November 4, 2008

A white reader feels bad about voting for McCain in the presence of her black neighbors.

Email from a reader, someone who blogs apolitically and sometimes comments here:
I probably won't blab about this publicly, but I have to say -- if I thought deciding to vote for McCain in the end was tough, casting my vote in a room full of excited black neighbors was excruciating. Talk about white guilt. I burst into tears as soon as I got into my car.

I obviously can't vote for him just because it would be a thrill to have a black family in the White House, but I really did feel the historic nature of this election in my gut this morning, and it was incredibly moving. And it was a bummer not to be able to be on the side of my heart and leave everything else aside. I'd be shocked if Lieberman, who was involved in the freedom rides, etc. doesn't feel real sadness today. It made me realize that if I was black I would find it almost impossible not to vote for Obama.

99 comments:

ricpic said...

Care to ponder how many of her ecstatic black neighbors give a flying fig about white wellbeing?

campy said...

Don't fret, reader. There's a good chance your vote will be counted in the O column anyway.

Donn said...

I agree with the emailer. I would have loved to cast my vote for BHO, simply for the "historic" nature of the event, however, he's too left-wing for me to be able to do so in good conscious.

fivewheels said...

I don't want to be unkind, but my gut tells me that I'd feel better if people this emotionally unstable didn't vote.

That sounds a little worse than I mean it. But really, bursting into tears because you cast a vote that might be in the minority? Is it just me who thinks that's not a reasonable reaction?

blogless said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
kjbe said...

It’s a very touching email. I hear a lot of humility in the reader’s voice. It’s another lesson telling me that there’s a lot of gray, a lot of shadows in the world that we come across everyday. Choices aren’t black or white, good or bad, left or right. I don’t know who this reader is and we didn’t vote the same, but I respect them for their choice and for being honest with their internal conflict.

Hoosier Daddy said...

I thought deciding to vote for McCain in the end was tough, casting my vote in a room full of excited black neighbors was excruciating. Talk about white guilt. I burst into tears as soon as I got into my car.

White guilt? Sorry but I don't have any. I don't take responsibility for actions that occured 200+ years ago when my ancestors were scrounging for potatoes in Poland.

I also don't have white guilt particularly when Arab and Africans don't seem to have any despite continuing the practice of slavery long after whitey gave it up.

Anonymous said...

"I don't want to be unkind, but my gut tells me that I'd feel better if people this emotionally unstable didn't vote."

Me too.
The first word that popped into my head after this tender soul's tearful comment was "disenfranchise".

KT said...

Grow a pair.

Bob said...

Will she feel this bad when its the first hispanic candidate? A woman? A candidate who's Asian? And why wasn't she excited about voting FOR a woman on the ticket? They do constitute 51% of voters.

I suppose we'll have to see with the second black candidate if its really the candidate or the color that matters for the African-American voters.

Anonymous said...

A white reader feels bad about voting for McCain in the presence of her black neighbors.
Email from a reader, someone who blogs apolitically and sometimes comments here


White + female + Jewish?

amba?

ricpic said...Care to ponder how many of her ecstatic black neighbors give a flying fig about white wellbeing?

Blacks generally lack that kind of pathetic guilt like White folks generally lack rhythm and fast twitch muscle fiber.

It's more biological than cultural.

As a general rule White folks think black kids are cuter than puppies and they think that older black folks are an almost supernatural moral source of "dignity".

This election was always about race. It was always about change. It was always about the changing of America from White sin to black salvation, from White racism to black redemption, from White hate to black hope, from White fear to black whatever...

Obama was a symbol of so much. Very hard to resist for so many.

Obama is for White folks who've gotten tired of Jesus.

former law student said...

White guilt? Sorry but I don't have any. I don't take responsibility for actions that occured 200+ years ago when my ancestors were scrounging for potatoes in Poland.

"What do you know about white guilt, you dumb Polack?" -- Archie Bunker, a Real American (tm)

blogless said...

