Those who voted for Obama (what the article said) is not the same as Democrats (what you said). For example, 90% of black voters normally vote Dem and 10% vote GOP. Obama got 98% of the black vote - so, if we can assume anything, we can assume those additional black voters said they cared about race - but they were black *Republicans* that voted for Obama. That's about 1% of the total population. That's the only specific group we know that was likely to have said "yes" to the "is race important" question, because that's the group that we know changed their vote compared to historical trends. We started with 9% of the people saying race was an important factor, and those people voting 53-46% for Obama - which happened to be the same proportion as those who didn't care about race (52-46). If you take out the 1% black Obama Republicans from the above (that's 11% of the total 53% Obama) then the other 8% that said race was important voted 46%-42% for McCain. Even if you assume the rest who voted for Obama was Dem and the McCain people were Republican, you end up with more Republicans voting on race than Dems (57%-42%) - it just included a lot of Black Republicans that voted for Obama. This is the problem with trying to do surface analysis of statistics and trying to make them say things they don't.
And here I was interested in an article that simply says race was more of an issue on the left. Silly me.
That's the problem here - the statistics don't actually say that. All it says is that more people that admitted that race was important voted for Obama than McCain. But more people that said race wasn't important also voted for Obama over McCain, at the same rate. So what does that tell us? We also know not all racists would admit racism to a live exit pollsters, while people with "black pride" probably would. So is the data distorted there? We have no idea. But beyond that, The Next Right misinterpreted the data we did have to show something that wasn't really the case. Even my numbers are only a best guess - we know the Black Obama Republican effect because we have years of history on how black voters vote. But we have no idea amongst the other 8% if they were White Dems with white guilt, or White GOPers excited about the idea of getting past race, or whomever else. While also being an important factor, did it change people's votes? If a black Dem says they voted for Obama due to race, would they have still voted for Clinton or some other white Democrat? What about a white GOP member that voted for McCain due to race? Would he or she have voted for a white Dem? The initial article tried to make conclusions that aren't really supported by the facts, which are fairly limited.
I don't disagree with you, which is why I said what I did a page or two back about 100 Nazis and 100 NAACP members: race is important to both of them, though in entirely different ways. So the reality of the question really has no meaning. Ask a Klansman if race is important. Now ask a black guy voting for a black president. They could both very well say yes. I get all of that. My point is that we just came off an historic election where there was some race-baiting going on against the right. And this article, regardless of whether the question in subject is inherently flawed, says that the conservative members of our society didn't care about race while those on the left did. That, to me, is relevant, of interest, and worthy of discussion, and not just flawed and wrong because someone some people don't like pointed it out.
I hate to join the pile on but I think you are still missing the point. Or making much more about a point that what is really there. Of course race was an issue in this election whether left or right. This was the first black to be a candidate of a major party after all. What the article polling shows though was that race while it was an issue was in no way decisive to the election and you are seeking to inflate an issue that ended up having little to no bearing on the result of the election.
My only point was to come to basso's defense re: whether or not the article had any relevance. I believe it did for reasons I've already stated. That's pretty much it.
spammy, how would you critique That Magical One's response as to who's to blame? [rquoter]Barack Obama, the World's Greatest Orator (™all news organisations), didn't exactly cover himself in glory when the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson asked him a question about who was to blame for the financial crisis. Normally word perfect, Obama ummed, ahed and waffled for the best part of two and a half minutes. Here, John Crace decodes what he was really thinking ... Nick Robinson: "A question for you both, if I may. The prime minister has repeatedly blamed the United States of America for causing this crisis. France and Germany both blame Britain and America for causing this crisis. Who is right? And isn't the debate about that at the heart of the debate about what to do now?" Brown immediately swivels to leave Obama in pole position. There is a four-second delay before Obama starts speaking [THANKS FOR NOTHING, GORDY BABY. REMIND ME TO HANG YOU OUT TO DRY ONE DAY.] Barack Obama: "I, I, would say that, er ... pause [I HAVEN'T A CLUE] ... if you look at ... pause [WHO IS THIS NICK ROBINSON JERK?] ... the, the sources of this crisis ... pause [JUST KEEP GOING, BUDDY] ... the United States certainly has some accounting to do with respect to . . . pause [I'M IN WAY TOO DEEP HERE] ... a regulatory system that was inadequate to the massive changes that have taken place in the global financial system ... pause, close eyes [THIS IS GOING TO GO DOWN LIKE A CROCK OF **** BACK HOME. HELP]. I think what is also true is that ... pause [I WANT NICK ROBINSON TO DISAPPEAR] ... here in Great Britain ... pause [****, GORDY'S THE HOST, DON'T LAND HIM IN IT] ... here in continental Europe ... pause [DAMN IT, BLAME EVERYONE.] ... around the world. We were seeing the same mismatch between the regulatory regimes that were in place and er ... pause [I'VE LOST MY TRAIN OF THOUGHT AGAIN] ... the highly integrated, er, global capital markets that have emerged ... pause [I'M REALLY WINGING IT NOW]. So at this point, I'm less interested in ... pause [YOU] ... identifying blame than fixing the problem. I think we've taken some very aggressive steps in the United States to do so, not just responding to the immediate crisis, ensuring banks are adequately capitalised, er, dealing with the enormous, er ... pause [WHY DIDN'T I QUIT WHILE I WAS AHEAD?] ... drop-off in demand and contraction that has taken place. More importantly, for the long term, making sure that we've got a set of, er, er, regulations that are up to the task, er, and that includes, er, a number that will be discussed at this summit. I think there's a lot of convergence between all the parties involved about the need, for example, to focus not on the legal form that a particular financial product takes or the institution it emerges from, but rather what's the risk involved, what's the function of this product and how do we regulate that adequately, much more effective coordination, er, between countries so we can, er, anticipate the risks that are involved there. Dealing with the, er, problem of derivatives markets, making sure we have set up systems, er, that can reduce some of the risks there. So, I actually think ... pause [FANTASTIC. I'VE LOST EVERYONE, INCLUDING MYSELF] ... there's enormous consensus that has emerged in terms of what we need to do now and, er ... pause [I'M OUTTA HERE. TIME FOR THE USUAL CLOSING BOLLOCKS] ... I'm a great believer in looking forwards than looking backwards.[/rquoter] The fresh prince has no clothes.
Way to use someone blog to convey your thought. Typical. If you watch any interview......or any press conference......you can use the pauses to do the same thing. Grow up little one. Your really sad.
Obama was just being polite and making sure his hosts had time to translate into their native tongue.
8 years? I pray Americans wake up in 4 years. The administration running this country is driving us to a government dependent society. That kills spirit of going above and beyond. Entrepreneurship will be a thing only the extremly rich can pursue. I'm just telling you. Please wake up and stop watching msnbc, abc, and all of the obviously bias Entertainment/News shows. The media is pumping Americans full of B.S. Please do your own research when it comes to politics. Don't take someones word for it.
