WASHINGTON — Is it because he’s black?

without doubt... much easier to blame people of another race or color when things arent going well....

"That can be difficult for folks who don’t see a problem. Joseph, for one, doesn’t buy the foundational idea of unconscious bias, that America remains afflicted by a racist past. “You get in the real world, and I just don’t see it,” he said."

Problem is, with the definition of "unconscious bias", he wouldn't realize it ,would he?

It is the American election, Mud slinging at its best!

In the case of the President, and in many parts of the country, I think it goes beyond race, to a more generalized "He ain't like us" sort of attitude. The suspicious name, the childhood in Indonesia, the allegedly forged birth certificate, a youth spent in Hawaii, of all places... These all add fuel to the fires of ignorant thinking that smolder across an alarmingly broad swath of our country. Outside of a handful of major cities, America has yet to truly embrace a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural future, and I think that, indeed, the rich old white men of the Republican party and other constituencies do, indeed, feel threatened by President Obama's having gained the presidency as a person of color. (I count Michael Steele's unspectacular two-year stint as head of the RNC as an aberration...)

I remember a poster on JT in another article, commenting that Obama's presidency was a "failed affirmative action experiment". That sounds pretty racist if you ask me.

Obama is also half white. I don't understand why half black = black. He could just as easily be called white, right? I don't get it.

As donburi pointed out, Obama is half-white as well as half-black, but he isn't seen stumping to his white roots.

I smell a red-herring in this article. Just trying to stir up racism.

My great-great-grandmother was mulatto. I detest Obama for his Marxist principles.

"Two attendees who threw peanuts at a black TV camerawoman while commenting “this is what we feed animals” were swiftly ejected and denounced by Republican organizers."

these are attendees at a political gathering? wow, I can just say wow

Nope, just his lack of delivery on so many of his promises.

I don't understand why half black = black.

Because racism used to be mainstream, and during those times, that is how it was defined, to self-servingly bolster the standing of being pure White. As late as 1964 in America, Barrack Obama would have been expected to drink from the "Colored" water fountain.

In fact, for many racists, the worst thing to be is not pure anything, but a mix.

I appreciate the fact that the human mind seeks to create order and understanding from chaos. But the trouble is that the lower a person's IQ is, the more simple they want to imagine the order to be, or force it to be. Dumb people tend to want to separate White, Black, and Asian to try and believe they have made sense of a world that is far too complex for them especially to understand. And while more intelligent people can accept the ambiguity of the world, dumb people get very insecure and even angry about it.

Racism definitely lingers, and it definitely affects perceptions about Obama even if everyone denies it. You can see people seethe hate for Obama and then when asked for solid reasons why, you can tell they are fishing for excuses. Some are covering racism and some are covering other beliefs just as crazy. People who have solid reasons to feel negative about Obama don't need to fish around and offer half-baked random excuses for it.

And you know what? Racism, low IQ and conservative beliefs are linked. So its no surprise that we get hate for Obama from the right so often with so little said to explain it. http://www.livescience.com/18132-intelligence-social-conservatism-racism.html

The trouble is that the racists cannot be clearly identified, because unlike in the past, they are hiding the fact of their racism. So we cannot nail down a percentage, but its definitely there. In fact, with some people, its subconscious, and they don't even realize their hate for Obama is sourced from racism!

All that said, specific allegations of racism are usually not made with enough evidence and are therefore very often incorrect and unfair. I never accused anyone of it, although I sometimes suspect.

Obama is going to get nearly %100 percent of the black vote. They're only voting for him BECAUSE he's black.

Plenty of whites are voting for him as well.

Who's more racist?

The question should be "Does racial bias fuel Obama supporters?" As gaijinfo pointed out, Obama will get nearly 100% of the black vote ( again ).

America still has racist issues & discrimination.

Obama has political leanings way Too Far LEFT for my taste., and his policies on the international scene are appalling,but the # 1 reason I won't vote for this man is his utter Failure on the economic homefront, as for his racial makeup ,it matters Not!- As for my pocketbook- OUCH! ! !

