In some ways, Fenty's political career is reminiscent of Obama's, and that parallel did not escape the local observers, who see it is as a "canary in the coal mine."
Frankly, I do not think that the thinness or thickness of Obama's support has much to do with his skin color. I do not think that closet racists voted for him or ever supported his policies. Mind that he won by a rather small margin of the popular vote.
Those who supported him did so regardless of his skin color and I do not think that this has changed. His supporters are pissed because they are disappointed by his performance. Whether he deserves the blame (I do not think so) is another point, what matters here is popular perceptions.
If anything, I think that many of his (liberal) supporters hold back their reservations about Obama's performance because of his skin color. That is, they want to be politically correct and refrain from openly criticizing a black president.
Wojtek
On Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 2:08 PM, c b <cb31450 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Wojtek
>
> CB: "It would seem that a lot of his support was "thin". That's
> probably due to his skin."
>
> [WS:] If it is skin, then how do you explain the fact that Fenty, a
> black man, won the support of the whites, but overwhelmingly lost
> among the blacks, which cost him the election?
>
> ^^^^
> CB: I'm explaining the thinness of Obama's support among some whites.
> I don't know about Fenty. Who is that ? Oh , there's google. Anyway,
> it seems from what you say that Fenty's situation is different than
> Obama's. Oh Mayor of DC. There have been lots of Black Mayors of DC.
> It has a majority Black population unlike the US
>
> http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/11000.html.
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