You are free to vote for whatever candidate you please. You don’t even have to tell me why you voted the way you did.
However, if you do tell me your reasons, do not tell me that you voted for a candidate based on skin color alone, and then tell me that action was not racist, because the whole reason you voted for the guy is the very definition of (mild) racism.
I have been raised to believe that skin color is not supposed to be a factor in any way in judging another person.
And already has, in a bizzare way, in this Presidential cycle.
Initially Black voters didn’t know much about Obama and he had the same smattering of support among Black Democrats as among White Democrats with the difference primarily being that non-Obama Blacks were almost all preferring HRC and non-Obama Whites were giving up some support to Edwards. The talking head conclusion? Obama isn’t Black enough. Seemed like the expectation was for Backs to vote along race lines and only race lines and failure to do so was a sign that he wasn’t really Black.
As the season has continued Black Democrts are moving into Obama’s camp. Did he become Blacker? No, what happened is that voters are getting a feel for who he is and as they do more Black voters are wanting to vote for him because he “is like them”, not because he looks like them, but because he can well articulate the issues that they as individuals care about and a vision for the future that can agree with.
As for Whites not wanting to vote for him based on race … Obama sasid something about that on some talk show, Charlie Rose I think, in the book promotion circuit before he officially entered the race. It went something like this: “Of course there is racism in America and of course people judge by race. But my experience is that people judge by race only until they have more specific information to judge by. If I run then I have every confidence that I can win those people over as they get to see more as an individual than by my skin color alone.”
Insofar as his articulation of the issues resonate differentially with Black voters as a group than with White voters as a group then voters will shake out along racial lines. As individuals Blacks and Whites will identify with his values and how he presents them differently based on their own backgrounds and that may also shake out among racial lines. That will not be racist in any way.
Insofar as suggesting that a Black could vote for him because his color is like their own and not because his stand on issues or his values are like their own and not be making a racist choice … nope. That would be as racist as a White voting against him for the same skin color reason.