issue of race/issue of trust
Posted by popkitchen | Filed under politics
Big day. For Americans. Some would like us to believe for the rest of the world, as well.
In my life there have been quite a few US elections (first I remember are Bush Sr. – Doukakis, I believe in 88), but these ones have been pronounced to be monumental and historic from the very start. I do not remember people following primaries so closely, as they did this time. Mostly likely, it was due to the appearance of the woman (Hillary Clinton) or black man (Barrack Obama).
Last night, there was a panel discussion here on BBC about the outcome of the elections, where all the participants – democratic and republic strategists, civil rights activists and journalists, agreed that Obama is “transcendental” candidate in a sense that he surpasses race, meaning that people who are not voting for him are doing so because they disagree with his liberal views, not because of the color of his skin. I beg do differ.
Ok, so it might not be race that is off-putting. But it is some kind of Otherness that scares people. How else would you explain what the supporters at Republican Party rallies are saying. Why aren’t you voting for Obama?
“I don’t trust him.”
“He will bring Al Qaida to America. He is a terrorist”
“He is the cousin of Saddam Hussein, this is where his middle name comes from.”
In relation to this, being black is so familiar. Many parts of America are still very, very ignorant.
Tags: obama, us elections
