Obama: "If I lose, it WON'T be because of RACE..."

I heard Senator Obama say the above (and more) in an actuality on the radio today. (Or something VERY similar). He went on to suggest OTHER reasons why he would have lost the general election, if in fact he were to lose the general. (like a "mistake on the campaign trail.")

I'd just like to hear your opinions/discussions on this comment in the subject line made by Obama. He appears to admit race has or would have nothing to do with his losing.

My quick take is below, (as a former election law attorney and author of a chapter (along with Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Larisa Alexandrovna, Michael Collins, and other prominent activists) that appears at the conclusion of the brand new book "LOSER TAKE ALL" edited by Mark Crispin Miller. This new book's gone has high as nearly 1,000 on the Amazon bestseller list but recently slipped to around 12K, but still doing well). I get zero royalties but can get a discount purchasing my own book. If interested, in the cutting edge on this general area, check it out at: http://www.amazon.com/Loser-Take-All-Subversion-Democracy/dp/0978843142/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209349594&sr=8-1

Here's the INTERSECTION of election integrity issues and Obama's comment: Race (and sex) are both "issues" that are being hyped that, whether intended to or NOT, increase what I call the "margin of plausible cheating." That is, crazier results become more and more believable. And yet nearly all the electronic vote counting is done in total secrecy.

In other words, the votes in 2008 will be 95% counted in secret on proprietary computerized voting machines, no human being will have any personal knowledge of the true count except in the minority of hand counted paper ballot districts, and the results, even if pretty darn crazy, are easily rationalized by things like "Well, after a divisive, campaign, people got into the voting booth and voted their racist/sexist (or even ageist, if you wanna throw in McCain) agenda."

Thus, VIRTUALLY ANYTHING that pops out of those magic secret vote counting black boxes can be rationalized in this election and the usual strong pressures will be brought against investigating or taking seriously the reports of problems that manage to escape the black hole of secret vote counting.

But my question: Do YOU agree with Obama that if he loses, race would have not been the/a reason?

You can infer from the above that I'm conflicted. Certainly racism is still real, but often race is a signal of PARTY affiliation and thus the cause of voter suppression efforts that are not, primarily, motivated by a belief that minorities shouldn't have the right to vote.

So how big a factor IS race, and if it's a big factor, (or sex, or age) doesn't that leave us in a huge paradox because there's simply no way to verify the integrity of secret computerized vote counts, and a volatile campaign based on such prejudicial issues makes for a huge range of "plausible cheating"?

... But either way, it's what a black man has to say to white folks, to make them feel better.

above "race" and will do anything he can to help with that mind set.

Especially with hilly and billy out there trying to muddy the waters.

... to top that.

VERY WELL SAID!!!

B-)

The media and others effectively have the ability to, and will, insist on its continual discussion. (as well as sex if Hillary were nominated)

:sarcasm:

It never happens before very white contests (Iowa, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania). Surely just a coincidence, even though there have been 30+ such states and only a handful of states with the black share of the Dem primary being more than 30%. Obviously he couldn't do it on Super Tuesday when all kinds of states voted. Let's look at the isolated primaries with large black populations. South Carolina, Mississippi, and North Carolina. The race card mysteriously appeared before all three. Louisiana voted with Kansas and Washington and that may have restrained Obama. If if he did want to play the race card to increase turnout for him and hence his margin in Louisiana it would have been hard for him to do it since there were only three days between Super Tuesday and LA/KS/WA voting.

is absurd. the voters get that.

He has spent his life in those intersections and it has not been easy. In some ways this is ALL about race. It certainly isn't about the issues.

If he were running to be president of the Upper West Side of Manhattan for example - race would not be too big of an issue. maybe that's not the best district to choose - but you know what I mean.

A nice respectable liberal enclave of predominantly white, middle class democratic voters who just love the idea of proving they are not at all racist. Good people.

That was in VT. His next best results are a pair of 55% Super Tuesday results (Utah, New Mexico). He knows of 24 primaries he has won the white vote only five times. He also knows of the 11 states for which we have exit poll data on Latinos he has won them only twice and his peak is 54%. Even those two wins came in states with small Latino populations. In every state with double digit Latino populations he has been trounced among Latinos, including 32-66 in Texas. If race isn't the reason for this now then it would be a cop out to blame racism for such dismal performance in the general election. Kerry won 41% of whites. Anyone who thinks Obama will match or exceed that is crazy. Kerry was winning primaries comprehensively across ethnic and class lines. Obama isn't.

VOTERS!!!!!

to do with his pastor either.

it's very obvious what's happening. Obama has been resisting the racial divide as he wants everyone to come together. The GOP are driving a large wedge. However, if or should I say when Obama is the nominee their strategy will backfire. Hillary is also swimming along with the GOP sharks and she is about to get bitten.

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men.

it's about those little voting machines and the party bosses like Rendell.

There is a must see post here showing the long lines of benches of AA's waiting to vote in Philly.

I talked to my cousin in Philly today. He was still shaking from seeing all the voter suppression.

Obama had thousands of votes suppressed there and there will be more incidents like it.

Is that RACISM ~ not for Gore and Kerry.

November 2006 and have done nothing to fix the possible vote fraud in this country. We have to do better than that, and we have to do it before November if we are serious about taking the White House back.

What does he know that his supporters don't about why he is losing most of the time since the vetting process began?

Ah, conspiracy theories. Obama lost fair and square.

yet seen anything done to anyone of these rigged elections..

Fortunately for him elections are not run by those under his control.

The vote suppression in Philly was just business as usual, just as it was in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006.

The people who count the votes decide everything. (J. Stalin)

If Obama ever blamed being black for not winning, it would be political suicide. But when Clinton calls states sexist and suggests people aren't voting for her because she's a woman, everyone rallies behind her and nothing is said of it.

