Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Posted Image
Welcome to Nexus Trek

We are a message board community filled with members from several different Star Trek
sites. Come talk about Trek, other Sci Fi or whatever interests you!

You are currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board
and cannot join in on the fun. Registering will only take a minute and once approved you can

  • customize your profile
  • Send personal messages
  • Vote in polls
  • Start and post in topics

Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.

Join our community!
If you have any trouble registering please email us @ nexustrek@yahoo.com


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
voters for Obama are admittedly racist
Topic Started: Sep 4 2008, 11:35 AM (1,623 Views)
Kat
Member Avatar
more human than Human

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/04/oba...cans/index.html

Quote:
 
(CNN) -- Armstrong Williams is an African-American conservative commentator who is thinking about making a decision that he says is so agonizing it gives him heartburn.

This fall, he may vote for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee.

The nationally-known radio talk show host is a proud, third-generation Republican who chuckles when African-American friends tell him it's time to "return home" to the Democratic Party.

Though he is still hasn't decided for whom he'll cast his ballot, there's something about Obama's presidential candidacy that excites him. "History, brother," Williams said. "It cannot be anything else."

"There's very little that I agree with Obama on. Since the founding of our country, there have only been white men who have occupied the White House. ... To have someone break through that barrier, and say to some kids, you can be president. Whether you like it or not, symbolism is important."

Obama's presidential candidacy is causing a political identity crisis among some black conservatives. Torn between ideology and the chance to make history, some don't know what they're going to do when they enter the voting booth in November.

Some black Republicans and conservatives say they are going to stick with their ideology.

Lenny McAllister, a black conservative blogger from North Carolina and a self-described "hip-hop Republican," told CNN that being able to recognize Obama as a historical figure, yet not support his candidacy from a policy perspective was a mark of progress.

"When we're able to do that comfortably in an accepted fashion in America [is] when we'll be able to grow and move forward as a country and move past the wounds that we've had from race relations throughout the country," he said.

Compounding the problem for Republican strategists is that Obama's appeal to black conservatives comes at a time when some have grown disenchanted with the GOP during the past few years, according to Michael Fauntroy, a professor at George Mason University and author of "Republicans and the Black vote."

Some may just vote for Obama to send a message to Republicans -- and to future generations.

"Let's say Barack Obama wins and 30 years down the line, you're a black Republican or black conservative and your grandkid comes to you and says, 'Did you vote for Obama?' It's going to be hard to argue why you didn't," Fauntroy said.

That's a risk that Nate Terry, an African-American entrepreneur, is not willing to take.

Terry is a businessman in Tracy, California, who voted for President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. He said his early political affiliation as a Democrat was handed down to him like a family heirloom.

"Everybody was always a Democrat and they could never tell me why," Terry said. "They said, 'Momma did it. Grandma did it.' I said I have to choose for myself."

Terry said he decided to become a Republican because of Reagan and the party's pro-business stance. But he became disenchanted with the Republican Party because of the recent housing foreclosure crisis and the federal government's slow response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

"That blew my mind," Terry said of Katrina. "Anytime something goes wrong in our country, I want our government to step in, make it right, and then back off and let people take control."

Spurred by his disappointment and Obama's candidacy, Terry switched his party affiliation to the Democratic Party and plans on voting for him.

The African-American vote through history

Through the course of American history, the allegiance of the African-American vote has swung between the two major parties, often dictated by events.

It was naturally aligned with the Republican Party, the party of Abraham Lincoln, in the post-Civil War era. That allegiance, however, began to shift during the early decades of the 20th century.

Many African-Americans migrated to the northern industrial cities and northern Democrats, with their eyes on electoral gains, began to woo their vote. At the same time, Republicans, facing electoral losses after being branded the party of African-American voters, began to retreat on their promises, Fauntroy says.

Two pivotal events followed: President Harry Truman, a Democrat, integrated the armed forces in 1948 and another Democratic president, Lyndon Johnson, aided by a number of Republican lawmakers, enacted the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

Meanwhile, many white southern Democrats, who did not embrace the politics of their northern brethren, began a steady migration to the Republican Party following the presidential election of 1964, further cementing the allegiance of African-American voters to the Democratic Party.

Since the 1964 presidential election, the Democratic Party has won overwhelming majorities of the African-American vote, Fauntroy said.

Despite the appeal of charismatic Republican presidents like Reagan, who managed to win voters across the aisle, or outreach efforts during the last two decades, polls suggest the outlook for the Republican Party's performance among African-American voters this election year is bleak. Read about the GOP's outreach efforts

The Democratic Party has a considerable edge when measuring party identification among African-American voters, according to a Pew study released in March, 2008. Of those surveyed, 72 percent identified themselves as Democratic. In contrast, 4 percent identified themselves as Republican.

In 2004, African-American voters encompassed 11 percent of the electorate, according to a U.S. Census Bureau study published in March, 2006, and new voter registration statistics suggest those numbers may rise this year.

Caught between history and belief

Black conservatives disagree with Obama on a range of issues from abortion to education.

Williams, for example, said he doesn't like some of Obama's economic policies and his public disparaging of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who Obama said was not the strongest candidate for the nation's highest court.

Williams, who hosts a syndicated radio show, has been public about his misgivings regarding Obama. He told National Public Radio that Obama's candidacy has inspired such agonizing introspection within him that it's given him heartburn. "He's a liberal," Williams said. "I'm not expecting a miracle out of him."

Tara Wall, deputy editor of the Washington Times editorial page and a CNN contributor, said black conservatives have a complex attitude toward Obama.

