Post-Racial Society? Maybe for Honkies

[XLFD]

Back on the day after Barack Obama became our first African-American president, it was decided by many that the USA may have entered a post-racial period of our society. Obama's campaign used this to great effect to get much of the 'white vote', as Shelby Steele of the LA Times said on the day after:

"For the first time in human history, a largely white nation has elected a black man to be its paramount leader. And the cultural meaning of this unprecedented convergence of dark skin and ultimate power will likely become -- at least for a time -- a national obsession. In fact, the Obama presidency will always be read as an allegory. Already we are as curious about the cultural significance of his victory as we are about its political significance.

Does his victory mean that America is now officially beyond racism? Does it finally complete the work of the civil rights movement so that racism is at last dismissible as an explanation of black difficulty? Can the good Revs. Jackson and Sharpton now safely retire to the seashore? Will the Obama victory dispel the twin stigmas that have tormented black and white Americans for so long -- that blacks are inherently inferior and whites inherently racist? Doesn't a black in the Oval Office put the lie to both black inferiority and white racism? Doesn't it imply a "post-racial" America? And shouldn't those of us -- white and black -- who did not vote for Mr. Obama take pride in what his victory says about our culture even as we mourn our political loss?

...This worked politically for Obama because it tapped into a deep longing in American life -- the longing on the part of whites to escape the stigma of racism. In running for the presidency -- and presenting himself to a majority white nation -- Obama knew intuitively that he was dealing with a stigmatized people. He knew whites were stigmatized as being prejudiced, and that they hated this situation and literally longed for ways to disprove the stigma.

Obama is what I have called a "bargainer" -- a black who says to whites, "I will never presume that you are racist if you will not hold my race against me." Whites become enthralled with bargainers out of gratitude for the presumption of innocence they offer. Bargainers relieve their anxiety about being white and, for this gift of trust, bargainers are often rewarded with a kind of halo.

Obama's post-racial idealism told whites the one thing they most wanted to hear: America had essentially contained the evil of racism to the point at which it was no longer a serious barrier to black advancement. Thus, whites became enchanted enough with Obama to become his political base. It was Iowa -- 95% white -- that made him a contender. Blacks came his way only after he won enough white voters to be a plausible candidate."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-oe-steele5-2008nov...

In 2008, Obama did have a considerable part of the white vote, winning 43% of that demographic(McCain 55%). This actually was a better showing than fellow Democrat John Kerry got in 2004, who won only 41% (vs. GWB's 58%) of that white vote. Kerry and Obama generally share the same views, so it can be said that his race may have actually benefitted his presidential bid among whites, using the type of rationale Ms. Steele uses.

You will note from the two elections that after GWB scored 9% of the black vote in 2000 against Gore, he scored 11% of the black vote against Kerry (9-11, hmm), and McCain got only 4% of that demographic in 2008 against Obama. Now that Obama has spent four years in office as the first black president, to modest reviews, one might presume the Republicans might bounce up closer to the ten percent mark, particularly since Romney has tried to court the black vote at times.

Guess again. A poll with a sampling of just over a hundred black respondents in August showed a statistical anomaly. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal presidential poll showed Obama capturing 94% of the black vote and Romney getting none. Zero, nada, nil. There are black Republicans and they will vote for Romney, but none of these 120 plus blacks said they would. If we believe in statistical methods, he could receive up to that 4% of McCain's, but then conceivably get -4% as well if that were possible.

Is there any policy that Romney has advocated or proposed to negatively affect one race over the others? Has he made racially insensitive comments? Has he shown himself to be adamantly opposed to any issues that the black demographic generally embraces? Does he come off as someone who is racist?

I can't think of any reasons to not answer "no" to all these questions, so why the low numbers? Blacks are statistically more homophobic than whites, Obama has recently came out strongly for more rights for gays, Romney thinks more in line with black voters. Zero bounce.

Romney came up with Romneycare years before Obamacare was printed out with 5 reams of paper, with a safety net for health care for all in Massachusetts. Zero bounce.

If we go on a case by case look at the differences between the two candidates, I bet you would find many blacks agreeing more in line with Romney, than with Obama. In fact, there is only one reason I can think of for why Romney would get zero percent in this poll and likely will get less of the black vote than McCain. But blacks can't be racist, can they?