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Bugs · 05-08-2008, 02:31 PM

A 'Change' Election Changes the South | Newsweek Politics: Campaign 2008 | Newsweek.com

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CAMPAIGN 2008
Southern Discomfort

A journey through a troubled region.

An interesting article that gives a bit of a picture of how things are in parts of the South. Me Mum and Da moved from the Midwest to one of the southern states near the Mason Dixon line not too long after I moved away to go to university. Even more than a decade later they are still known as “those Yankees” at the local corner store. Spending some time in the South with some good ol’ boys can be quite an interesting experience for one born and raised in the Midwest.

Must say some of the attitudes mentioned in the article are not specific to the South. Some of the roots of my family tree are based in a northern part of Appalachia and they would sooner cut off their hand than vote for Obama primarily because of the race issue. Ya'll should see the reactions out of some of them when I talk about my Thai partner.

Some snippets from the article:

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…the past wasn’t forgotten or forgiven so much as put aside while people got on with their lives and their business.

Anyone can see and experience this aspect of the South fairly easily.

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Many who thought themselves beyond prejudice were surprised by their suspicions of the young black man from up north.

My mom works at a bank in the South (interacts daily with lots of different folks) and this is one thing she has commented on several times. The number of folks that thought they were above racism and seem genuinely surprised that race has indeed factored in to how they will vote in Nov.

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I set off on this trip wondering if Obama’s candidacy was helping to pull people in the South together, freeing them of their histories, or pushing them apart.

From the feedback I have gotten from me Mom it seems this is doing a bit of both, depending greatly upon the individual. Seems to mainly have magnified folks already ingrained ideas in regard to race.

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Meanwhile, many slave-descended blacks, hugely supportive of the half-Kenyan, half-Kansan, Hawaii-reared Obama, seemed afraid to hope too much, inoculating themselves with pessimism about the chances that any man of color could win the presidency, even this man, even today, or that if he does, he will survive.

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Obama couldn’t win, not in the South – or, if he could they wouldn’t let him. And that’s the dark side of the hope: it’s reminding people of their doubts about a white power structure that some think has never really atoned for its sins.

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“Obama is going to win,’ he said. And if he does not? “Then he is preparing the way for the next.”

These highlight an aspect of the race that actually finds me pulling for Obama at times. It would indeed me a monumental thing to have Obama win this thing and hopefully move the US another step towards better long-term race relations.

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“There are too many chances we would take if he became president, you know what I mean?” I said I wasn’t sure I did. “I don’t know if it’s a myth or it’s true,” said the boy, “but they say they caught him trying to sneak Iraqi soldiers into the United States.”

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…said he can’t bring himself to vote for Obama, either. Why? “Because I believe he is a Muslim,” said my cousin. Not so, I said. He was raised a Christian and is a practicing Christian. My cousin shook his head. “I just don’t believe him,” he said.

These two are examples of how regardless of the facts folks can and will support their own preconceived ideas and simply say say they don’t believe the facts are the facts. IMHO one of the main reasons the negatvie campaigning works.

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Dent argues that when Southerners criticize Obama, “They say ‘he’s a Muslim, he’s a mulatto Muslim, or quadroon Muslim…. [only because] they don’t want to use the old N word.”

Of course this is what Dent thinks because the N word is all he hears ringing in his feeble little mind whenever the O word is mentioned, or the M word for that matter. The thing is men like this still get a vote.

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“I think if there were a better economy more people would take a risk on Obama,” said Patricia Murtaugh Wise, a lawyer from Nashville…

An interesting view of things, as I think almost the opposite. If the economy was not an issue/factor I think McCain would be leading in the polls right now.

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Her friends are blaming Bush more than his party, she said. “I’m not sure people are saying, ‘Because Bush got us into this, let’s vote for a Democrat.’ I think people are saying, ‘Let’s get a new person in there’.”

This view of things bodes well for McCain and certainly is what McCain hopes people think – that he is not and will not be a third Bush term. To some degree I think McCain also is banking on some of the independents viewing him not only as not a third term for Bush policies but also “not a typical Republican”.

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If democrats have hopes for making serious inroads into this Republican bloc, they are probably long term. “As the society becomes more diversified, there’s a huge opportunity for the Democratic Part,” said Merle Black.

I think across the US there will be a growing battle by both the Blue and Red teams for the Brown vote. Before this use to be mainly a Southwest issue, soon is will be a nationwide issue.