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ORIGINAL: saved9201

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ORIGINAL: cow451

That said, I think most voters are more ready than you think. He is bi-racial. If you notice popular culture, many people are drawn to bi-racial celebrities who self-identify as black: Tiger Woods, Halle Berry, Mariah Carey, Soledad Obrien, Derek Jeter. Perhaps, these people are perceived as "safer" by whites. At any rate, just a thought.

What do all the people you mentioned have in common? All are athletes or entertainers. Again note the latest two McCain ads: Obama playing basketball and Obama as Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. The message?Obama is an athlete and an entertainer, both perfectly acceptable roles, but not president. Why did he actually drop in the polls after having his European tour? I think there are people who saw him looking "presidential" and felt uneasy. Then he came back and started "measuring the drapes" so to speak, for the white house. He's getting too close. There are fans of his who will continue to drop out as they file out of the theater as the credits roll. "Okay, that was a great movie, but now it's over and we have to elect a REAL president. So line up the white guys and lets get this over with." Again, I don't think this is racist because there are going to be blacks with the same attitude. Some people have simply become conditioned to accepting certain people in certain roles and Obama or someone who looks like him as President of the United States isn't one they're ready for yet.

- Julius

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ORIGINAL: cow451

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ORIGINAL: saved9201

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ORIGINAL: cow451

That said, I think most voters are more ready than you think. He is bi-racial. If you notice popular culture, many people are drawn to bi-racial celebrities who self-identify as black: Tiger Woods, Halle Berry, Mariah Carey, Soledad Obrien, Derek Jeter. Perhaps, these people are perceived as "safer" by whites. At any rate, just a thought.

What do all the people you mentioned have in common? All are athletes or entertainers. Again note the latest two McCain ads: Obama playing basketball and Obama as Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. The message?Obama is an athlete and an entertainer, both perfectly acceptable roles, but not president. Why did he actually drop in the polls after having his European tour? I think there are people who saw him looking "presidential" and felt uneasy. Then he came back and started "measuring the drapes" so to speak, for the white house. He's getting too close. There are fans of his who will continue to drop out as they file out of the theater as the credits roll. "Okay, that was a great movie, but now it's over and we have to elect a REAL president. So line up the white guys and lets get this over with." Again, I don't think this is racist because there are going to be blacks with the same attitude. Some people have simply become conditioned to accepting certain people in certain roles and Obama or someone who looks like him as President of the United States isn't one they're ready for yet.

- Julius

The examples I used are, of course celebrities. Soledad Obrien, Ann Curry and many other prominent news media types are examples as well. McCain and Obama are also celebrities. Elections are part beauty contest. His multiethnicity is part of the "charisma". To acknowledge that, to me, is not racist. The visual presentation of a candidate carries weight. Edwards and Romney were "too pretty". Kerry and Liebermann "ugly".

Looking historically in the television/visula media age from a Madison Avenue viewpoint:

Kennedy vs Nixon: handsome beats ugly
Johnson vs Goldwater: ugly beats ugly
Nixon vs Humphrey: ugly beats ugly
Nixon vs McGovern: ugly beats ugly
Carter vs Ford: Southern Charm beats clumsy
Carter vs Reagan: Hollywood beats Southern charm
Reagan vs Mondale: Hollywood beats dull
Bush vs Dukakis: ugly beats ugly
Bush vs Clinton: Slick beats ugly
Clinton vs Dole: Slick beats ugly
Gore vs Bush: Dumb beats Dull
Bush vs Kerry: Dumb beats ugly (and dull)
McCain vs Obama: no contest

My premise is that when a significant visual advantage exists, that candidate wins. IMHO

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ORIGINAL: saved9201

LOL - You're not right, man. But neither am I because I think there should be a special category of ugly for Kerry.

- Julius

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Then there's another figure called the "acceptable negro" This guy is palatable to the American majority. Essentially he doesn’t make people too uncomfortable when they think about America’s sordid racial past. On the surface, Obama fits that bill: good-looking, well-spoken and non-violent.

Here's the problem with both those models: We can accept the magical negro in cinematic roles and as entertainers. We can accept the "acceptable negro" as buddies and as neighbors and even as bosses. But as President of the United States? Once you cross that line they lose their magicability and they become less acceptable. Both magical and acceptable negros normally have one trait in common: they're both humble. When you campaign for POTUS, you HAVE to throw your humble card out the window.

In other words, thats not a "role" a lot of folks can see Obama in. McCain aired two recent ads. In the first ad, he criticized Obama for not going to see the wounded troops in Germany, and showed Obama playing basketball. In the second ad, he compares Obama to entertainers Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. The hook reads, "But can he lead?" Athlete? We can picture that. Entertainer? Sure. President? Sorry. Magical/Acceptable negroes don't do president.

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What I see is, plain and simple, that the majority of voting Americans aren't ready for a black president. They may be ready for a black president who has no intention of running for president, i.e. Colin Powell, Condolezza Rice, J.C. Watts, etc., but not Obama. Now, I am by no means saying that everybody who opposes Obama does so because he's black. There are those diehard conservatives who weren't going to vote for ANY democrat based on their oppositon to the democratic party platform. Add to that those I just mentioned who may like him but simply can't accept him in the "role" of president, those ignorant people who think he's a Muslim or that he's inherently evil, those disgruntled Hillary supporters and those who may disagree with him on one or two issues key to them, and I see more that will eventually lean against him than for him. In other words, I smell a McCain landslide.

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ORIGINAL: Jhud

I think the there might very well be another factor here to which is a tad more cynical – it’s the ‘let’s finally elect this guy so we can put away the ‘racist America’ label’.

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Well, I agree there is a lot of ignorance in this campaign – though again, I would argue that this ignorance has helped Obama as much as it has hurt him. He can simply put all his detractors in the same box, making them all out to be motivated by such ignorance. In fact, I would argue he has done exactly that, as in ‘they have nothing to offer, they simply don’t don’t like me because I am different’. When in reality, people like me won’t vote for him not because he is ‘different’, but because he is the same – were he white, politically he would be no different than John Edwards – during the last election. But because he is ‘different’, he can get away with that.

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ORIGINAL: SuspenseWriter

I really, really, REALLY dislike the term "people of color." Because I'm a color; pinkish-beige. But in your paradigm, I'm not a "person of color". Silly, ain't it? Just saying. Carry on...

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ORIGINAL: cow451

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ORIGINAL: saved9201

LOL - You're not right, man. But neither am I because I think there should be a special category of ugly for Kerry.

- Julius