Discuss: Is America ready for an African American President? [View All]

[Tropics_Dude83]

Some numbers to start the discussion:

From various sources: Pew, Politco and MSNBC

There are indications that some Democrats might defect if Obama is the party's nominee. Overall, 20% of white Democratic voters say they would vote for McCain if Obama is the Democratic nominee. That is twice the percentage of white Democrats who say they would support McCain in a Clinton-McCain matchup. Older Democrats (ages 65 and older), lower-income and less educated Democrats also would support McCain at higher levels if Obama rather than Clinton is the party's nominee.

Nearly two-thirds of whites were backing Clinton in Ohio — one of her strongest showings of the year _ and almost that many were behind her in Texas. Obama had edged her among those voters in recent primaries in Virginia and Wisconsin in a campaign that has seen some racial polarization since January, following sharp exchanges between the two campaigns.

But both exit polling and copious anecdotes from my colleagues on the trail suggest that some Ohioans were less read than white voters elsewhere to elect, as Obama says, a black guy with a funny name.

Eloise Harper and Kate Snow got a little of the flavor of that from the guy at the Clinton rally last night from a guy roaming the hall in an "Osama for Obama" shirt. And the exit polls had about 20% of Democrats (and these are Democrats, remember) saying that race was a factor in their decision; of those,three quarters went for Clinton.


Martin Luther King's dream has a long way to go.

Just FYI for everyone in case people think I'm an embittered African American, I'm actually a young white dude from the pacific northwest. I find the above highly disturbing. Also, it's interesting for all the comments about sexism, what about racism? Blacks have just as much if not more of a tortured history than females regardless what Gloria Stenimen would have us believe.