[The Telegraph, U.K.]

La Republica, Peru

BLACKS and WHITES:

North Americans Aren't

Ready to Be Colorblind

"It is precisely Blackness that is beginning to win U.S. elections. … the real change in U.S. politics will be an extension of ethnopolitics as long practiced by Whites to their own advantage."

By Mirko Lauer.

Translated By Halszka Czarnocka

February 28, 2008

Peru - La Republica - Original Article (Spanish)

As Barack Obama inches closer to the Democratic nomination (this morning's betting gives him an 82 percent chance), the question of whether a Black candidate can win a United States presidential election comes into sharper focus. Hillary Clinton’s people, believe it or not, have begun to disseminate photos of Obama in ethnic garb, something between African and Muslim.

[Editor's Note: In the photo (right), Senator Obama donned the garb of a Somali elder during a visit near the Somali border, on a diplomatic mission to Kenya in 2006.]

The Blacks now constitute 11 percent of the electorate, and it's unlikely that they'll all vote for Obama. Among other reasons, this is because people of color are very diverse in terms of class, culture, ideology and political affiliation. There are Blacks for Hillary, and some are even with Republicans. If Obama wins the nomination, in this regard he may end up quite alone.

Strangely, in the tea leaves of the moment, it's not the White vote that is perceived as the biggest stumbling block for Obama, but the Latino vote. Indeed, Latinos have a very competitive relationship with African-Americans, have a political agenda of their own, and a distrust for progressivism  common to nearly all immigrants.

The progressive analysis posits that this election is very different in terms of race and gender. The idea is that many voters will be willing to elect a Black or a woman solely on the basis of political image or the merit of their proposals. Yet this same electorate has consistently elected conservatives of all kinds.

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But Black politicians are not so convinced of this color-blindness. One of them is [Republican Governor] Kenneth Blackwell , an Ohio politician who has won many victories and said in 2006: “We're at a historic moment, and in a position to win nominations and break stereotypes.” He's implying that it's precisely Blackness that is beginning to win elections.

Hillary’s people are wearing themselves out trying to demonstrate that a Black candidate is sure to go down in defeat to John McCain. The problem is that there are also ways to show that a woman has an equally scarce chance of winning. The idea of both of them on a single ballot is simply too much change for this electorate to stomach.

For some, the change would mean the elimination of color and gender prejudices in politics. But the other side of this optimistic coin is the possibility that the real change will mean an extension of ethnopolitics as long practiced by Whites - still in the majority - to their own advantage.

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In 1926, Brazilian writer Monteiro Lobato published A Black President or a Clash of Races [O presidente Negro ou o choque de raças], subtitled, A novel of North America in 2228. There, the Whites become split into male and female parties, and a Black candidate wins. The Whites react by sterilizing the Blacks with a substance camouflaged in hair-relaxant.

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US March 4, 8:35pm]