I deleted my earlier comment because I made a mistake -

I understand this feeling to an extent, but at the same time, where were all these black voters when Gore needed them? Or Kerry? Isn't racism over when we *stop* noticing the color of someone's skin? I just don't get it. (And it's pretty "historic" voting for a woman, too.)

Anonymous said...

I voted today, for McCain, with no guilt. What was interesting was that I had no idea about any -- any -- other candidates. I knew that Dick Durbin is a sitting senator, and I voted against him. In fact, I voted for every available Republican, including Sylvester "June Bug" Something. I looked him up later and found out that he is basically a socialist and favors duels for rival gang members.

I am not part of the informed electorate.

Here in Cook County, there was not a single judge up for election who was not a Democrat, so I voted for the unopposed Democrats, just for the thrill of voting. However, when it came time for retention of judges -- all 125432 of them -- I gave up.

We had something on our ballot about the possible addition of a recall measure for elected officials. I voted yes. That should be fun. As a conservative, I also voted against a constitutional convention. What was funny was that the ballot stated that 75 percent of voters voted no on this last time. However, a flier I got told me that I had to ignore that language because a mighty judge ruled it unconstitutional. Well, mighty judge, I did not ignore said language. So there.

Unknown said...

"I don't want to be unkind, but my gut tells me that I'd feel better if people this emotionally unstable didn't vote."

Dang that 19th Amendment!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I’m voting for a person of color tonight.

Just because he’s white, it’s not a good enough reason not to vote for the guy ;)

LonewackoDotCom said...

She - and many BHO supporters - are basically saying that she wanted to vote for him because he fit the uniform. I have absolutely no doubt that that was part of the DNC's plan in pushing him.

And, even voting for BHO isn't enough for some:

Top Obama adviser Prof. Charles Ogletree says 21st-century white America, as a general rule, remains racist towards Blacks, Latinos, and Asians, and racism is likely to persist for decades -- Barack Obama is an exception only because "he happens to be biracial," so that his election will not be proof that whites have moved beyond racism.

Here are my twenty non-partisan reasons not to vote for Obama in case anyone else wants to prevent a disaster.

Salamandyr said...

I wonder if her black neighbors felt bad voting for a black guy in front of a white person?

This kind of thing always strikes me as remarkably condescending. Does she not feel that her neighbors are adult enough to handle genuine difference of opinion?

MayBee said...

I suspect this is the very reason the Democratic Powers that Be pushed Obama forward 4 years ago.

David said...

I vote at a precinct where about half the voters are black. I solved this problem by voting for Qbama.

Of course the ballot is secret. But so is guilt.

Ken Pidcock said...

I concur that there is something quite condescending in this. Like, "I can understand how my neighbors would be unable to see which candidate is best for the country, and I feel for them, I really do."

Mark said...

I live in Crown Heights in Brooklyn, and there should be at least one vote for McCain in my district.

What got me about the blacks in line was the pride and optimism on display. I still want McCain to win, and had no guilt about voting that way, but I understand a little how the reader could have had her personal reaction (especially if she thinks McCain might actually pull it out).

One thing I have to say, though, is that if Obama wins the popular vote (and the mid-day turnout shocked me, it really did) I hope like hell he wins the Electoral College vote. Unfortunately, I can really see Obama cleaning up in the urban northeast, and still losing Pennsylvania (by a hair), Ohio, and Florida (by a hair), and getting a repeat of 2000.

That would be bad.

Terri said...

I must be cold-hearted because I didn't feel bad about not voting for Obama at all. Just like I have never felt guilty about NOT voting for anyone of any color. And, contrary to my belief, my son in college told me today that he ended up NOT voting for Obama either (and he was prepared to vote for him for months). You know what the dealbreaker for him was? Joe the Plumber. He was mortified that the Dems would go after a plumber for no good reason. Heh.

integrity said...

That's a really beautiful e-mail. So honest and emotionally genuine, moving. This could be one hell of a night. I hope it is.

Why are people denigrating her? For acknowledging the richness of her emotions?

It's gorgeous human engagement in the world in which she lives. Free of all the bullshit. So great, an epiphany.

Meade said...

