Minority voters vote for white presidential candidates ALL the time

[EffieBlack]

50. I'm not aware of anyone who selects a candidate SOLELY because they are a minority

But there's nothing wrong with that being one of the many factors considered.

We look at all kinds of factors that really have nothing to do with "qualifications" but that we think help contribute to who they are as people and leaders - e.g., their age, where they're from, their socio-economic status. But for some reason, when someone puts their race into the mix, some folk suddenly want to go all colorblind and "objective criteria only" on us.

I served on an admissions committee and was both disgusted and amused when my colleagues considered all kinds of factors having nothing to do with academics in order to make sure we had a "diverse" student body - where an applicant was from, who their parents were, whether they had a musical talent, etc. - but the minute anyone tried to ensure racial diversity, they screamed "reverse discrimination!" and "we should only be looking at their test scores and grades!!!"

And that's just what I see happening here. The problem is not that people are concerned about candidates being considered based on factors outside of "qualifications" nor that they think that "qualifications" are limited to a narrow band of objective criteria. The problem for many people - even those who are perfectly willing to consider all kinds of subjective criteria (including certain demographic factors that are really euphemisms for "white&quot - is that they resent or are simply uncomfortable with minority candidates having their race be considered as an attribute.