Thursday, April 28, 2011

Who Is Playing the Race Card and Why?

Well our President proved on Easter Sunday he is not currently a Muslim or even a Socialist or an Atheist as he and his family made a rare appearance at the predominantly black Shiloh Baptist Church in DC. The President has had difficulties in the past with his church attendance if you recall the Rev. Jeremiah Wright back in Chicago, a very active leader of the Black Liberation movement. You would think the President would be careful in picking his Easter church. Not so!

Shiloh Baptist's minister, Reverend Wallace Charles Smith, stated in a speech just last year that "America was no longer past its race problems, even with a black president, since 'Jim Crow' can now get a regular news program on Fox and Rush Limbaugh can make the same statements that was once the purview of Robert Shelton and members of the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizen’s Council."

So once again we have a big Obama "why" question? Is he just naively stupid and doesn't know how to avoid such controversies or is he smart like a fox and taking actions that will invite this type of controversy? The answer may lie in the voters Obama must attract in 2012.

Let's start by identifying those who will not vote for Obama. Anyone who doesn’t is clearly a racist, a sexist, or a homophobe. Just listen to Liberals. What seems to be their definitions attached to these labels?

Racist: A Republican of any Race but Mostly White
Sexist: A Republican Male
Homophobic: Anyone that thinks marriage is about a man and a woman

So if you are black, Hispanic, female, or gay you would be crazy not to vote for Obama. And of course many impressionable young people, particularly if they are receiving student loans they don't plan to repay, don’t want to be like old racist, sexist, and homophobic people.

And then you have the guilt ridden white voters who want to make sure they are not identified with old sexists, racists, and homophobic people.  Many guilt ridden for some reason worship at the alter of the Political Elite.  It's like, "OK, I got rich but I didn't mean to, and it's not my fault!  I think the government should make up to those who are not as lucky as me."  My experience is that most of these are short on charity and big on government spending and tax shelters.

In 2008 Obama got huge majorities from  minorities and gays and enough white votes (43% including a majority of female and young voters) to win fairly easily. This begs the question of which group appears to vote more along strictly racial lines and more apt to receive the ‘racist’ label, black voters who voted 93% for Obama or white voters who voted 43% for Obama?  Blacks call it "justice" if over 90% vote for the black guy.  Coversely, many call the 57% of whites that didn't vote for the black guy racists.

Everything in 2012 points to a repeat with minorities and gays voting overwhelmingly for Obama no matter what the major issues are nor who the Republican's run. This means the election may be determined by young voters and white female voters. Can Obama convince white women voters that a vote for the Republican candidate is a vote for a sexist? Women, on the other hand, will have to determine whether they and their families will prosper more from a healthy growing economy or a declining economy focused on wealth redistribution. Will white women think they are on “Obama’s redistribution list"?

A ray of hope may be there in that  young voters are more concerned today about the fact that the political elite are creating huge US debt that they will have to repay. Interestingly, because of the debt issue many of the more intelligent young voters have been attracted to the message of the tea party and candidates like Ron Paul, who interestingly has always attracted young voters who think.

So it looks like the President is more fox than stupid.  His vote counter, David Axelrod, is having him shore up his base first, and then go after the middle.  Rev up those who hate racists, sexists, and homophobes.

Instead of preaching about justice and the evils of white people, I personally wish Obama could find a minister who focused on the following scripture, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

If so, we could just focus our voting attention on little things like our collapsing economy, our illegal immigration problems, three wars with two having no US national interests, and the governmental and judicial trampling of our Constitution and individual rights.

Think about it,

Jim