> At last Thursday's Obama panel at the Brecht Forum, Gary Younge took
> my wet-blanketism to task for devaluing the enthusiasm of Obama's
> supporters. He cited a marked increase in black turnout as evidence.
> Apparently that's not exactly right:
>
> <http://abcnews.go.com/PollingUnit/Politics/story?id=5202366&page=1>
>
> "Turnout was up across the board, and blacks, like other Democrats,
> increased their participation. But blacks did not vote in
> disproportionately greater numbers: They accounted for 19 percent of
> all Democratic primary voters, about the average for Democratic
> primaries in past years."
===========================================
This is interesting, because I've noticed many on the left who hitherto
wouldn't touch the Democrats with a 10 foot pole have been justifying their
unusally positive view of the Obama campaign on grounds that it represents
some kind of black nationalist upsurge. Joaquin Bustelo over on Marxmail has
been sounding this note for quite some time. But the poll indicates that
blacks have been turning out in unprecedented numbers for largely same
reasons as everyone else - extraordinary disgust with Bush and with the
direction in which he's taken the US. Obama has become a repository of this
hoped-for change such that his waffling and backsliding on key issues are
ignored or disregarded by many of his supporters who have a quasi-religious
need to believe in him. This seems to be especially pronounced among younger
first-time voters, whom he's attracted in droves. This isn't a new
phenomenon in history, especially when social movements are being born. No
one can predict whether an Obama presidency will dishearten or infuriate
these new millions, turn them away from or deepen their initial political
engagement.