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."
^^^^^ CB: But Obama, unlike Fenty, won by a huge margin among Blacks, so the analogy doesn't hold.
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Frankly, I do not think that the thinness or thickness of Obama's support has much to do with his skin color. ^^^^^^^ CB: Frankly, I think you are clearly wrong on that. The racism is like patent, gross.
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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.
^^^^^ CB: Not so much closet racists, as your average American white person's conception of race, which is softly racist or white chauvinist, to coin a term (smile).
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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.
^^^^^ CB: Yes, many of them took a big step in supporting him even though he is Black. It was the most important aspect of the election. But , that support was , evidently, thin, like I said.
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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
^^^^^ CB: We're not talking about liberals, but "moderates". And they aren't changing because he isn't liberal enough, but because he is too "liberal". You're talking about the wrong group of supporters. Anyway, the vote changers are not holding back on their reservations.