Richard Milhouse Nixon turned the South Republican in 1968 when he voiced support for "states rights." That is a not-so-subtle euphemism for the right to turn away what we used to call "colored" from restaurants, motels, public transport, public schools, and so on. The southern states will never forgive the rest of the country for jamming "civil rights" down their collective throats. If they had it their way, slavery would probably still be legal. Anyway the red states of the old Confederacy vote as a block (formerly known as the "solid South" until Nixon captured them). They'll use every trick in the book to keep blacks from exercising their legal rights as US citizens to vote. I would like to think that Mr. Romney, who comes from Michigan originally, does not support those views, but in order to gain the support of the people who wield power in Dixie he really doesn't have much choice. Is the Republican party in its present reincarnation racist? As someone who has lived in Texas, Georgia, Florida and North Carolina, there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that racism is the driving force in their politics.

I do not know that the President will get the entire black vote again this time around, I am a White-American but I will vote for Obama again. I do feel that because he is half black by race that this has been an issue that he has had to deal with for the last 4 years. The thing is, there are Black-Americans that do not support the President because he is not a 100% Black-American. I feel that the real issues of nothing being done in Washington, is not so much the President, but a lack of wanting to work together to do what is best for America by the House and Senate. As my writing details, I did not say that I was an Irish-American, you are either Irish or you are an American. The hyphen divides a nation. So, with that said, the President is an American not an African-American. He is black by race, he should have the same respect as any American in this country. It is sad that in America today race and ones color of their skin has to still be an issue.

What a load of utter crap, and what a cop-out by liberals to even entertain the suggestion that because the President’s policies are so opposed is because of race. Sure there are a few good old boys who just don’t want to see ‘a [insert any horrible racial slur]’ in the White House, but to say that it is a typical conservative attitude is stupid, arrogant and wrong.

What don’t you get? This country was basically formed as a reaction to what was seen as unfair taxes that disrupted a free market economy; too much of big government (in this case the British Monarchy) in the common man’s business. What is liberal policy, and specifically Obama’s policy? Increase taxes and government role in business and everyday life. Whether you deny it or not it is a marked move towards at least a slight form of socialism that is not what America is about. This administration has been particularly arrogant in forcing through legislation that the American people did not really want or understand (in the case of Obamacare – even the liberal lawmakers hadn’t read the bill or understood most of it, or its implications). Stimulus spending hasn’t done anything except increase national debt, and the economy is still in the crapper (blaming Bush for anything and everything is getting tiresome and very old). I don’t care if the Mr. Obama is green or some shade of indigo. I don’t like his policies and the direction he is taking my country. By his DNC speech he seems to have some vague and idealistic goals for the US, but no substance about how to get to that point. That has absolutely nothing to do with his race.

What might be more telling is the fact that many blacks will vote for Obama simply because he is black. That’s racist, is it not? And if you don’t believe that happens, just look at Marion Barry’s political career as example, plus it’s pretty much admitted fact in the black community.

Your average liberal haughtily claims to be racist-free, but let’s be real here. Look at your average liberal enclave of academia (Berkley comes to mind). How many black people live in that community? Let’s look at your average liberal yuppie community where everyone claims to be socially active and drives around in those ridiculous smart cars and claims to be ‘living green’. How many folks of color in that neighborhood? And if some ‘gangsta’ moved in, how many whispers behind drawn curtain and looks of fear would be thrown by the enlightened, non-racist liberal elite? Your liberal pals in Hollywood; that town is known to be racist in the black community - how many black mega-stars are there as opposed to the average white-bread type? Do Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon have black neighbors?

This whole idea that conservatives are a bunch of knuckle dragging klan members is stupid rubbish made up by hypocrite liberals simply because they can’t stand that everyone doesn’t think their man is brilliant. Dissent is not allowed, or you are nothing but an extremist, racist monster. What happened to the idea that liberals are supposed to be so open-minded? Oh, I get it – they’re only open-mined if you agree with them. I see.

