George Will's race-based explanation for Obama's lead: America can't fire a black man
OPINION - Washington Post columnist George Will has a novel explanation for why President Barack Obama continues to lead challenger Mitt Romney in the polls: it's because Obama is black...
It is Will who managed to cram Barack Obama, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and the Congressional Black Caucus’ supposed fear of Mia Love entering the U.S. House into a column ostensibly about how unremarkable Love’s blackness is in Utah.
Will’s narrative presumes that white voters (his comments after all, are aimed mostly at them) can’t think for themselves, and certainly cannot think beyond the pangs of “white guilt” that he claims drive liberalism — even though liberals represent just 15 percent of the country, so his “guilt” theory must also apply to moderates and at least some conservatives.
They can’t be expressing a preference for Obama based on the economy, even though the national unemployment rate dropped to 6.8 percent for white men over 20 years old in August, and 6.5 percent for white women over 20; that’s more than a full point below the national average, and fewer than three points above what economists consider “full employment.”
They can’t be voting based on their regional circumstances: even though the unemployment rate in key swing states like Ohio (7.2 percent), Virginia (5.9 percent), Iowa (5.5 percent) and Wisconsin (7.5) percent, are below the national average, and the fact that in states like Ohio and Michigan, the economy has improved in part due to the auto bailout that Obama implemented and Romney opposed.
They can’t possibly be led by their personal circumstances, despite the fact that polls show economic optimism is on the rise, and has been since January, which makes Romney’s idea of running solely on economic pessimism — of the kind expressed in Will’s column — seem kind of short sighted, and the sign of a bad campaign.
They can’t possibly have affixed blame for the economic crash of 2008 on the previous administration — you know, the one George Will supported (except that polls show most voters do blame Bush) and therefore, how could voters possibly be amenable to giving Obama, his race notwithstanding, more time to turn things around?
And they can’t possibly have decided all on their own, that they simply prefer Obama as a person to Romney, and not just because Obama is, you know, black.
White voters cannot possibly be expressing a preference for Obama’s policies with regard to the future of Medicare, in Will’s worldview. But for the president’s race, Americans would clearly be all for voucherizing the old age healthcare program. And clearly, Obama’s blackness, and the guilt his blackness imparts on white America (despite the black side of his family never having been enslaved) is the reason most poll respondents prefer Obama’s stands on women’s issues and immigration.
And Romney’s “47 percent” comments? Those wouldn’t be harming his candidacy in the slightest, if only Barack Obama wasn’t so very, very black.
In short, in George Will’s view, there are no circumstances, independent of race, that could possibly be contributing to Obama’s durable lead in both swing state and national polls. It’s not the slowly but surely improving economy, or Americans’ perception that the current president is fixing the previous president’s mess, or people’s subjective preference for one candidate or another. It’s not Romney’s fault or the fault of his horribly-run campaign. It’s race. Because, you know, the other guy is black.
Thanks, George Will.
Follow Joy Reid on Twitter at @thereidreport
