There are probably hundreds of variations of this article out there, but i kinda liked this one so i thought i'd share. Some struggle to get behind 'the black Douglas Belkin | November 03, 2008 NORM Bixler, a lifelong Democrat and laid-off union machinist who now bags groceries to make ends meet, was recently cutting his lawn on his tractor and searching for perspective. He had backed Hillary Clinton in the primaries. But here it was, early October, the Democrats had nominated "the black guy" and Mr Bixler had a decision to make. "Twenty or 25 years ago, I never would have considered voting for a black," said Mr Bixler, 62. "I wouldn't believe one could run." Just a few days before the election, Barack Obama has surged in polls across the nation, but it is a matter of fierce debate whether those polls might be hiding a race-tinged surprise. Of particular import are working-class white voters in Rust Belt battleground states like Ohio. Here, among many Democrats who supported Senator Clinton, 20 months of campaigning has boiled down to a simple question: Will economic anxiety and party loyalty trump racism? Some voters here bristle at the formulation. "It drives me crazy," said Diane Kluchar, a 39-year-old occupational therapist and mother of four who has traditionally voted Democrat, but is on the fence this year. "This isn't about race, it's about being competent, about doing the job." For Mr Bixler, it's more complicated. Growing up blue-collar in rural Ohio, Mr Bixler knew three things: The Republican Party was for the rich, the Democratic Party was for the working man, and blacks and whites lived mostly in different worlds. He remembers when a black farm worker stopped by the family home one day when he was a boy. "He must've been 100, walks up to the door and asks my mother for a glass of water and some flour, said he had the miseries," Mr Bixler said, patting his stomach. "In those days, this must have been the early 1950s, there were no paper cups so my mother gave him a glass. When he handed it back to her she didn't even wash it, she just threw it out. That's how it was." Now, nearly 60 years later, an African-American was running for the highest office in the land, nominated by his party no less, and as Mr Bixler methodically drove the circumference of his back yard, he tried to figure out if he could vote for him. A soft-spoken man with a sloping white moustache and a collection of firefighting paraphernalia in his garage, Mr Bixler spent two years in the navy serving with African-Americans, but he rarely associated with them. The stories he tells about race relations in the service back then revolve around a big Texan who worked in the engine room, hated both marines and blacks, and had a knack for getting drunk and finding both. After his stint in the military, Mr Bixler moved back to this rural corner of northeast Ohio. He married, worked with a few African-Americans on his factory floor, but never associated with them. He joined the all-white volunteer fire department and raised horses on a 6ha farm with his wife. "I've never been in a black person's house," he said. Over a dinner of stuffed peppers, potatoes, white bread and yellow butter, Norma Bixler, his wife of 36 years, interjected. "Norm's not a member of the KKK or anything like that," she said. "He's not racist." Later she added that had it been active in the area, some of his friends might have been. Mr Bixler agreed. But as times and attitudes have changed, Mr Bixler has taken note. He distinctly remembered the jump from Amos and Andy to The Jeffersons. Not too long ago - and somewhat to his amazement - a friend's daughter married a black man and his friend didn't seem to mind. Then there was the time a few years ago when his wife told him two Dominican men visiting their church would be staying with them overnight. When he got home from work, he pulled her outside and said in amazement, "They're black." Mrs Bixler laughed at the memory of her husband's face. "I know," she said. The men spent the night in peace. Today, some of Mr Bixler's friends say they can't vote for a black man. His wife, a fiscal conservative, liked Hillary Clinton, but was backing Republican John McCain. Mr Bixler watched the presidential debates in snatches. His impression: Senator Obama won. "He was calmer," Mr Bixler said. "He looked presidential." Three weeks ago, by the time he got off the tractor, Mr Bixler had come to a decision. "It's time to get over the racial stuff," he said. "I'm going to vote for (Senator Obama). I hope he does good." The Wall Street Journal http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24591180-2703,00.html
It's was good to hear Mr. Bixler be so open about his views on race and his reservations. It's good that the decided go with Obama, in spite him of being black, based on who he thought would be the best president.
QFT. I don't think some people fully understand the significance this man's election will mean for this country. People didn't want de-segregation either folks.
