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| Obama Foot Soldiers Battle Racism |
| 2008-05-13 |
| It was the day before Indiana's primary, and she had just been chased by dogs while canvassing in a Kokomo suburb. But that was not the worst thing to occur since she postponed her sophomore year at Middle Tennessee State University, in part to hopscotch America stumping for Barack Obama. Here's the worst: In Muncie, a factory town in the east-central part of Indiana, Ross and her cohorts were soliciting support for Obama at malls, on street corners and in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and they ran into "a horrible response," as Ross put it, a level of anti-black sentiment that none of them had anticipated. "The first person I encountered was like, 'I'll never vote for a black person,' " recalled Ross, who is white and just turned 20. "People just weren't receptive." For all the hope and excitement Obama's candidacy is generating, some of his field workers, phone-bank volunteers and campaign surrogates are encountering a raw racism and hostility that have gone largely unnoticed -- and unreported -- this election season. Doors have been slammed in their faces. They've been called racially derogatory names (including the white volunteers). And they've endured malicious rants and ugly stereotyping from people who can't fathom that the senator from Illinois could become the first African American president. The contrast between the large, adoring crowds Obama draws at public events and the gritty street-level work to win votes is stark. The candidate is largely insulated from the mean-spiritedness that some of his foot soldiers deal with away from the media spotlight. |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #18 "I'll never vote for a person Typical Obama supporter. |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2008-05-13 22:39 |
| #17 FYI, been to Kokomo. Blu Collar town. Probably not good territory for a smartassed college sophomore bugwit to be pestering people. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-05-13 21:05 |
| #16 ....people who can't fathom that the Kindly add me to the above list. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-05-13 20:59 |
| #15 The same foot soldiers who hang che flags up in their office? Constituants who had a whiff of garlicshot fired their way? People who don't like to be disturbed at home or while shopping by obnoxious political activists? Or overblown/BS stories by people who thrive on catching acts like this on camera or tape but don't have any proof other than "trust me when I tell you this"? |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2008-05-13 12:43 |
| #14 This is all part of an effort to guilt "White America" back into voting for Obama. This is one of the most cynical ploys yet, and I'm sure they're not done. Once again though, it's a good wiindow into how Camp Obama views the country. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2008-05-13 12:05 |
| #13 bigjim-ky you are probably right about the victim thing, but does anyone really want a Presidential victim? Who gives a sympathy vote for the Presidency? Don't answer that. We all know who, and it's pathetic. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-05-13 11:24 |
| #12 Actually, articles like this are intended to blunt the fact that Obama is not doing nearly as well with whites as he did before people knew anything about him. They would like to paint opposition to him as caused by race instead of a thoughtful (all right, sometimes visceral) rejection of his positions and elitist predilections. |
| Posted by: RWV 2008-05-13 09:26 |
| #11 Make that 80% of voters. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-05-13 09:26 |
| #10 A few of these are probably real, the vast majority are probably made up to make Obama look like the victim. The libs think victim status makes you a shoe-in. They don't realize that the buzzwords of victimhood just don't resonate with 80% of the country. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-05-13 09:25 |
| #9 If they want to see raw racism, they should try being white in Gary or East Chicago. |
| Posted by: RWV 2008-05-13 09:23 |
| #8 CrazyFool - I bet you hit it on the head. I'd have simply told those students that I'd never vote for a such a lightweight, inexperienced snob and fool. And worse he is a socialist, especially one that comes from a racist background, and is such a rabid abortionist that he considers a pregnancy and baby to be a "punishment". Someone with that little regard for individual rights, life in general, and such a high place for racists and bigots in his personal life is unqualified to be president. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-05-13 09:09 |
| #7 Obama is supposedly half white but from the way he talks he sounds ashamed of it. But that is the only way to get ivy league tenure these days. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2008-05-13 09:05 |
| #6 Wright has poisoned the 'moral higher ground' the lefties alway whine about. The clear and unrecoverable demonstration of black racism that the masses have witnessed for decades is 'out of the bag', and all the NYT's horses and all the WAPO's men can't put the guilt game back in front again. The community is now going to have their 'crying wolf' moments. They're also going to find out that most Americans, other than the usual suspects, don't care anymore. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-05-13 08:26 |
| #5 "The first person I encountered was like, 'I'll never vote for a black person,' " I wonder if what was really said was something along the lines of "I'll never vote for a person simply because he's black". A lot of democrats would see that as a racist remark. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2008-05-13 08:24 |
| #4 The Dems claim to be the party of tolerance, diversity, equality, and all that . . . but so many of their primary voters are RACISTS??? Somethin's not right with this picture. |
| Posted by: Mike 2008-05-13 07:59 |
| #3 Should we believe Obama Foot Soldiers? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-05-13 07:40 |
| #2 White racism or black racism? From what I've seen of Obama, the fellows he runs with are heavily steeped on the black side of the racism coin. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-05-13 07:10 |
| #1 12% of a certain segment of the population makes up 44% of the Prison population. The Media have already elected Obama but they are ignoring all kinds of obvious facts to do so. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2008-05-13 07:02 |