People seem to be confusing two issues. Is there racial inequality and issues in the the US? Most certainly, but that's not the question. Do most conservatives dislike the President because of color? No, it's because of his policies. The true deep-seated racists will vote one way or the other because of color, but that isn't and shouldn't be construed as the norm for conservatives as a whole. The generalization is made partly out of arrogance, and partly as just a tool to demonize the opposition.

donburiSep. 19, 2012 - 05:58PM JST Obama is also half white. I don't understand why half black = black. He could just as easily be called white, right? I don't get it.

Shhhh! Don't be logical, you'll scare the living daylights out of the rednecks!

DNA analysis has shown that the average "white" American has a black ancestor within the last 6 generations. Sure, that only makes them 16% "black", but most commonly the right wingers adopt a "just one drop" definition when they want to label someone as "black".

I find it extremely ironic that the U.S. is incredibly racist against black people... when almost every single American would be considered "black" by the definition they use. It's hilarious!

Okay I'm white, and I oppose President Obama. But why do those two things automatically have to be considered to be linked? Why can't it be because I feel like his economic policies are crippling our recovery and pose a serious threat to the future wellbeing of the country? Why can't it be because he's used executive orders to get around having things decided be congress more often than his last 3 predecessors combined?Why can't it be because he refuses to let the DoJ enforce immigration law, fire arms laws, or hate crimes laws? I can name a half dozen conservative blacks I would be more than happy to see as president.

I oppose Obama because he's a leftist and he's bad for the future of my country.

@whisky

America still has racist issues & discrimination.

Not only America, most of the world is still racist, don't go there.

no one really cares if Obama is black or mixed, that argument is a talking point liberals use as an excuse to cover up their failed and flawed policies. Since most people that got Obama elected were white anyway. America has come a long way. You don't see that anywhere in Europe East or West or Australia, Canada, even Latin America, and you won't for a very long time. The problem is Obama's policies, not his color. If you try to govern more in the middle instead of holding on to strict liberal progressives principles, things could get halfway done, but it will never happen with this president. Obama is no Bill Clinton.

Tigermoth, excellent post. The main point about any candidate should be whether they do/will actually support and defend the Constitution.

Martin Luther King, Jr., said it best: Judge a man by his character, not by the color of his skin.

Obama's skin color is no concern to me. It's the color of his politics -- marxist red -- that I have an issue with.

RR

America still has racist issues & discrimination.

Well which country doesn't?

I'm always amazed when I see people accuse Obama of being Marxist and of having "far-left principles." Ronald Reagan, who is considered by many conservatives as being the Superman of the Republican Party, had a higher tax rate and more government employees when he was President than Obama. So if Obama is a Marxist, what does that make Reagan? Even if Obama is able to raise taxes, the tax rate will still be lower than what it was under Clinton. And Clinton, if you'll recall, was considered to be a moderate Democrat.

The problem here is that the Republicans keep telling the Democrats to move more towards the middle. And every time the Democrats do, the Republicans move more towards the right. What was once "moderate" in America is now called "far left" and "Marxist" or "socialist" by the conservatives. And it's patently ridiculous.

If you had access to a time machine and pulled Ronald Reagan out of the 80s and dropped him into the recent Republican primary, he'd be considered a left-wing loon or a RINO -- Republican In Name Only.

And even if you're a conservative and legitimately oppose Obama due to his policies, that's fine, I can understand that. But to act as if there's no racism in the Republican campaign shows you are willing keeping your eyes shut. The birther issue for one has a massive racial bias (McCain was actually born in a foreign country -- Panama -- but there was zero stink coming from the Republicans about him being illegitimate). And despite being debunked -- numerous times -- Republicans still stoke that image by passing laws like requiring Presidential candidates to present their birth certificates. What about when Huckabee said Obama grew up in Kenya, deliberately stoking the birther nonsense? How about Sununu saying he "wishes Obama would learn to be an American"? What about the Romney staffer who said that Romney would have a better relationship with the UK than Obama because Romney appreciates the shared Anglo-Saxon heritage? What about when Romney described Obama's policies as "foreign"? And what about all the right-wing crazies who still accuse Obama of being Muslim?

These are code words. They're a way of saying, "he's different, he's OTHER, he's not one of us, he's an outsider." It is absolutely race-baiting and anyone who says otherwise is clearly living in denial.