This article resonates with me particularly because both my dad and younger brother are like Mr Bixler.....I can't even talk politics because of their racism. So, I have resorted to covert tactics, for the good of the country, I am taking them out Monday night on a bender, and getting them too hammered to vote Tuesday. Me? I have already voted. COUNTRY FIRST !! DD
Another positive story. I'm seeing more and more of these lately and less negative stuff (except in the campaigns). Or maybe it's just me. My wife made me canvas for Obama; here's what I learned This election is not about major policies. It's about hope. By Jonathan Curley from the November 3, 2008 edition Charlotte, N.C. - There has been a lot of speculation that Barack Obama might win the election due to his better "ground game" and superior campaign organization. I had the chance to view that organization up close this month when I canvassed for him. I'm not sure I learned much about his chances, but I learned a lot about myself and about this election. Let me make it clear: I'm pretty conservative. I grew up in the suburbs. I voted for George H.W. Bush twice, and his son once. I was disappointed when Bill Clinton won, and disappointed he couldn't run again. I encouraged my son to join the military. I was proud of him in Afghanistan, and happy when he came home, and angry when he was recalled because of the invasion of Iraq. I'm white, 55, I live in the South and I'm definitely going to get a bigger tax bill if Obama wins. I am the dreaded swing voter. So you can imagine my surprise when my wife suggested we spend a Saturday morning canvassing for Obama. I have never canvassed for any candidate. But I did, of course, what most middle-aged married men do: what I was told. At the Obama headquarters, we stood in a group to receive our instructions. I wasn't the oldest, but close, and the youngest was maybe in high school. I watched a campaign organizer match up a young black man who looked to be college age with a white guy about my age to canvas together. It should not have been a big thing, but the beauty of the image did not escape me. Instead of walking the tree-lined streets near our home, my wife and I were instructed to canvass a housing project. A middle-aged white couple with clipboards could not look more out of place in this predominantly black neighborhood. We knocked on doors and voices from behind carefully locked doors shouted, "Who is it?" "We're from the Obama campaign," we'd answer. And just like that doors opened and folks with wide smiles came out on the porch to talk. Grandmothers kept one hand on their grandchildren and made sure they had all the information they needed for their son or daughter to vote for the first time. Young people came to the door rubbing sleep from their eyes to find out where they could vote early, to make sure their vote got counted. We knocked on every door we could find and checked off every name on our list. We did our job, but Obama may not have been the one who got the most out of the day's work. I learned in just those three hours that this election is not about what we think of as the "big things." It's not about taxes. I'm pretty sure mine are going to go up no matter who is elected. It's not about foreign policy. I think we'll figure out a way to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan no matter which party controls the White House, mostly because the people who live there don't want us there anymore. I don't see either of the candidates as having all the answers. I've learned that this election is about the heart of America. It's about the young people who are losing hope and the old people who have been forgotten. It's about those who have worked all their lives and never fully realized the promise of America, but see that promise for their grandchildren in Barack Obama. The poor see a chance, when they often have few. I saw hope in the eyes and faces in those doorways. My wife and I went out last weekend to knock on more doors. But this time, not because it was her idea. I don't know what it's going to do for the Obama campaign, but it's doing a lot for me. Jonathan Curley is a banker. He voted for George H.W. Bush twice and George W. Bush once. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1103/p09s02-coop.html
I don't know how a responsible president could work twice as much and twice as hard, but the first minority president would take it upon himself to do so and more, if only to prove these doubters of his competency wrong.
This is all fine and good but as the day comes closer nothing terrifies me more than McCain winning this race Rocket River
One thing terrifies me more - his moron of a running mate becoming president. What a mockery it would be to have a doofus like her as leader of the free world.
In regards to the 2nd article, I wouldn't vote for Obama if he had voted for the war, of if he was Bush III, or had Bush advisers for the economy and war. Most other americans don't care about that. If their privatized retirement account is going down the toilet and they are losing their job, it doesn't do them any good to see poor black families have more hope for their grandchildren. They will wish they hadn't voted for him.
I voted Bush in '00...but realized what a disaster he was and voted Kerry in '04. I also voted for Regan and Bush Sr, and then Perot.....Kerry was my first Dem vote.....now I voted Obama.... I just think the country has swung too far right and we need to swing back to the middle. I don't want McCarthism again....sorry....I mean McCainism.....again. DD
Interesting. I would love to have dinner (at my place of course) with people who have thoughts like this. The races will never agree on everything but we all should share a common purpose in life. If God wanted us all to get along, we would all be (insert color).
