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Racism and the Election

by John F. Tamburo, Editor in Chief, Publisher
Originally Posted: 10/31/2008 5:28:17 PM

Erica Jong, the extreme leftist author, predicts that America’s streets will erupt in race riots if Barack Obama loses the 2008 Presidential election.  Susan Estrich, who is best remembered for her statement on Fox news four years ago, "Either every exit poll I’ve seen is wrong or John Kerry has won this election," states that the only thing that could cause Mr. Obama to lose is racism.  Clarence Page opines that Mr. Obama needs to be ahead in the polls by more than six points to overcome closet racism.

As Rush and numerous pundits state, this racism is not within the GOP ranks.  The GOP base will vote for the GOP candidate.  The base would turn out for Condi Rice just as much as for John McCain.    Some leftists accuse the GOP of racism for refusing to vote for the other party’s candidate.  Such criticisms are facially absurd.  If Mr. Obama loses to a racist "Bradley effect," which I see as a real probability, it will be because Democrats refuse to vote for the black man.

Hillary Clinton’s wins in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Texas illustrate Democrat racism.  The Bradley effect was real this Spring; there is no reason to suspect that the effect has magicaly disappeared in the Fall.  It’s just not the GOP.  We cannot magically cause Democrats to vote for McCain; they choose to stay home or to vote McCain all by themselves. 

Ms. Jong is not the only one who threatens the public with race riots lest they vote Obama, James Carville made the same threat a few weeks ago.  These talking heads do no good for the Obama case.  Racists are not likely to be intimidated into voting Obama by the threat of a race riot.

What about independent racism?  What about it?  If it’s there it will be a factor, but I think that most independents will be motivated to vote McCain because of Mr. Obama’s semi-communist, extreme socialist policies, not his skin color.  As we watch the Obama maximum permitted income drop from $250,000 to $200,000 to $150,000 to $120,000 (see article here), people who are now in secure senior union jobs realize that Mr. Obama’s visible vacuum cleaner is headed for their wallets.  This also does not account for the fact that Mr. Obama has pledged to allow the Bush tax rate cuts to expire, meaning an effective tax increase to everyone making over $42,000 per year.  Mr. Obama conceded in public that tax rate cuts increase federal revenue size, but maintains that he wants to increase taxes on the productive to be "fair."  John McCain has seized on this; Sarah Palin has gone to town on this.  Independents who vote McCain are more likely to vote their wallets than any putative racial preference. 

Therefore, if Mr. Obama fails to secure as much Democrat base as Mr. Kerry in 2004, call that loss racism.  If Mr. Obama loses independents, that’ anti-socialist backlash.  After all the GOP base will vote GOP.  Period.  GOP votes will be, as they have been since the party put Mr. Lincoln into office, the opposite of racist.