Race And The Vote

Jacob Weisberg in slate.com has written a provocative article entitled "If Obama Loses Racism is the only reason McCain might beat him." Weisberg contends

If you break the numbers down, the reason Obama isn't ahead right now is that he trails badly among one group, older white voters. He does so for a simple reason: the color of his skin.... His defeat would say that when handed a perfect opportunity to put the worst part of our history behind us, we chose not to. In this event, the world's judgment will be severe and inescapable: The United States had its day but, in the end, couldn't put its own self-interest ahead of its crazy irrationality over race.

There is so much wrong with this argument. But for now consider just this: discussion of the impact of race upon this election- and the fight for the Democratic nomination- invariably has centered upon the tendency of whites to vote against the black candidate, for the Caucasian candidate.

This is an important phenomenon to consider- but the (I would think) obvious corollary is this: to what extent have blacks been inclined to vote for the black candidate over the white candidate? According to the CNN Political Ticker of May 6, 1998, this is the percentage of the African-American vote garned by Obama in various states: Georgia, 89%; Ohio, 87%; Pennsylvania, 90%; North Carolina, 91%; Indiana, 92%. And little has changed as the general election looms: Rassmussen reports that as of August 13, 2008, Obama is supported by 93% of African-American voters in North Carolina.

There always has been a racial component in American elections. No one would, or at least has, criticized the overwhelming black vote, in both percentage and turnout, for Obama. But to conclude simultaneously that white people are motivated primarily by race, that John McCain can win only because of white racism, or that consideration of race is exclusive to Caucasians is not only narrow-minded but also inaccurate.