I tend to agree with Shelby Steele who says that White Guilt corresponds to and simply leads to Black Power. In the end it's a crooked deal because it's based on nothing more than skin color and only furthers various racial prejudices.

Kudos to this reader for overcoming her white guilt and instead, presumably, voting for the candidate she reasoned will make the best American president.

There is no way to know if Obama is elected as a result of White Guilt and Black Pride but if he is, it will only serve to perpetuate America's racial shame.

walter neff said...

It is always the same. Fans just root for the laundry.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I'm going to be ahead of the curb,

I'm voting for McCain ;)

Tibore said...

This sort of sentiment saddens and annoys me. Whatever happened to the ideal of an American "Melting Pot"?

The idea is to vote for the candidate. Not the candidate's skin color or ancestry.

I'm distressed that in the midst of so much decent analysis on policy and goals, so much of voting comes down to irrelevancies like skin color. If an Asian is up for election, I'm not going to vote for him or her simply on the basis of being Asian myself. I'm damn well going to pay attention to what they say and do.

Call me naive, but I thought color blindness was the ideal.

fivewheels said...

Dang that 19th Amendment!

Reminds me of a bit from a comedian: "You know how women got the right to vote? We put it to a vote. How the $%&#@! did we lose that one?"

(just a joke, people)

kjbe said...

Agreed, Integrity. The reader is conflicted and for good reason. It's not like we've been down this road before.

chuck b. said...

I've taken a vow of cool equanimity.

Anonymous said...

Does she not feel that her neighbors are adult enough to handle genuine difference of opinion?

Given some of the postings here, I wonder if we are.

chickelit said...

I agree with Donn: identity politics must not trump ideology.

former law student said...

Whatever happened to the ideal of an American "Melting Pot"?

Since the 1840s or so, America has always been much more of a salad bar than a melting pot. Anton Cermak discovered the power of putting ethnic leaders on the ballot to attract ethnic voters. More recently, even Republican Greeks turned out to support Michael Dukakis.

TWM said...

"There's no crying in baseball" or when voting.

I am so tired of people emoting all over the place. It's creepy and messy.

Anonymous said...

Integrity:
"Why are people denigrating her? For acknowledging the richness of her emotions?"

It's not the richness of her emotions it's the poverty of her thinking.

KLDAVIS said...

I was in the same situation as the reader, voting this morning a little more than a mile south of where BHO was casting his ballot. I felt no inclination to vote for anyone but Sen. McCain, because I know who Barack Obama is. (He was my State Senator, he taught classes in the same building where I was a student.)

Because I know who Barack Obama is, there was never any chance that I would vote for him. It has nothing to do with the color of his skin, but rather the courage of his convictions. He is a sophist. He has never had an opinion that wasn't teased from a focus group. He cannot make the difficult decisions that will be necessary to guide this country.

At the start of this campaign, I held out hope that the country would get to know the same Barack Obama that I know. Unfortunately, now I can only hope that they won't have to.

SevenMachos, I also voted for 'JuneBug'...that took some mental gymnastics, though.

Chris Althouse Cohen said...

I sympathize with the e-mailer, and will myself feel simultaneous joy and dread when Obama wins tonight.

Bissage said...

I cast my vote with a glad heart for I am truly a post-racial voter.

I will be happy if Sen. McCain wins because we both have pale skin.

I will be happy if Sen. Obama wins because we both have large organs.

It’s all good.

Unknown said...

I will be happy if Sen. Obama wins because we both have large organs.

How do you know that, did Vera Baker tell you?

Tibore said...

Bissage plays the organ?

(*Ducks*)

Jen Bradford said...

What got me about the blacks in line was the pride and optimism on display.

Here too. It was electric.

LonewackoDotCom said...

Tibore says Call me naive, but I thought color blindness was the ideal.

Apparently you haven't been following the Democratic Party for a few decades, and the GOP lately. They're pretty despicable with their pandering to people simply based on race and ethnicity.

On the other hand, there is the fact that BHO is reaching out to white people like me. The fact that they aren't reaching out to white people like Althouse isn't my concern.

ak said...

The first thing I thought of when I read this woman's comments was, "neurotic."

