Remember the firestorm that erupted when Ed Rendell came out with these comments?
"You've got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate," the Governor said, ironically, to a black reporter. "I believe, looking at the returns in my election, that had Lynn Swann [2006 Republican gubernatorial candidate] been the identical candidate that he was -- well-spoken, charismatic, good-looking -- but white instead of black, instead of winning by 22 points, I would have won by 17 or so."
I was pretty upset when he said those comments. Of course they followed Obama's Louisiana primary victory.
As reported on the Huffington Post:
This is the second time in as many days that the topic of Obama's racial appeal (or, in Rendell's case, lack of biracial appeal) has been brought up by the Clinton campaign. Yesterday, the Senator herself suggested that Obama's weekend win in the Louisiana primary was the product of, primarily, the black vote."In the case of Louisiana," she said, "you know, a very strong and very proud African-American electorate, which I totally respect and understand."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/12 /rendell-some-whites-won_n_86246.html
So, there has been all kinds of talk about the "race card" being played. I for one, thought we had moved to a point where we are ready to elect an African-American to the highest office. I still think we are, but after reading mydd over the last few weeks, it will be more difficult than I had hoped.
Then of course diaries began popping up that gave me pause such as one with an openly racist comment such as this:
When death reigned out of the sky on 9/11, 2001, and stock brokers and financial analysis's were running downstairs out of the burning towers, firemen were running upstairs to rescue the wounded and the helpless. Close to 350 white guys gave their lives that day in the service of their country. And the whole world took their hat off to them. It is about time the Democratic Party did the same.
And the diarist follow-up with these comments:
to me a racist comment would be I am not voting for some no-good n---. What she is saying is she is fearful that if an AA gets elected her little share of the pie will get even smaller. Working class whites and AAs have been pitted against each other for a long time. Those fears have to be addressed. Unfortunately, Obama doesn't seem to like white people. His pastor is bigtime serious in this regard.
The sad thing is that comment was uprated by two users of this supposedly progressive web site. See here: http://www.mydd.com/comments/2008/4/24/1 93334/383/60?mode=alone;showrate=1#60
The diary can be found here:http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/4/24/1933 34/383
More below the fold...
Now a new diary says:
This is the worst aspect of racial preferences where the rules are changed to aid a minority. Were a white candidate to run with the same qualifications:
say a dennis kucinch, john edwards, etc.
He would have no chance.
It can be found here: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/4/27/1450 17/355
So, many of us progressives haven't moved as far along as we should be. That doesn't mean we shouldn't nominate Obama....it just means we will have to work harder to win some people's hearts and minds when we do.
UPDATED: Comment left in another hit diary.Affirmative Action is evil; and Yes it is the reason why Barack Obama is ahead in the Primary.http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/4/27/181245/542 Speaks for itself.
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