U.S. Election '08: Race to the Conventions

**rvg** · 02-08-2008, 05:04

Originally Posted by Lemur

Ye lord, how misinformation takes on a life of its own. Here's the timeline:

March of 2007, L.A. Times columnist David Ehrenstein writes a column about how he thinks Obama fits into the Magical Negro archetype. FWIW, Ehrenstein is a black man.

Never one to miss a chance to dance on the edge of a racial slur, fat boy Rush Limbaugh has a song recorded to the tune of Puff the Magic Dragon, in which an impersonator plays Al Sharpton bemoaning the rise of Obama, the "magic negro." Because a black dude said it first, he gets away with it.

And now people think Al Sharpton actually sang it. Ugh. A lie goes 'round the world while the truth is still getting its shoes on.

umm....https://youtube.com/watch?v=NgRFzALj7UQ

**Lemur** · 02-08-2008, 05:06

I assure you, rvg, that song came directly from Rush Limbaugh's show. And shocker of shockers, that isn't really Al Sharpton singing. Don't trust me, Google it for yourself.

**rvg** · 02-08-2008, 05:07

Originally Posted by Lemur

I assure you, rvg, that song came directly from Rush Limbaugh's show. And shocker of shockers, that isn't really Al Sharpton singing. Don't trust me, Google it for yourself.

well, either way, it's a funny song.

**Lemur** · 02-08-2008, 05:11

Another thing Spino is overlooking in his rush to judgment: Obama's rural pull. He does exceptionally well in rural areas, as one reporter noted in the Nevada campaign:

To see it clearly, you have to look closely at the results of the Nevada caucuses, which Obama narrowly lost to Clinton because he failed to carry Clark County, site of Nevada's only big metropolitan city, Las Vegas, with its enormous population of Hispanic voters. But in more rural counties he beat Clinton decisively - 63% to her 37% in Elko, 51% to 34% in Humboldt, 50% to 40% in Washoe (the missing percentages belong to John Edwards). I've been to those counties, their miles of lonely roads where you can drive for half an hour before encountering another vehicle, their scattered ranches and isolated towns, their seasonal creeks marked by lines of spindly cottonwood trees, the overwhelmingly Caucasian cast of their people. Out there in the mountains, sagebrush and high desert, Obama carried the day by far greater margins than his overall loss of the popular vote to Clinton across the state, and came out of the caucuses with one more delegate than she did.

Remember that in 2004 every American city with a population over 500,000 voted Democrat, and the Republicans won by taking the countryside and the outer suburbs. The blue state/red state division is better expressed in terms of the persistent conflicts between the big cities and their rural hinterlands, over land use, water rights and environmental, class and cultural issues. Red states are simply those where the country can outvote the urban centres, while in blue states the opposite is true. The perception that America has liberal coasts and a conservative interior merely reflects the fact that the coastal states are home to the largest metropolitan areas with the most electoral muscle. Last time around, for instance, Bush easily won the heartland state of Missouri, but was as crushingly defeated by Kerry in St Louis as he was in the cities of New York, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle.

So Obama's victory over Clinton in rural Nevada says something important about his ability as the apostle of national reconciliation. To win against Clinton in Elko County (black population: 0.8%), he had to convert not only white Democrats, but a large number of independents and people who had voted Republican until caucus day; a feat he pulled off with dazzling facility. Any Democrat nominee who can do that, deep in Republican country, is likely to gain the presidency; and Obama has proved that he can. Clinton, laden with the moral, cultural and political baggage of the 1990s, is likely to fare as badly in Elko County as Kerry did in 2004, when he collected just 20% of the vote.

**Spino** · 02-08-2008, 05:41

Originally Posted by Lemur

Another thing Spino is overlooking in his rush to judgment: Obama's rural pull. He does exceptionally well in rural areas, as one reporter noted in the Nevada campaign:

To see it clearly, you have to look closely at the results of the Nevada caucuses, which Obama narrowly lost to Clinton because he failed to carry Clark County, site of Nevada's only big metropolitan city, Las Vegas, with its enormous population of Hispanic voters. But in more rural counties he beat Clinton decisively - 63% to her 37% in Elko, 51% to 34% in Humboldt, 50% to 40% in Washoe (the missing percentages belong to John Edwards). I've been to those counties, their miles of lonely roads where you can drive for half an hour before encountering another vehicle, their scattered ranches and isolated towns, their seasonal creeks marked by lines of spindly cottonwood trees, the overwhelmingly Caucasian cast of their people. Out there in the mountains, sagebrush and high desert, Obama carried the day by far greater margins than his overall loss of the popular vote to Clinton across the state, and came out of the caucuses with one more delegate than she did.

Remember that in 2004 every American city with a population over 500,000 voted Democrat, and the Republicans won by taking the countryside and the outer suburbs. The blue state/red state division is better expressed in terms of the persistent conflicts between the big cities and their rural hinterlands, over land use, water rights and environmental, class and cultural issues. Red states are simply those where the country can outvote the urban centres, while in blue states the opposite is true. The perception that America has liberal coasts and a conservative interior merely reflects the fact that the coastal states are home to the largest metropolitan areas with the most electoral muscle. Last time around, for instance, Bush easily won the heartland state of Missouri, but was as crushingly defeated by Kerry in St Louis as he was in the cities of New York, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle.

So Obama's victory over Clinton in rural Nevada says something important about his ability as the apostle of national reconciliation. To win against Clinton in Elko County (black population: 0.8%), he had to convert not only white Democrats, but a large number of independents and people who had voted Republican until caucus day; a feat he pulled off with dazzling facility. Any Democrat nominee who can do that, deep in Republican country, is likely to gain the presidency; and Obama has proved that he can. Clinton, laden with the moral, cultural and political baggage of the 1990s, is likely to fare as badly in Elko County as Kerry did in 2004, when he collected just 20% of the vote.

Not bad but that's a Guardian article and the writer seems a tad overzealous in his estimate. How does Obama 'convert' White Democrats?!? Because they chose him over the wicked witch of the west? His defeat of Billary in Democrat/Independent territory is probably a better reflection of people's hatred of Billary than their love for Obama.