Voters' Pride

So I’m watching CNN coverage of the Oregon and Kentucky primary election returns last night and the commentators began a round-robin discussion of racism in the electorate, dissecting exit polls in which a high percentage of voters admitted voting for Hillary Clinton because of her race – or simply because she’s not “black”. Then came the suggestions, with one commentator after another piling on, that Clinton go public and repudiate voters voting along the racial divide who gave her victories in West Virginia and Kentucky. It was in those states, after all, that exit polls showed race had a major affect on the way the electorate cast their ballots. This kind of stupidity is what makes television a danger to all who swallow the bait, hook, line and sinker.

Dr. King looked forward to a time “when a man is not judged by the color of his skin,” and we’ve come a long way in this regard over the past half century. But let’s face the facts: It may not be racism, but ethnic and racial pride that motivates voters to vote the way they do. John F. Kennedy got the Irish and Catholic vote when he ran for president in 1960; Michael Dukakis garnered a huge proportion of the Greek vote when he was running in 1988 as the Democratic nominee for President; white Anglo Saxon Protestants have voted in overwhelming numbers for their candidates since the Republic was founded. So it should come as no surprise that Barack Obama would score the vast majority of the black vote in North Carolina -- and every other state he’s run in.

Yet, no commentator has asked Obama to repudiate voters who would vote for him solely on the basis of his racial heritage, and why would they? It's expected that people will stick together to advance their goals and objectives, just as one would expect many women to vote for Clinton on the basis of gender, as she seeks to break through yet another glass ceiling.

So, if Hillary Clinton wins votes in “white states”, well, that’s no different than when Obama wins in the “black states”. When you go to the polls, look beyond the obvious. Look back to see where you've been, forward to where you want to go, and to the candidate whose ethics, ideals, experience and vision are most likely to lead you there.