Good post. Both women and blacks are at a disadvantage, but when it comes to being elected president, demgraphics, American history along with the numbers of governors and senators make is pretty clear which side has the steeper hill. It's a great day for America and it will be another great day when a woman is elected president. I'll add that pop culture has zero to do with this discussion. The military doesn't either since it's an entirely different, enclosed culture by itself from elective office. Lastly, the booing of Bush was classless. No excuse for it. Just be glad we are finally rid of the loser.
This past year was unique that we had both a black man and a white woman with a legitimate shot at becoming President and Im not going to downplay the factor of racism. That said many Clinton supporters argue that sexism did play a role and if you notice the language of the critics no one had a problem with referring to Clinton as "b****" while there was an immediate backlash to any hint of racially charged langauge against Obama. Another factor with CLinton though is that she essentially had to be a b**** to get over the barrier of the perception of women as not being tough enough to be Commander and Chief. Racism and sexism played a role in the perception of both Obama and Clinton just in different ways. As I noted in my post while woman have occupied every major elected civillian post the Presidency is unique in regard that it is both a civilian and a military post. Again if sexism isn't as much of a factor why are there so few women in the upper echelons of the military?
The President is also a military commander also and traditionally how well the President can lead US troops has been a factor in campaigns. Consider how Dukakis was undone by him riding in the tank or how 12 years ago Colin Powell was considered a great candidate when he had only been known as a military general. Pop culture does play a role in the perception of stereotypes. I saw an article in Newsweek a while back that looked at how having Black presidents in things like 24 have prepared he US public for accepting the idea of it. Also consider how Guess Who's Coming to Dinner changed the perception of inter-racial marriage.
You know this dead horse has been whipped around here repeatedly. Obama's election still stings for you doesn't it? What percentage of minorities have historically voted for all of the previous non-minority Democratic candidates?
On election night I thought the news was stating something like close to 95% of blacks voted for Obama. You're telling me they all believed in his policies. Most couldn't even tell you. By the way, I didn't start this. I'm willing to give him a chance as he has no real past history. We shall see how he does. I wish him the best.
Sorry it was a Salon article not Newsweek. Here is the link for anyone interested. http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2008/11/03/black_presidents/index.html
Let it go jodoka...at least for a while . Obama...the individual...had many great qualities most black (or non black) candidates didn't. Hillary...the individual...had baggage other women might not. Both were viable candidates. But....those of us who thought a Black president was inevitable, and not really as big a deal given recent history have continually failed to recognize how important it was to actually see it happen. A few posters here have articulated this very very well. And I now agree. This is president Obama's time. The inauguration was inspiring. Full speed ahead.
Nobody said sexism isn't a problem in the military or in elections. In fact, it's a bigger issue in the military than racism by a mile. But that gives you just one example of how military culture is so much different than that of general society. And skip the pop culture stuff. Cosby was the #1 show on TV a very long time ago. Michael Jackson was far and away the most popular entertainer a while ago (kind of hard to believe than now). Racism was much worse then than it is now. I'll grant you that sometimes pop culture MIGHT coincide with voting patterns but it doesn't prove anything at all. Very weak. I remember when Rush Limbaugh used both guys as proof racism wasn't a big deal anymore.
You do realize African Americans vote about 90-95% for white Democrats as well, right? Given that they vote in generally the same pattern regardless of race, it probably indicates that the vast majority are voting because the Democratic platform matches their own views. Sure, there was a small increase in turnout, just as there was a white evangelical turnout increase for Bush.
Actually I really didn't think it was that high, but thanks for pointing that out. I'm not saying it's bad it just struck me as a coincidence that such a high percentage of a race would vote along the same line.
Certainly - but that was the media. When people were actually asked if they had a problem with a woman as President or a black person as President, the latter was always a much bigger problem. Something like 15% of Ohio primary voters actually admitted they were voting against Obama due to his race. You saw nothing of the sort with Clinton. Between Clinton and Obama, Clinton was always looked at as the stonger CinC. Democrats will always, always lose the battle against Republicans in the CinC battle or "military leader" battle. Even Kerry, war veteran and hero, lost that fight against Bush. Dems don't rely on winning that to win elections. Agree here. But all the polls, which seemed to be surprisingly honest, showed that one played a much bigger role than the other. The military certainly has its own issues - but the military comprises a tiny portion of the vote and civilians really don't seem to care about it. Look at our last 5 elections: Clinton vs. Bush Clinton vs. Dole Bush vs. Gore Bush vs. Kerry Obama vs. McCain In each of the last 5 elections, the one that had the stronger military profile / CinC credibility lost. While it's talked about a lot, getting over that hurdle of being CinC is just not a big issue in US elections anymore for whatever reason. In general, being qualified as CinC is much more associated with time/experience in government than anything specific to the military, which is why Hillary Clinton always won in that polling against both Edwards and Obama. Reagan was even in the military and still had to climb the same hurdle as Obama of "is he credible as CinC" vs. Jimmy Carter.
Quite the opposite. He won for a host of reasons, but not simply because he garnered the vast majority of the Black vote. Democratic candidates for president usually do. Barack won despite his race, if one wishes to drag race into this. I agree that a thread about his inauguration isn't the place for the discussion. Lil' texxx, the big drop had nothing to do with Obama taking office. There was (and is) a strong rumor in the financial markets that Citicorp, and possibly another huge bank, is going to be "nationalized' in about a week. Nationalized for all practical purposes, even if the word isn't used. Is the rumor true? Who knows, but someone who makes his living, in part, playing the market told me flatly that that was the reason for the drop, and I believe him. The fuel is that the stock would become worthless, or so the rumor goes. With all due respect, I have to say that you've lived an incredibly sheltered life! The only "boos" I heard worth mentioning occurred when Marine One lifted off to carry Mr. and Mrs. Bush to the airport, so they could fly back to Texas. One of the best moments for me, truly, was the spontaneous singing of the lines of a song from the crowd as the helicopter began to circle the Mall, even if it only happened for a couple of minutes. These were the words... Nah nah nah nah! Nah nah nah nah! Hey hey hey! Good-bye! That's not exactly the right lyric from the song that came out in 1969, but brought back fond memories, and certainly fit the occasion. Gary DeCarlo, Paul Leka and Dale Frashuer came out with the original, which actually had the title, Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye, released on a single with a name quickly made up for the "band," which was called Steam. The song caught on. Heck, we used to sing it ourselves, sitting around a bonfire at Paleface Park, on Travis, and butchered the words as much as everyone else does. Great song to tease someone with that has to leave a big party early. A history of the tune is here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na_Na_Hey_Hey_Kiss_Him_Goodbye Thank goodness for Google, which always is a help to my memory.
It's the unfortunate reality of having only two parties, one of which has major players who send out songs like "Obama the Magic Negro" and think there's nothing wrong with it. When that happens, it basically causes that demographic to all vote for the other party. The GOP doesn't even try to win the black vote.
