If the AP is correct and:
The success of President Barack Obama’s ambitious agenda — from health care and climate change to education — could depend on how quickly he recovers from the sharp drop in support among white voters after criticizing a white policeman’s arrest of a black Harvard scholar.
…
Obama’s impromptu comments about the incident could become a defining moment. Nearly immediately after Obama’s remark that police had “acted stupidly” in arresting Gates, his approval rating plummeted among whites, dropping over two days from 53 percent to 46 percent in a poll by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.
Then the Gates affair, whether it was racist itself or not, exposed the dark national underbelly of American racism in general. Certainly the amount of attention it has garnered and the wingnuts it has brought out of the closet support the AP’s contention.
The ironic thing is that whites (of which, to note, I am one) appear to be getting angry that Obama, a black man of course, should imply racism still exists while not acknowledging (or apparently even noticing) that their exaggerated response shows that he’s exactly right – racism exists.
Personally I had assumed it was more, as the quoted Robert Shapiro says:
“I think here any decline in his poll numbers have more to do with the economy, health care, and issues other than the Gates arrest.”
and thus it could be a coincidence:
Shapiro … noted that whites are more likely to be Republicans and independents than Democrats, and that poll numbers, even on a specific question, are almost never pure.
since Republicans and independents are (insanely) lining up against his proposed health care reform.
Still, if the poll numbers and timing are correct, then one has to wonder.
Of course the author of this AP “analysis”, Jennifer Loven, seems to be universally derided as can be seen here and here, so perhaps I should take any “analysis” on her part with a grain of salt.
UPDATE:
I suspect Greg Palast may be correct, the President made the mistake of “turning black”.
UPDATE #2:
Racism, there ain’t no stinking racism in the US! See:
No Racism Here!
This has been going around quite a bit lately.
The problem is, this is exactly the sort of thing us white people will forward or joke about in the privacy of our relationships that can be (are) pretty damning from the outside. In fact most of us, including myself, will pick on just about anyone if it’ll elicit a laugh (we’re whores for humor). Unfortunately these can be pretty hurtful to target race/color/creed/religion, even if at heart (for at least some of us) that is not the intention. Ideally we should be far more sensitive (no, not “ideally” – we should be far more sensitive).
In short I’m not saying it’s right, just that it’s the truth of the matter – in private interactions all stereotypes are fair game and I suspect this behavior is true even for those who aren’t white Christian Americans (or “WASPs” as they called it when I was growing up).
Regardless, the popularity of the above email I think does say a lot about the country and does indicate an undercurrent here.
UPDATE #3:
I just caught the “hammer and cycle” on the above picture. Nice! Didn’t miss a beat with that one!
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