Proof Obama's Presidency Has Done Little for Race Relations

Although I was proud of Obama last night, I found myself genuinely fearful of Mitt Romney. The crazed look he got in his eye whenever he was challenged; his natural inclination to steamroll people; his car salesman-like interactions with people...he just seemed so aggressive and slimy. However, few people seem willing to call out his wild behavior. And suddenly I was reminded that if Obama was the one acting so unhinged, he'd be characterized as a stereotypical "angry black man."

• I disagree with your title, but I agree with your post.

• Imagine how Obama feels. At one point in last nights debate, when Obama was tearing Romney a new one for politicizing the attack in Benghazi, I thought Obama might ask him if he wanted to call him Nigger to his face, instead of using the usual suspects in his campaign, who do a very good job of using racial code in their many comments on Obama's presidency, though they do a poor job of veiling their own racist tendencies. Whew.

• After Obama we probably won't have another Black president. I feel a lot of White people will say "Hey, Black people had their chance, so we're not racists here is America." They'll be using that line as an excuse for many things in the coming years.

• True, but that wasn't one of his tasks.

• Looks like America's still as racist as it ever was, at least according to a new AP poll.

  http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/82964.html

• The media are pussies!

• OP, you are correct. On Fox, after the third debate the commentators argued that the President was "disrespectful" to Romney. The coded allusions to the President being a man who is black and "uppity" are disgusting! The prospect of Romney getting elected frightens me.

  BonniePrinceCharlie

• Does Mitt Romney have any friends who aren't white? Did he have any non-whites in his cabinet while he was governor?

• Where will you libs go WHEN Romney wins?

• [quote] Where will you libs go WHEN Romney wins? We're not going anywhere. We'll be right here up your racist, homophobic ass as always. But Romney isn't going to win.

• R9, you are most definitely lost. But then, of course, Repugs aren't known for their intelligence. I mean, to still be trying to sell that line in the face of the evidence to the contrary is more than a little pathetic.

• One can even argue that having a biracial man who looks more black than white has exasperated race relations. I think if Obama had looked more like Harold Ford or Lenny Kravitz, all this race-slinging would not be so bad. Well, I think. White purity is so important to the racists.

• I recall back in 2004, when you libs were convinced John Kerry was going to win! HA HA HA

  GWB

• And he would have R13, if the Repugs hadn't rigged the electronic voting machines.

• R4 is right. It wasn't his job. The rightwingers who claim they want freedom and competition only want it for themselves.

• Mr. Obama has done plenty for race relations by overtly and forcefully reducing the race-focus in his own perspective, actions and rhetoric. He repeatedly has said that he is the president of all of the USA, not just part. And he has acted accordingly. Not without political measures, of course, but at times the vantages of the political and the commonweal do occupy the same space. Beyond race, Mr. Obama also has refused, usually, to point fingers, become goaded into reaction, and stoop. He has made it clear that if he is to be a one-term president, that is okay with him, so long as he believes he has conducted himself well for the good of the nation. That includes minimal pandering and a clear effort to place some responsibility for smelling crap when it is thrown without his holding his nose for us. The OP is silly.

• R9 and his ilk are being misled by Fox and most of mainstream TV, as well as the Romney campaign itself with its "irrational exuberance," as Politico called it, into thinking this election has become a slam dunk for Romney. You might want to check the Electoral College poll projections. We are all going to laugh at your stunned faces on election night. Also, yes, I do think there is evidence that an Obama presidency has worsened the racial divide in this country. Look at all the birtherism, Put the White Back in the White House T-shirts, coded dog whistle language and so on, and the fact that Romney, whore that he is, won't condemn any of this stuff. But in the second Obama term, when the economy recovers more and employment improves and people see that Obamacare (much like Medicare and Social Security) really helps them, maybe some of the racism will disappear. It's just fear.

• Racism will never ever disappear r17.

• He was elected president for god's sake. If there were so many hard core racists out there as you guys think (dream, like to imagine, etc.) there are, then how in the hell did he make it this far? I don't like the man because as OP says, he comes off as some sort of con-man, used car salesman. He's just too flip and casual, too "hip" for me as a President. I do not like him, or those like him - white, black, whatever that I encounter in my daily grind. There are arrogant jerks of every color. You watch too much Maher - this country is not a racist one. That's just propaganda, and is unfair to whites, blacks, and other people of color.

• The President is down 7 points if we are to believe CNN on his approval rate. Basically they are saying voters don't like the attacks on Romney. I thought it was the other way around. Howard Fineman has also started commenting on how Obama show stay on his message and not give into attacking Romney. How is saying "romnesia" a hard attack on Romney I don't know.

• "Romnesia" embarrassed Republicans and fired up the base. Obama reversed his course and is winning in all the swings states, and has improved in the popular vote (easily verified if you tear yourself away from FOX and CNN). So yeah, they're mad, and of course they have to scramble to find a reason.

• Meant to type *most* of the swing states. {But perhaps I am clairvoyant.}

  R21