Another article in the same vein. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27488245/ Race fear vs. money anxiety at play in election Collision most often occurs in middle- and lower-class swing voters What's more scary: a bleak economy or a black president? The two ideas converge in a small but influential group of voters who fear that if elected, Barack Obama would give blacks preferential treatment just when all of America needs help in financial hard times. Some of Obama's success thus far against John McCain is due to his casting himself as a "post-racial" candidate who would fight for the middle class and represent everyone equally. The Democratic nominee also says that affirmative action should be extended to low-income whites and exclude privileged minorities like his two daughters. But the collision between economic worries and fear of a black president most often occurs in middle- and lower-class swing voters, a coveted demographic in this tight election, polls show. The sentiment also hints at racial hurdles that would arise if Obama does become the nation's first black chief executive. "I do think he has that minority thing probably in the back of his mind, deep down," said Charles Palmer of Lafayette, La., a retired oil company manager and registered Democrat who plans to vote for McCain. "He's not going to hurt 'em, let's put it that way." "It's just the attitude blacks have toward the whites in this country," Palmer said. "It's very negative." Palmer has lost about a third of his retirement savings in the stock market tumble, but at age 74 he's not scared of running out of money. Among those closer to the financial edge, however, fear is more stark. A farmer from Eau Claire, Wis., was quoted recently in The New Yorker magazine as saying an Obama presidency would mean "the end of life as we know it," while a retired state employee in Kentucky said he didn't want a black president because "he would put too many minorities in positions over the white race." Obama opened up his biggest lead in the polls in early October, just after Congress and the White House approved the $700 billion economic bailout. The polls have tightened in recent days as the apocalyptic headlines receded. "The economic issue has been enormously beneficial to Obama at the end of the campaign," said Glenn Loury, a professor of social science and economics at Brown University. "So I think you have to say that fear of economic instability and belief that the Democrats in general and Obama in particular are likely to be better on those issues have won out over race." Even in latent form, fear of a black president raises provocative questions: Is it predicated on the belief that the 43 white presidents have favored white citizens, and that a President McCain would do the same? Do people assume that a black president would be powerless against the desire to avenge centuries of slavery and oppression? Are the interests of whites and blacks necessarily opposed? Is power a zero-sum proposition? And what are Obama's thoughts about race-sensitive issues like disproportionate incarceration rates or the war on drugs? "Post-election, with a huge mandate, a lot of these issues will come back and be more intense because it will be a black man setting the agenda for the country," Loury said. Obama has assembled diverse Senate and campaign staffs. His Senate chief of staff, chief campaign strategist and campaign manager are white. McCain did not respond to a request for information about the racial makeup of his staff. When Obama was president of the Harvard Law Review, some liberal and minority editors were critical of Obama for not appointing more minorities to leadership positions, his Harvard classmate Bradford Berenson told the PBS show "Frontline." President Clinton assembled one of the most diverse cabinets in history. President Bush appointed Colin Powell as the first black secretary of state; the 21 cabinet-level positions currently listed on the White House's Web site include Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — Hispanic, Asian-American and black, respectively. Even among white voters who believe that Obama would govern equally, like Dominic Moccio of North Brunswick, N.J., there are concerns rooted in America's rapidly changing racial demographics. "People who are in power set the agenda," said Moccio, who works in information technology at a cosmetics plant. "If Latinos are in power, they're going to set an agenda that tries to make things better for Latinos ... (Obama) doesn't come across that way, but who's going to be influencing him (if he's elected)? Is it going to be Reverend Wright, (Jeremiah Wright, Obama's controversial former pastor), is it going to be Jesse Jackson, or is it going to be Colin Powell?" Moccio, an independent who supports McCain, said he doesn't fear an Obama presidency. But still, "It's hard to be a white male today." "Every time I turn around, I see people being treated special because of their ethnicity, their gender, their sexual orientation," said Moccio, an independent who supports McCain. "All these people are protected. But when I see them, I just see another person that I'm competing with." White men support McCain 55 percent to 33 percent for Obama, compared with 44 percent of all likely voters supporting Obama and 43 percent McCain, according to a AP-GfK poll released last week. Twelve percent of white men in a recent AP-Yahoo poll said the fact Obama would be the first black president would make it less likely they would support him. Ramon Chavez, a University of Oklahoma professor who is Hispanic and Native American, agrees that "it's a scary time for white males, because they're in the last vestiges of their power." "If I'm a white middle-age or older male, I'm looking around me and saying, 'I'm losing power, I'm losing my influence,' and I get a little scared because the tables have turned. And that's OK, that's the way our population and the world is going. So they're going to have to make an adjustment, and that might mean giving up a little bit of power. I can understand why white people are scared right now." Fear can be an irresistible political tool. Obama uses fear about the future of the economy to push people away from the incumbent Republican party of President Bush; McCain leverages fear about values to separate himself from Obama. "I am just so fearful that this is not a man who sees America the way that you and I see America," McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, said on the campaign trail. Liberal critics such as Rep. John Lewis, who accused Republicans of "sowing the seeds of hatred and division," say Palin's language is designed to stoke fear of a black president — a task made easier by the sheer unfamiliarity of the concept. "There's something about everyone to be afraid of," said Moccio. "The biggest thing people are afraid of is the unknown."
I find Mr. Bixler's history fascinating. That he's never been in a black person's house or really known any black people. That's so foreign to my experience; all the kids in my neighborhood when I was growing up were black or hispanic. My best friends were a Tex-Mex, a Uraguayan, and a Columbian. My mother, who grew up in rural occupied and post-War France, never saw a black person until she was 12.
