If Obama were a white man...?

[kentuck]

Would he be getting the same support? If Hillary was a black woman, would she be getting the same support? If the answer is "no" to either question, then race is playing a factor in this race.

However, just because race is a factor in this race does not necessarily mean it is a bad thing. If we can put our racial divisions behind us, would that not be a good thing? Would not the nomination of Obama accomplish that?

Or will this race about "race" come back to haunt the Democratic Party? If Obama were to lose to Hillary, would it be blamed on his race? If Obama defeats Hillary for the nomination, will some voters think it was primarily because of his race?

Either way, I don't see how the input of Bill Clinton is helping Hillary or race relations? If Hillary wishes to run as the first woman President, then she should send Bill home and run on her own. As a woman, her secret weapon is the votes of Republican women - which may have helped her upset Obama in New Hampshire. This is very fragile and unexplored ground we are standing on.

[jpgray]

1. Race and gender are factors. Whether they are major, determining factors is open to debate

What if Kucinich were a handsome, charismatic media darling? When so many interdependent factors go into election results, it's difficult to separate out a few of them to play "what if?"

[kentuck]

3. Race and gender are different issues from short and tall...

Or handsome and ugly. We shouldn't consider them equal. :-)

[jpgray]

4. Of course, but would you argue Obama's support is based only on race?

No one would do so. Does race have an impact? No one would argue it doesn't. So where does that leave us? "Race has some impact, but it's difficult to determine how much." Which makes the usefulness of these "what-ifs" rather illusory. We can't determine whether people support Obama for just his race, we can't determine whether people support Hillary just because of her gender, and we can't assume Edwards hasn't taken hold solely because he doesn't get media coverage. There are other factors that work in concordance with these which makes them difficult to separate.

Take Edwards's lack of coverage. Is it due to lack of fundraising? Corporate conspiracy? His failings as a candidate? Some combination of the above? You can't always tie down and isolate a single factor and claim it alone "causes" an instance of mass public opinion, as such is usually determined by many factors working together and influencing one another.

[kentuck]

5. I think much of our nation has an inner yearning...

to put past racial divisions behind us, and that is a primary reason why many people are supporting Obama. It certainly isn't his experience or legislative accomplishments. Some find him "inspiring". Some don't find him that inspiring. I think his race is a major factor in his favor. Personally, I don't think it matters much who the Democratic nominee might be - he/she is not going to drive the agenda. Any progress we see will come from the Congress or the people's representatives. George W Bush was an exception in the most negative sense, in that he had a Republican majority willing to sign a blank check for every insane idea that he came up with. The Democrats will never do that with a Democratic Presdient.

[robbedvoter]

2. If Hillary were a black woman - Oprah would campaign for her!

:+
Just joking - your point is well taken.