I don't care what color Obama is. I care about his ideology. So I felt a real sense of urgency in voting against him.

But if it were a black, or Asian, or Latino, or female candidate of my political persuasion, I would be very excited about the historic importance of it.

Triangle Man said...

Bissage said...


I will be happy if Sen. Obama wins because we both have large organs.


Spleen or kidneys?

Jen Bradford said...

ak, but she did vote against him. It's not as if she said oh I was so overcome by the crowd that I switched my vote. Conflict and neurosis are different animals.

CS said...

[Crossposting] Listening to this MLK speech while realizing what I am going to witness tonight brought me to tears and I am a white conservative from Wisconsin. I understand completely what the emailer was going through. [/Crossposting]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0FiCxZKuv8

Anonymous said...

Here is the real divide in our politics. We need an Emo Party for creatures like this, and an Adult Party for the rest of us.

save_the_rustbelt said...

Did Oprah write this? Good grief.

Get a life. Get a grip.

Jen Bradford said...

Paul, I thought Obama was supposed to be the Emo Candidate. Now I'm confused.

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

Uh, what??

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

"Some mornings, it just doesn't seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps."

Roger J. said...

agree with those who don't do white guilt. Perhaps this is a gender thing; but whatever it is, I was more moved toward nausea than any other response.

Juan Pablo said...

I manage a rental property in DC (Obama Country)
99.9% of tenants are black and it was impossible to miss the sense of excitement present in the community for several months now.
I'll vote for McCain later, but I can't help thinking of the major let down it would be if O doesn't win.
Yes, yes, life is unfair, etc... But still, I guess we are humans after all. Long live democracy

Juan Pablo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bart DePalma said...

Exhibit A: Your archetypical Bradley Effect voter

The Counterfactualist said...

I obviously can't vote for him just because it would be a thrill to have a black family in the White House,

Yes, you can.

bearbee said...

Hoosier Daddy said...

White guilt? Sorry but I don't have any. I don't take responsibility for actions that occured 200+ years ago when my ancestors were scrounging for potatoes in Poland.

Sorry but you can't get out of it that easily. After all you are the beneficiary of 'white privilege.'

Regardless of the outcome, I did feel the energy exuded by the long lines of excited voters. That is a very good thing.

As Juan Pablo said Long Live Democracy.

Roger J. said...

Bart dePalma: How is this the Bradley effect? I thought the Bradley effect was when white voters voted against a black candidate but lied about their preferences to a pollster so as not to divulge their antipathy toward a black candidate.

KLDAVIS said...

The Bradley Effect is when voters say they voted for (or will vote for) a minority candidate (despite no intention of doing so) because they are fearful of being judged as racist.

Christopher said...

I understand the commenter's feelings. I work in a neighborhood of New York City that is 95% black and will probably turn out for Obama in an even higher percentage. It is difficult to be a McCain voter in that sort of atmosphere, knowing that if Obama wins, you cannot share in that kind of joy and elation--which I rather think is justified--that comes with his electoral triumph. If McCain wins, even though my preferred outcome will have occurred, the disappointment of my colleagues and friends will be difficult to endure.

I don't think she's emotionally unstable, as fivewheels said. I think she's empathetic. And she should get credit for voting with her beliefs even when it's emotionally difficult.

TMink said...

I met a woman at a friend's house who had a very interesting take on race. She said that white people are the only people in America who are not out for themselves racially.

I had never considered the need to advocate for my race, and never had the desire. While frankly wondering if she is a bigot, she may have a point. How many of us white folks have ever had the consideration of what is good for the white race? I know I haven't, and I doubt many of us here have.

And also, we are called racist ALL the time. If the "other" races are more concerned in racial advancement than we are, then they would project their racism onto us.

It sounds bigoted to even type this, and I do not accept her position, but it has made me think that she may be right about the observation, but wrong in thinking that anything needs to be done about it.

If white folk don't worry about the needs of the white race (whatever that might be) then perhaps we are the ones who are post racial!

It confuses me, maybe you guys can make more sense of it.

