# Well, sure it was kinda about race. What's wrong with that? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 5, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-sure-it-was-kinda-about-race-whats-wrong-with-that/471312 "2008-11-05T17:58:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-sure-it-was-kinda-about-race-whats-wrong-with-that/471312/21 "2008-11-06T20:36:42Z")
To ask again: When my parents were enthused and excited about voting for Kennedy in 1960 because he was Roman Catholic and so were they, was that an -ism? Is wanting to open up the American dream of having your child have the chance of being president some sort of -ism? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-sure-it-was-kinda-about-race-whats-wrong-with-that/471312/22 "2008-11-06T21:25:39Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > And the fact that in the primaries, Obama received an overwhelming share of black votes? Insufficient data for a meaningful answer at this time. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-sure-it-was-kinda-about-race-whats-wrong-with-that/471312/23 "2008-11-06T21:25:39Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > Not an academic question this year - liberals are probably happy that the black vote went to Obama in such overwhelming numbers, but how do they feel about a similar black voter tide in favor of the marriage amendments? We’re up in arms about it. On balance, though, it was a good night. Obviously, I can’t speak for our gay community. > [@muttrox](#): > > I think their complaint is double-standards. For a white person to say they voted for McCain because he’s white is deplorable, for a black person to say they voted for Obama is black acceptable. If you’re a white racist, that seems kind of unfair. > [@jsgoddess](#): > > To ask again: When my parents were enthused and excited about voting for Kennedy in 1960 because he was Roman Catholic and so were they, was that an -ism? Is wanting to open up the American dream of having your child have the chance of being president some sort of -ism? I wouldn’t hold it against black people voting for the first black President or Catholics voting for the first Catholic President. I just don’t think (in this case) that that actually happened. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-sure-it-was-kinda-about-race-whats-wrong-with-that/471312/24 "2008-11-07T02:31:04Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Also the fact that blacks are roughly 13% of the population, and I doubt they’re quite that high in terms of percentage of voters. Obama won about 65 million votes (the numbers are still being tallied) and there are only 24 million black people aged 18 or over not all of whom voted or are eligible/registered/able to vote, meaning that tens of millions of the people who voted for Obama had motives with little or nothing to do with race. Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-sure-it-was-kinda-about-race-whats-wrong-with-that/471312/25 "2008-11-07T12:10:25Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Well, it wasn’t a good result, but that’s another can of worms. > > However, on the race thing, I agree that most of them voted on skin color alone, which makes them losers. Skin color is immaterial and meaningless. It’s a person’s actions that define them and if they had looked at Obama and ignored his skin, they’d have voted for McCain. I’m going to guess that I actually know and talk to more black people than you do, being black myself. I hate watermelon, I don’t listen to rap music, and I completely suck at basketball. I’m partial about fried chicken, it ain’t a big fave of mine. Oh, and I don’t automatically think that someone is right just because they happen to black, including people I vote for. So I think I can say thats total BS. By the same token I could say that more white people voted for McCain because of skin color. Which would really make them losers since McCain’s campaign was really little more than shit flinging _(He hung out with terrorists! He needs to tell us what his relationship with Ayers was **even though he did that during the debate** )_ and smoke and mirrors _(Country first! Though I selected a buffoon for VP! I know how to fix the economy but I can’t give you details! I know how to catch Bin Laden! Though I can’t tell you details I’m saving it up fpr later you know, instead of telling GWB… **Country First**!)._ ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-sure-it-was-kinda-about-race-whats-wrong-with-that/471312/26 "2008-11-07T13:17:17Z")
Forget it, Jake. It’s **Clothahump**. The old turtle has moments where he seems almost human, but those are few and far between. The rest of the time he’s a reactionary Right-bot, and his shell is magically impervious to logic and reason. I’ve found myself more than a little embarrassed that, judging from his username, he and I are fans of the same series of fantasy novels. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-sure-it-was-kinda-about-race-whats-wrong-with-that/471312/27 "2008-11-07T14:16:46Z")
I was watching CNN on election night, and even though they were discussing exit polls, which kinda suck, they poked on their little touch screens and showed who voted for who in these two groups of people: people for whom race did matter in this election (either way) people for whom race did not matter in this election and both groups voted about the same, around 55% for Obama. And I was arguing with someone else who was being a jerk and saying black people are only voting for Obama because he is black, and I found stats showing in the last few presidential elections at least, african americans voted for the democratic nominee around 90% of the time. And even if more black people registered and voted this election, who cares? Maybe that’s a good thing - there was a great candidate this year that made them WANT to participate. I see no problem with that, especially considering how strong of a candidate Obama was. If black people voted in droves for some horrible piece of shit black guy candidate then someone might have a point. But a whole lot of white people voted for Obama too… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-sure-it-was-kinda-about-race-whats-wrong-with-that/471312.md?page=1)