And people still believe it's far easier for a black man to get elected in this country.

Yeah. Fucking. Right.

resident author Paul, woo!!!

...if so, then I heartily concur in light of your accomplishments, lala_rawraw!

if his campaign had anything to do with it. He is just all that! As are we, his fans.

he is trying to quiet the storm for if and when he has to lose to McCain.

Forget about Democratic/Republican Politicians they are all in the scam together.

The 2004 election wasn't stolen from Kerry it was stolen from the people, and Kerry was in on it.

Obama Clinton and McCain, Also, IN ON THE SCAM!

I mean come on all of a sudden the Democratic party decides to run a black man and a women for President, WHY? Because a white guy would have obliterated McBush, with a black man or a woman they have a thousand and one reasons why the 2008 election appears so close and a bunch of fantastic reasons as to why the Neocons took it.


The Politicians are all in it together to stay in power.

Black, White or Woman politicians, they want the masses to appear divided,
THEY WIN, WE LOSE! Whether they win or lose they continue to collect their checks.

My two cents

I apologize if I offended anyone with this post, its just the way I see it

K&R

Elections have become unverifiable, meaning results can't be proven. We've known this for years now and frankly I'm astounded at all the smart people here at DU and around the country who are swept up in the facade that is the campaign.

Kill your television.

Then accept the reality that each of these so-called primary "elections," as well as the general "election" scheduled for November, are not really elections but merely events that closely resemble elections.

As I've been saying for years, the task before us is to reject the outcome of these bogus "elections." Peaceful revolution is necessary, NOW!

---

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." -- President John F. Kennedy

The GOP is running a giant shell game here - distracting us from the real electoral issue of vote stealing.

Every vote in every state in this primary season, the pundits try to explain the "results" as if these results had some sort of relationship to the actual vote that took place.

But as is admitted even by the manufacturers of he voting machines themselves, there's no way to prove that the "result" announced is the actual count of the way people voted. Brad Friedman just recently challenged anybody to prove that any vote on a DRE ever cast by anyone at any time was ever cast as reported.

I like Obama, but I don't think he has the foggiest notion of what happened with the vote count in 02, 04, and so far in 08 (and 05 Ohio initiatives thrown in and probably every other vote since 2000) and will almost certainly happen again in November. This is the ONE ISSUE on which all the others depend and yet the candidate himself and his cronies show almost no awareness of it.

When the election comes around, there will be the usual slew of news reports about the voting machines and people will be aware of the problem. Then, when the election happens, it will be the same process all over again. Obama will lead in the polls going in, the early exit polls will show him winning and people will be swept up in hope and then overnight, the vote will suddenly take an inexplicable turn to the right and the pundits will begin to "explain" why this happened based on some assumption or other (anything but the obvious vote theft machines) and we'll have another four years of criminal government.

I'm hoping this does not happen, but I can't see any reason it won't.

I feel that ageism would be a far more prevalent issue than racism or sexism for that matter , especially amongst those under 45 or so.

Great work Paul as always.

K&R'd

looks predominantly Caucasian in a fairly distinctive manner and his mien, likewise. I'm not saying this to "elevate" him. If there is a palpably superior race in earth, it is the Africans. (Just to keep us in our place though, God has decided that his Anointed are the Jewish people, and what he says goes).

No, the reason I say it is that the ultra primitive, tribal instinct in us, plus the association with ethnic social marginalisation, which is the legacy of slavery and oppression, cannot "kick in" in the way it is wont to at times on a subliminal level.

Naturally, the lowest, moral bankrupts in your society, the Republicans will do their darndest to pretend it ain't so, but imo it is. I'm not sure that Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela would have elicited such an extraordinary response as a candidate for the presidency among the American people, right across the board.

Because of his stated option for a non-confrontational, softly, softly approach, and the vagueness of his early platform, this bizarre, really quasi-mystical appeal infuriated me. But I'm not sure this is not a case of the wisdom of people in the round being superior to that of any individual.

I would still prefer John Edwards, personally, but since we know that the election fraud denied him his rightful position as the Democrats' first choice, I wonder if the hand of divine Providence has found another way to thwart the corporatist beast.

Grat work from all of you, Paul.

The voters need to be made to understand what's right.

But the Obtards don't. All they can scream about is race this, racism that. Race race race, racism racism racism! There, spoken like a good Obtard.

vote for Hillary but her supporters would most likely bote for him. No it won't be about race, Mr. Obama, beacuse the media call your racist remarks "a response" "getting tuough" or they just plain ignore such words coming from your mouth.

It's admirable of him. And I expect Clinton and McCain to do the same.

I also expect a unity ticket on the Dem side ... one way or the other.

I am sure Barack is not alluding to cheating within his own party. That would be a death sentence for the Dems in November. For a variety of reasons.

The "one term senator" thing is the reason he'd lose.

Come on, people...couldn't we have at least picked someone with a LITTLE experience? McSame will cream the guy on the "wet behind the ears" factor.

light entertainment.

If a Republican citicises Obama or any other Democrat, people's natural response, after the laughter subsides, would be to believe the opposite - however doubtful they might have been before. And bear in mind that many current Democrats used to be Republicans. The Republicans' only friends now are their bought-and-paid-for polls, their MSM noise-machine, the voting machines, their blogosphere operatives and suborned judges. Read Reid's tribute to Bush's uniqueness. I don't think the self-deification of Big Oil and its moguls has escaped the notice of the suffering public.

I think he's trying to be palatable to an America that has a racist streak.

and I get it now. No matter what the results they can be explained away because of race. But if the results are a blow-out does that still hold?