MSNBC's First Read has a powerful new piece about racism in the South Carolina primary. In the piece, they point out that:
Obama is getting just an astoundingly low 10% of the white vote in the Mason-Dixon poll -- despite winning in lilly-white Iowa and his broad message.
So who are white South Carolinians planning to vote for?
Edwards, the only viable white male on the Democratic side and native South Carolinian, has surged among whites. He, in fact, now leads among the trifecta of candidates, 40%-36% over Clinton. Obama’s support among whites has been slashed in half since the last time the poll was conducted.
MSNBC provides a powerful account of where these numbers come from:
At a well-attended, Clinton event this morning at Benedict College, a historically black college, almost all of the attendees were African American. One white woman in attendance said she had been for Hillary since she began running. This gregarious woman ticked off reason after reason for why she’s for Hillary. When asked what she thinks of Obama and Edwards, she replied only, "I like John Edwards."
She was content to leave it at that, but after a five-second pause, this reporter asked, "What about Obama?"
She stopped, raised her eyebrows, and suddenly this once-engaging woman was looking around, over her shoulders at this room filled with African Americans. Then she got very quiet, leaned in, shaking her head and very quietly said, "I just don’t know."
"Don’t know what?" I prodded after a moment.
"I don't know," she said.
"Is it experience?"
"No -- could be. No," she said.
"Is it electability?"
"No. I don’t care if other people will vote for him."
"So...?"
"I just don’t know," she said, shaking her head and again looking around as if she were being followed. "I just don’t know."
I don't support Barack Obama. I'm voting for Edwards on Super Tuesday. I'm not even sure he's my second choice. But I don't want him to lose this way. If Obama loses the primary, or only gets the 10% of the white vote that the Mason Dixon poll suggests, it's further confirmation that we still have a long way to go in terms of racial healing in this country, particularly in the Deep South.
Let's do our best to make sure the MSM focus on this story tomorrow, now that it looks like Obama's victory will be much narrower than initially expected. Sure, some of it may be a groundswell for Hillary or Edwards based on their message or personal appeal. But the numbers and the anecdotal evidence are fishy. Racism should not be the reason Obama has deflated momentum heading into Super Tuesday.
Kudos to MSNBC for this story. If this pattern appears in the final result, let's make sure the rest of the MSM gives this story the attention it deserves. Reading it made me ashamed and sad, and I'm sure all of us on this site feel the same way.