"It's mixed," she said. "You can't be black in America and not be proud of Barack Obama. But that doesn't mean he's the best for America or that his policies are the best policies for America. I start from there and I think many black conservatives start from there."

Wall said Obama is part of a new generation of black politicians who defy easy labels. They weren't formed in the cauldron of the Civil Rights movement and their rhetoric is different from their predecessors.

"While they are aware of the Civil Rights movement and their parents certainly are, they weren't there," Wall said. "You have to speak to the folks of the day and the time in which you are running."

Regardless of who wins this race, Williams, the radio talk show host, says Obama's candidacy already has a historical legacy.

"Sen. Barack Obama has knocked on the door and this country will never be the same," he said. "Anybody can aspire to be president."


People like this really make me sick.


McCailin '08
Everything happens for a reason, but sometimes the reason is that you're stupid and make bad decisions.
Offline
 
nhranger
Member Avatar
I like girls with big dicks especially Kai's
Almost as bad as the Hillary supporters who jump to Palin.
Posted Image
http://s10.zetaboards.com/Trekdom/index/
Offline
 
Kat
Member Avatar
more human than Human

NHRanger
Sep 4 2008, 10:40 AM
Almost as bad as the Hillary supporters who jump to Palin.

exactly

Hill and Palin have nothing in common other than a vagina. and even with that similarity there are very few likenesses seeing as how Palin's gets use and Hillary's doesn't.
Everything happens for a reason, but sometimes the reason is that you're stupid and make bad decisions.
Offline
 
nhranger
Member Avatar
I like girls with big dicks especially Kai's
Kainadian
Sep 4 2008, 01:45 PM
NHRanger
Sep 4 2008, 10:40 AM
Almost as bad as the Hillary supporters who jump to Palin.

exactly

Hill and Palin have nothing in common other than a vagina. and even with that similarity there are very few likenesses seeing as how Palin's gets use and Hillary's doesn't.

yeah it irks me that people would do that. Hil and palin are pretty much complete opposites. It is at least plausible that a potentially moderate republican would vote for Obama.
Posted Image
http://s10.zetaboards.com/Trekdom/index/
Offline
 
Kat
Member Avatar
more human than Human

NHRanger
Sep 4 2008, 10:51 AM
Kainadian
Sep 4 2008, 01:45 PM
NHRanger
Sep 4 2008, 10:40 AM
Almost as bad as the Hillary supporters who jump to Palin.

exactly

Hill and Palin have nothing in common other than a vagina. and even with that similarity there are very few likenesses seeing as how Palin's gets use and Hillary's doesn't.

yeah it irks me that people would do that. Hil and palin are pretty much complete opposites. It is at least plausible that a potentially moderate republican would vote for Obama.

i do hope that Hillary makes statements in the coming months about Palin. It will be awesome watch a presidential catfight going on.
Everything happens for a reason, but sometimes the reason is that you're stupid and make bad decisions.
Offline
 
nhranger
Member Avatar
I like girls with big dicks especially Kai's
Kainadian
Sep 4 2008, 01:52 PM
NHRanger
Sep 4 2008, 10:51 AM
Kainadian
Sep 4 2008, 01:45 PM
NHRanger
Sep 4 2008, 10:40 AM
Almost as bad as the Hillary supporters who jump to Palin.

exactly

Hill and Palin have nothing in common other than a vagina. and even with that similarity there are very few likenesses seeing as how Palin's gets use and Hillary's doesn't.

yeah it irks me that people would do that. Hil and palin are pretty much complete opposites. It is at least plausible that a potentially moderate republican would vote for Obama.

i do hope that Hillary makes statements in the coming months about Palin. It will be awesome watch a presidential catfight going on.

That would be funny. But I think hillary would destroy her. :lol:
Posted Image
http://s10.zetaboards.com/Trekdom/index/
Offline
 
wissaboo
Member Avatar
Admiral
it just amazes me that people would change thier vote to someone whose poilicies they disagree with because of the colour of his skin.
Posted Image
Offline
 
Kat
Member Avatar
more human than Human

wissaboo
Sep 4 2008, 10:55 AM
it just amazes me that people would change thier vote to someone whose poilicies they disagree with because of the colour of his skin.

there's comments in there about it being a step in the right direction to bring down the racial barriers. I fail to see how voting for someone based on their skin color leads to ending racism.
Everything happens for a reason, but sometimes the reason is that you're stupid and make bad decisions.
Offline
 
wissaboo
Member Avatar
Admiral
Kainadian
Sep 4 2008, 09:58 AM
wissaboo
Sep 4 2008, 10:55 AM
it just amazes me that people would change thier vote to someone whose poilicies they disagree with because of the colour of his skin.

there's comments in there about it being a step in the right direction to bring down the racial barriers. I fail to see how voting for someone based on their skin color leads to ending racism.

neither do I


americans are wierd
Posted Image
Offline
 
Kat
Member Avatar
more human than Human

wissaboo
Sep 4 2008, 11:00 AM
Kainadian
Sep 4 2008, 09:58 AM
wissaboo
Sep 4 2008, 10:55 AM
it just amazes me that people would change thier vote to someone whose poilicies they disagree with because of the colour of his skin.

there's comments in there about it being a step in the right direction to bring down the racial barriers. I fail to see how voting for someone based on their skin color leads to ending racism.

neither do I


americans are wierd

whatever. Canada doesn't even let blacks through their borders, so you are hardly one to talk.
Everything happens for a reason, but sometimes the reason is that you're stupid and make bad decisions.
Offline
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Enjoy forums? Start your own community for free.
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · News, World Events, History · Next Topic »

Today's New Posts