Bigotry Poses A Problem For Obama

Now that the General Election is underway, people are wondering about whether or not Senator Obama will be able to win over the more conservative Democrats. Interviews with some Pennsylvania voters who supported Senator Clinton may provide some insight and if they’re accurate, it’s disturbing for anyone who hopes this country can over come its racist past.

First, an interview with Doug Richardson, a 62 year-old contractor who is a self-described conservative:

“His middle name bothers me a lot.”

Obama’s middle name is of course Hussein. However, the idea that having an Arabic middle name automatically makes you a terrorist is ludicrous and xenophobic. All that Hussein means is “good” or “handsome.” The only reason the name bothers anyone is because one of America’s enemies happened to have it. It’s as silly as being afraid of anyone named Robert after the Civil War just because one of America’s enemies was Robert E. Lee or being afraid of anyone named John because of John Walker Lindh.

Of course, as I mentioned Robertson is a conservative who likes McCain, so Obama wasn’t likely to win his vote anyway. However, similarly xenophobic statements have also come from registered Democrats in Pennsylvania such as Rose Iezzi who said Obama was “a snake-oil salesman” and “too slick and smooth” before adding:

“He just doesn’t appeal to me, and not because of race, definitely,”

The AP notes that they hadn’t brought up race. Her comment makes her appear racist, however her comments are nothing compared to 72 year old Robert Miller, who lives in government subsidized housing who said the Constitution should be amended to:

“not let any colored people run for the White House.”

To be fair, Mr. Miller is very old and not sure who he has voted for since Eisenhower, but it is still a more blatant version of the implication that is within comments like those above. More educated places have progressed greatly in terms of race relations, but we still have places where it definitely hasn’t and these ‘problem voters’ are something that Obama will have to overcome. The bigotry also isn’t just limited to race as shown by 71 year-old Dixie Pebley:

“black doesn’t bother me, but Muslim does.”

The AP reminded her that Senator Obama is a devout Christian who has attended church for 20 years. She quickly found another rationalization:

“He was born Muslim and raised Muslim, that’s enough for me. He just scares me to death.”

Of course, Obama wasn’t born Muslim and wasn’t raised Muslim. He was born secular and raised secular, only to find Christ later in life. However, that doesn’t matter because to the people who are going to fall for the lie that he is a “secret Muslim” the fact that Senator Obama is different from them is enough. This point was made in the article by retired bank director, and Democratic activist, Richard Atkers:

“‘He doesn’t wear a flag pin.’ It seemed like code for ‘He’s not one of us.’”

Not everyone who supported Senator Clinton is like this though. Many of her supporters can see that while Obama wasn’t their first choice, he’s far better than McCain. Some of these are Susan Szymanski and Roxane Uhrin who were eating with Rose Iezzi. Szymanski explained it succinctly:

“I don’t want a third term of George Bush,

Another Clinton supporter who now supports Senator Obama is James Antoniono, a Greensburg lawyer and long-time Democratic activist. He posits that many of the Clinton supporters who said they wouldn’t support Obama in the heat of the moment will end up voting for him:

“It’s one thing to come out of the voting booth and say that, it’s another thing when you’re faced with a choice in the general election.”

I hope he’s right because much like Susan Szymanski, I don’t want a third term of George Bush.