obama is Muslim’ meme arose. It started well before any republican considered that Obama would win the Democratic nomination.
I think that the Internet and Twitter have killed the centrist filtering that the media used to impose on political dialogue, enabling a much broader range of voices to get public attention. And the side that’s out of power is usually going to seem angrier.
Salieri, obviously. He’s behind everything that’s happened to you.
When the alternative is “shrub,” then I suppose Mr. Bush is preferable.
I do think it’s interesting that Glenn Beck and his crowd are trying to not-so-subtly shift blame. “We didn’t make this about race, the liberals did. They’re the real racists.” All the while protesting the building of a Muslim cultural center with a chapel in it next to ground zero. Or are we still calling it a mosque? I guess it makes for a better sensationalist headline that way.
Ditto for the birther movement.
Personally, I think a bigger racial turning point was the OJ Simpson trial. That was widely perceived as an issue where black people were on one side and white people were on the other - and it was perceived as a divide where the black side defeated the white side. I think that had a chilling effect on racial relations that lasted for six years.
I think the event that brought the races closer was 9/11. First, the tragedy tended to bring all Americans together. But in addition, the “them” of the American “us vs them” became terrorists or Muslims or foreigners or whatever - but black people once again were perceived as being part of “us”. White people and black people joined together in being suspicious of people that looked Middle Eastern.
I am convinced that the main reason so many Obama-haters cling irrationally to blatant lies – e.g. “Obama is secret Muslim,” “Obama is a socialist,” “Obama was born in Kenya,” etc. – is because those lies are convenient masks for their racism.
For them, a black man in power is the most frightening thing there is, because to them Obama as president represents the dwindling of white male hegemony.
And the Internet and proliferation of media outlets has made it easier for people to only read/watch/listen to media they already agree with.
If the Republicans have one great strength, it’s the realization that nothing gathers supporters like a common enemy, real or otherwise.
Japs, Huns, Commies, Terrorists, Gays, Liberals, Muslims…whatever the flavor of the month is.
Shrub was short hand for Bush the second because his dad was pres and had the same name. It distinguished them. Molly Ivans was the first I read who used it. There is nothing particularly bad about “shrub”.
This.
I’m sure many of them are not consciously racist. That’s why they will deny it so vigorously and sincerely. The racism is subconscious, but all the more powerful to them because it comes from inside and is not based upon rational reasons or verifiable actions.
It’s xenophobia, and these folks are probably also creeped out by all of the different “others” around them, but only Obama is in such a high profile seat of authority. This raises their discomfort up to outright fear. And since they can’t rationalize an irrational fear they have to find something concrete upon which to ground that fear. As **Knorf **says, these are convenient masks, hiding their racism even from themselves.
No, I think this is because they actually HAVE so many common enemies. They have retreated so far into their little tent of elite white guys that now pretty much everybody else is an outsider. They’re neither making it up nor playing it up. Theirs is truly a siege mentality. The fact that it is they who have made everyone else the enemy doesn’t change the reality of it.
Where were you when the ‘Bush = stupid’ meme was running? Have you and your black colleagues actually considered that most of those who profess dislike of Obama for his policies simply dislike him for his policies and no more? Did black Democrats dislike Bush because he was white?
Of course, I speak through the filter of 3000 miles of Atlantic ocean.
I’m still looking for the missing step, though. It’s not that his poll numbers are low; it’s that people who didn’t have a problem with him back then have a problem with him now. I wouldn’t be surprised if, upon teasing out the numbers, we need to explain a solid number of white males who even voted for the guy – and then proceeded to give Obama-as-President solid approval ratings for a while – before changing their minds about him after a solid number of months had gone by.