Trey

Palladian said...

Why is it a "good thing" that people are excited and energized when they're excited and energized about a big slab of soft socialism not unlike all the other big slabs of soft socialism that the Democratic party has plopped on a plate in front of the American public, except this one's half black? Why is that a good thing? This is America. We're supposed to be interested in ideas not personality or, worse, symbolism. I'm tired of symbolism. I'm tired of emotional pathos being a substitute for thinking and reasoning. Vote for the competent executive, or as close as you can get given the choices. Symbolism is for artwork and theater, but is dangerous when its given the power of the State.

Listening to my students talk about the election today, I was happy that not one of them cared one whit about Obama's race or the exciting symbolism. Many of them like him because he's a liberal and they're interested in liberal ideas or because his campaign is "cool", some didn't like him at all and planned to vote for McCain. But none of them seem to be taken in by this tiresome old racial guilt melodrama. Maybe it will pass with the Boomers.

Interesting to hear this reader's thoughts however. I wonder how many other voters responded in the same way? I wonder how many of them gave in and voted for Obama because it "felt better"?

TMink said...

"After all you are the beneficiary of 'white privilege.'"

Actually, I am the beneficiary of all my hard work!

Trey

Palladian said...

"It is difficult to be a McCain voter in that sort of atmosphere, knowing that if Obama wins, you cannot share in that kind of joy and elation--which I rather think is justified--that comes with his electoral triumph."

But I also think it comes from a sense of racial triumph. We've been raised to think that it's good when a black/latino/asian/woman/gay/disabled person rises to a position of importance. But we'd be appalled if the same racial pride was applied to a white person's accomplishments. While I understand the justifications for the feelings of pride engendered when someone who "looks like you" gets somewhere. I also think that such feelings have negative connotations and on the whole are not healthy for a democracy of ideas. Unfortunately no one on either side seems to care about ideas anymore so the only thing left is demographic pride I suppose. Sad.

TMink said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Palladian said...

""After all you are the beneficiary of 'white privilege.'""

I spent my first three years in a mobile home and then my single mother and I moved up the ladder of success to live in the town's public housing project, where we remained for another 8 years. I'm successful now because I stopped waiting for that 'white privilege' to kick in and started climbing the ladder myself.

TMink said...

Let's try this again.

Palladian, it makes me happy to know that you are a teacher.

Trey

Palladian said...

"Palladia, it makes me happy to know that you are a teacher."

Thanks Trey, though after such a compliment, I wish I had spent a little more time on my comment's grammar and punctuation. I have an excuse. I'm already 4 glasses into a bottle of 22 year old cognac.

Palladian said...

Ha, I didn't even notice that you called me Palladia. That's my new drag name, if I did drag.

That or "Rosetta Stone", which I always thought was the best drag name.

TMink said...

My white privilege was granted to me by my father, the accidental child born to 50 and 55 year old parents in 1925. His father resented him being born, there was a depression after all, and neglected him. My father was locked in a closet every day at school for two years by a sadistic teacher. He lied about his age at 16 and was flying 50 missions over North Africa in a B-17 when he was not old enough to drink.

After that he put himself through college, the first in his family to do so, by being a dog catcher in New Orleans in the summers. A privileged job to be sure. He used the GI bill to go to Med School and set up an OB/GYN practice where he gave good service and hard work for 50 years.

Instead of retiring, he went to the Oglala Sioux reservation where he worked for 45 years doing high risk OB/GYN work for $20,000 a year. Then he went to Montgomery, AL and founded the Gift of Life Program where he performed high risk OB/GYN work for the poor of Montgomery and the surrounding counties. He took an order of magnitude off the infant mortality in that county.

He retired at 79, and died at 80.

I miss him every day, his birthday would be next week, and he got what he had by hard work and Christian charity.

White privilege my ass.

Trey

blake said...

Maybe "a white reader" is just another way of saying "a friend of mine". Maybe Althouse is telling us (through CODE WORDS, those are all the rage these days) that she balked at the last moment and voted McCain.

Nah.

