Prometheus 6

The part where racism is officially declared dead...very prematurely.

It’s a Different Country
By Paul Krugman

Fervent supporters of Barack Obama like to say that putting him in the White House would transform America. With all due respect to the candidate, that gets it backward. Mr. Obama is an impressive speaker who has run a brilliant campaign — but if he wins in November, it will be because our country has already been transformed.

Mr. Obama’s nomination wouldn’t have been possible 20 years ago. It’s possible today only because racial division, which has driven U.S. politics rightward for more than four decades, has lost much of its sting.

And the de-racialization of U.S. politics has implications that go far beyond the possibility that we’re about to elect an African-American president. Without racial division, the conservative message — which has long dominated the political scene — loses most of its effectiveness.

And if U.S. politics had been de-racialized that would be true. Perhaps it has been de-racialized in the eyes some white folks. But we just had some polls done that directly disprove that...polls that provided the new, white people accepted term for racism: racial resentment.

Racial Resentment
Racial Resentment Defined
There are a number of different measures of the new racism – including symbolic racism, modern racism, and racial resentment – but all share a common definition as support for the belief that blacks are demanding and undeserving, and do not require any form of special government assistance

It is obvious that when Ferraro said

They're not upset with Obama because he's black; they're upset because they don't expect to be treated fairly because they're white. It's not racism that is driving them, it's racial resentment.

...she was saying "It's not racism that is driving them, it's racism."

Don't believe me?

Well, let's look at that poll Newsweek undertook to understand the racial challenge Obama faces in this election.

Obama's race may well explain his difficulty in winning over white voters. In the NEWSWEEK Poll, participants were asked to answer questions on a variety of race-related topics including racial preferences, interracial marriage, attitudes toward social welfare and general attitudes toward African-Americans. Respondents were grouped according to their answers on a "Racial Resentment Index." Among white Democrats with a low Racial Resentment Index rating, Obama beat McCain in a hypothetical match-up 78 percent to 17 percent. That is virtually identical to Clinton's margin in the category, 79 percent to 13 percent. But among white Democrats with high scores on the Racial Resentment Index, the picture was very different: Obama led McCain by only 18 points (51 to 33) while Clinton maintained a much larger 59-point lead (78 to 18).

Who exactly are these high Racial Resentment Index voters? A majority, 61 percent, have less than a four-year college education, many are older (44 percent were over the age of 60 compared to just 18 percent under the age of 40) and nearly half (46 percent) live in the South.

We've had some discussion of this racial resentment index in the press but no one gave up any details yet. Fortunately the dread PDF file is available for your review and mine.

The Racial Resentment Index is an additive index based on response to 10 specific questions measuring whites’ attitudes towards African-Americans, social welfare programs, and the civil rights movement.

Ten questions. When you see them (and the answers) you will understand why they aren't being broadly discussed. And just in case you don't want to read all the questions just to see Mr. Krugman (and all the wishful thinkers he speaks for here) is wrong here, I'm going to start with the final tally:

High = five or more problematic answers to these troublesome questions...three out of ten white Democrats and four of ten Republicans have high racial resentment. And now, the questions.