Miscellaneous

Black political leadership increases at every level (a harbinger of things to come)

While Barack Obama's lead in national polls continues to grow against rival John McCain, many continue to express concern about the role that racism may play in the voting booth. Some pundits and pollsters suggest that people may be more likely to express support for Obama to a pollster than to follow through and vote for him; the idea is that in the privacy behind the curtain, latent racism may arise. It is extremely difficult to measure the extent to which this phenomenon will be a force in the election, but some have estimated that Obama needs a healthy 4-9 point lead going in to the election to secure a win.

However, the NYTimes reported today on the rapid increase in the number of black politicians in majority-white areas throughout the country, a development that suggests race may play a smaller role in the presidential election than has been previously assumed. The story focuses on black state representatives and city councilpeople in extremely white states like New Hampshire, Iowa and Minnesota. While these politicians do face racist attitudes by some of their constituents, they have been able to overcome many assumptions and fears and to gain support from their communities, regardless of race.

Hooray.

Full post as published by Quiz Law on October 15, 2008 (boomark / email).