But that thought occurred to me because it's the sort of thing Althouse would write, in the sense of being an upfront, "This is the way I feel" type thing, with an awareness that it's not necessarily logical. (A rejection, I think, of the idea that something has to be logical to be worthy of communicating.)

Anyway, I gotta go with the "It will pass with the Boomers" idea. Not completely. But as a force.

TMink said...

Sorry, my father obviously did NOT work for 45 years on the reservation after he retired. I meant to type 4 or 5 years, but I was too incensed to get it correct.

Trey

Freeman Hunt said...

We're supposed to be interested in ideas not personality or, worse, symbolism. I'm tired of symbolism. I'm tired of emotional pathos being a substitute for thinking and reasoning.

Yes. Especially the last sentence.

blake said...

My point, by the way, is that we have a case of someone having certain feelings compelling her to do something she thinks, at some level is wrong (for her personally), and she didn't act on those feelings.

Why not celebrate that, rather than blast her for having those feelings?

ak said...

"ak, but she did vote against him. It's not as if she said oh I was so overcome by the crowd that I switched my vote. Conflict and neurosis are different animals."

I didn't say she didn't vote for him. That has nothing to do with what I said.

Wince said...

Paul, I thought Obama was supposed to be the Emo Candidate. Now I'm confused.

Bingo!

The upshot is that McCain has a good shot of capturing the blubbering, bleeeding heart Emo vote.

Who'da thunk it?

Donn said...

Trey,

Thanks for sharing the story about your father.

Anthony said...

I must be cold-hearted because I didn't feel bad about not voting for Obama at all.

Me either. I would have gotten back to my car and thought "Freaks".

But then, I'm not much of a joiner anyway.

. said...

white privilege? do you mean the fear whitey feels every time he sees a colored person?

integrity said...

A revelatory thread.

I had no idea Palladian was a teacher, nor that thoughtful.

I thought the Palladian name was a play on the "Palladium", a dance club I used to go to in Manhattan in the mid '80's. I figured he was a club denizen turned republican later in life. I don't think so now. Very interesting.

Regarding the racial issues, they are only seen the way they are because folks like my parents(who have been in power forever) see everything through an us(white) vs. them(black) prism. It has damaged the country, so to hear that your students are more evolved is very good news.

When everybody shits all over intellect and ideas, all you are left with is identity politics. Hopefully that will be changing.

fivewheels said...

It is good that she voted her conscience, either way. And I'm plenty empathetic. I feel like I understand what both sides are feeling, I'm just not about to blubber all over myself either way.

Maybe it's just one of those emotion-suppressing guy things. I can lean toward that extreme sometimes, but I definitely think this person is even farther over on the other extreme. And it doesn't seem 100 percent healthy.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Trey:

Nice story - your Dad was a certainly a great example of what can happen in the old US of A.

Chip Ahoy said...

Here are the magic words I have for you to console yourself and to help you feel better. I sense by your tears and by the touching sensitivity of this post that you're a voter willing to vote for the best person no matter their race. Patience, and continued goodwill, will provide you with more chances to help your ethnic friends.

What? That doesn't help? Fine then. Here's twenty-three pages of British satire on the present US elections, more hateful and juvenile than funny or sophisticated, and this from a lot who ridiculously consider themselves more advanced than their American counterparts, and say so regularly. And they've only just started. Here's one apropos the post, to give you an idea of all the rest. If this doesn't work, nothing will.

Jen Bradford said...

I don't get the competitive approach to this subject - the idea that a white person needn't feel anything in particular about what a win by Obama would mean to black America, especially if he struggled himself. So being born poor exempts you from caring about something that isn't personally meaningful to you or your family? I don't get the logic there at all.

I won't bother going into the ways "white privilege" isn't simply about wealth or power anyway. Condi Rice has plenty of both, but it's not hard to imagine a situation where I might be treated better than she would because I'm white. Would I be responsible for that? Of course not. Do I feel a responsibility to be aware of that? Yes.

Unknown said...

I think the fact that we do get a lump in our throat because we can't bring ourselves to pull the lever for Obama speaks to his masterful campaign of image over substance.

