Race: Get Over It
In the wake of Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst during the president's joint session health care address and other strident personal and political attacks against President Obama, many in the media and Democratic circles advanced an explanation that this virulent opposition is rooted in racism and reactions to President Obama as an African American president. With this possibility in mind, we allowed for extended open-ended discussion on Obama (including visuals of him speaking) among voters – older, non-college, white, and conservative – who were most race con- scious and score highest on scales measuring racial prejudice. Race was barely raised, certainly not what was bothering them about President Obama.
In fact, some of these voters talked about feeling some pride at his election. They were conscious of the charge that opposition to Obama is racially motivated and that bothered conservative Republicans and independents alike. They basically could not let it go and returned to this issue again and again throughout our conversations across myriad topics.
> You can't openly criticize Obama. If you do, you'll be labeled as a
> racist.
>
> Whatever we say about Obama, no matter what we say about him, it is
> a racial comment so you know, we can't say anything, we personally
> do not like him. I don't care if he is purple, but whatever we say
> we're racist.
>
> As far as a person goes, I don't want to say I hate him. I don't
> like what he stands for… and I don't like what he is doing and the
> choices he is making, but I mean I don't know him as a gentleman so…
> You would be called a racist. You would not like him because he is
> black. That is what the media is saying.
They see this as a personal rights issue because the racism charge is being used to prevent them from fulfilling their duty to stand up to Obama and his agenda. They see no difference in the opposition Obama faces and the opposition other liberals have faced, because they believe it is based in the same unwavering, bedrock conservative principles that have always led them to oppose liberal policies. The only factor that has changed is the race of the leader being criticized.
> The things that we've said have nothing to do with race. They have
> to do with policy and… an agenda, his agenda… Right… Manipulation.
>
> I think basically we have a lot of the same views of Clinton as we
> do about Obama but most of us are freer to express it because we are
> not going to be accused of being racists.
>
> It is important to note, however, that Obama is not personally
> linked to this effort. It was difficult for these conservative
> Republicans to say anything positive about Obama, but they freely
> volunteered without any prompting that he was not a part of this
> effort to silence and op- press conservative opposition.
>
> Actually that is a good thing that he has done. In all the charges
> of it being racial he has defended, he has come out and said, no I
> don't think that comment was meant that way and that was the one
> thing that I think he has done that you know.
>
> I don't think he thinks it, but I think other people think it. You
> know the ones that are really supportive of him. If we don't like
> him, and we have something against him, then we're a racist.