Comments on: Obama’s Latest Positive News: More Blacks Leaning To Him

By: StockBoySF

StockBoySF — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 18:31:32 +0000

Thanks, T-Steel. I appreciate your insight. The good news is that Obama is being supported by a lot of “white establishment” types and even if he’s not elected President, he’s already powerful and sets a good example (and shows that it is possible to achieve status), as do so many other blacks.

By: T-Steel

T-Steel — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 17:34:35 +0000

StockBoySF said,

I also have (and I might be way off base here so I’d appreciate everyone else’s insights into this) a feeling that many blacks have esteem issues (I would if I were black in this culture and had been told all my life that I was second class) and they don’t feel the white establishment (their “betters”) would ever vote for a black as President. Again I may be way off base and I’m not trying to be a racist, I’m trying to understand what might be at work psychologically.

Your words are very true and have been echoed by a some black psychologists and professors. Many of my own family just think that Obama has no chance (the conspiracy arm of my family thinks he will be sabotaged by the “white establishment”). And the conversations are full of self-hatred and ultra self-criticism.

By: DLS

DLS — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 16:34:02 +0000

I posted a link to the Journal article and quoted from it already, elsewhere. (Wasn’t expecting any credit for that; not used to getting any.) Just don’t (il)logically leap from reading that article to writing Hillary Clinton’s political obituary before the elections actually begin. It’s somewhat early for that.

By: StockBoySF

StockBoySF — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 06:36:32 +0000

I’ve always thought Obama needed to get momentum going among whites before blacks would start to support him. I think blacks have faced many battles over the years and have huge obstacles to overcome. They want to support the winner, rather than be on the losing side.

I also have (and I might be way off base here so I’d appreciate everyone else’s insights into this) a feeling that many blacks have esteem issues (I would if I were black in this culture and had been told all my life that I was second class) and they don’t feel the white establishment (their “betters”) would ever vote for a black as President. Again I may be way off base and I’m not trying to be a racist, I’m trying to understand what might be at work psychologically.

Once blacks see that Obama has support and a real chance at being President then blacks will feel more confident in supporting him.

Forget Obama’s lack of experience junket that people throw out as a reason to vote for someone else. A true leader doesn’t need years of experience to lead and inspire. I mean look at Bush…. he is such a divisive, polarizing figure but because he is the Prez he sets the whole tone for the country. When people see the President act a certain way (good or bad), they think it’s OK to act that way and so they do it. So yeah, experience is great, but it’s not everything. After Bush this country has some serious healing to do and Obama who worked hard to get to where he is (and not through family connections, like Bush), is just the person this country needs.

By: Elrod

Elrod — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 06:20:37 +0000

I recall this happened to Obama in Illinois in 2004. Black voters supported the establishment candidate Dan Hynes over Obama. South Side Chicago politicians had scrapped with Obama before and the Chicago machine disliked him. But then things fell into place in the last couple weeks. The Tribune endorsed him. Blair Hull, a self-financed wife beater imploded. And black voters started to flock to him. He’d already been big in Evanston, and now he was getting statewide support.