. said...

i got a lump in my pants when i pulled the lever for McCain

knox said...

Race is not a valid or serious reason to vote for anyone--and I really dislike Obama as candidate--but I can't deny that if he wins, I will be happy for the black Americans who actually experienced Jim Crowe, etc. It's got to be an amazing feeling for them, and hopefully provide some closure. To experience both segregation and a black president in one lifetime? Amazing.

Bob said...

Trey, thanks for the story on your Dad.

For me, today's vote was special but had nothing to do with candidates. 2004 election day I was on the road between the Green Zone and Abu Gharib. We were stuck behind an accident for an two hours. First time I ever had to bring up my weapon and think about pulling the trigger for real. Talking to the Convoy Commander (a LT) because the radio wasn't working and he wanted advice and I needed him calm & in control. The feeling of relief to finally get moving and then enter the Zone's gates.

Watched the first Iraqi election in 2005. They dressed in their Sunday best. Brought the kids and walked for miles as we didn't allow cars to move. They stood in line for hours in the cold & emerged proud of that ink stained finger. Have never witnessed a happy bunch of voters.

I'm leaving now to go to the airport to meet one of my LTs. She's coming back from 11 months in Iraq. I'm going with my boss (a Colonel) just to say welcome home. Take her bags so she can focus on her family, especially her daughter. We send someone to greet each of our returning troops (we're reserve so we come & go individually). Then him and I will say a silent prayer of thanks & just fade away. Later I plan on enjoying some fine old scotch and remember some old friends. And I guess just mull over voting's meaning now. How much we take it for granted.

Bissage said...

Here’s what happened. I wrote an apropos joke but and then I chickened out.

Too racist, probably, I thought, and the chief reason why I post comments here at Althouse is because I want to be liked.

But race is the third rail of American humor.

Offensive racial joke = people no like Bissage.

See my dilemma?

So . . . I ate dinner and drank a large quantity of crappy win or whine or whatever and I had an epiphany of compromising genius!

My next comment will be the same joke, but with the offensive bits censored!!!

Enjoy.

Or not!

Bissage said...

Since we are all telling stories about how race had nothing to do with our success . . . maybe I can tell a story of a different sort.

I was thrown out of college and I got a job at the National Urban League. They paid me $600 a week to sit in their office and look white. They wanted to prove to the outside world that they would hire majority groups.

So I was the one they hired. I was their token cracker-ass.

I tried to look white, desperately. I wore blue business suits, button-down collars and rep ties. I chewed my food using only my front teeth. I affected a patrician lisp whenever I thought it wouldn’t be overdoing it too much. At company picnics, I draped a yellow sweater around my shoulders and knotted it in front. I even went so far as to tuck my sunglasses into the neckline of my Izod shirt!!!

But it didn’t work out.

They fired me, finally, because I kept trying to actually XX XXXXX and then XXXX with some of their XXXXXXX.

Bissage said...

Hmmmmmm . . .

Seems maybe something got lost in translation.

Crap!

blake said...

Bissage,

That message is as frustrating as watching "Caligula" on TNT.

Guesst said...

Typical white woman.

Swifty Quick said...

It is not possible to overestimate or overstate the effect of the prospect of an Obama presidency has on the psyche of blacks. This is a very big deal to them. It resonates very deeply with them. Colin Powell? Puh-leeeze. Of course he endorsed Obama because he's black. And when I say it resonates with blacks, I mean ALL blacks. Of all the blacks I know, or know of, I only know of a grand total of three who outwardly and unequivocally vociferously declare their vote to be for McCain. And you know what? Even with them I believe they may well in privacy vote for Obama.

madeleine said...

Gack! Get over it. It seems racist to me to think about anything other than a candidate's ideas. Why can't people just be people?!

. said...

Gack! Get over it. It seems stupid to me to ignore the fact that some people are black and some people are white and some people are yellow etc. This has an affect on the way people think. Why can't we let black people be black people and white people be white people?!

Unknown said...

I would just like to say--and I know it's like pissing into the wind--that Obama will be elected because of the American people, not in spite of the American people.