An Obama victory could damage affirmative action
What impact would a black in the White House have on racial preferences? The liberal left has not done much by way of debating the issue thus far in the presidential race. But the conservative right sure has. The Boston Globe's Web site in March ran an article relating the fact that anti-affirmative action conservatives are "seizing" on Obama's run as proof of how passe race-based remedies are for past discrimination:
"Influential Republicans and a growing number of policy specialists at conservative organizations, including the Goldwater Institute, Project 21, and the Manhattan Institute, are citing the fact that large numbers of white voters are supporting Obama, who leads in the race for Democratic delegates, as evidence that affirmative action has run its course. Ward Connerly, a black conservative who is leading a national effort to ban racial preferences, vowed to use Obama's success as evidence for anti-affirmative action ballot initiatives his organization is promoting in five states."
It seems like ancient history, but this time last year and even into the fall of '07, Sen. Hillary Clinton was garnering the majority of support from black voters. Until she made her ill-considered remarks (which appeared to diminish the accomplishments of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and bolstered the role played by President Lyndon Johnson in passing civil rights laws) Clinton was backed by some three-quarters of black voters.
By the end of the primaries, of course, Obama amassed 90 percent of the black vote. But earlier on I remember asking several black friends why the black community was supporting Clinton by such large margins when there was a black candidate in the primary race. The most common response was that blacks trusted Clinton more to do more for their community.
This is, of course, anecdotal information unsubstantiated by data. Most voters at the time (white, black and every other color) didn't know much about Obama's record, so that could have been why they told pollsters they were backing Clinton over Obama. Clinton and her husband both went on to make inexplicably stupid remarks about race. That could have been why she lost majority black support.
Recent comments
Interesting food for thought... Elect a totally incompetent person...
Interesting... | July 20, 2008 at 8:43 a.m.
We can, and apparently shall, find every columnist in the nation...
GoGama | July 20, 2008 at 7:59 a.m.
The end of affirmative action gives me one more reason to support...
Was a Democrat | July 20, 2008 at 3:45 a.m.
